Louisville basketball looking to build momentum vs. Notre Dame

G, Darius Perry – Louisville

I wrote about Perry earlier this week on why I believe that the junior point guard has the ability to be the “rallier” of this team. I know that’s not a word and probably sounds weird, but at heart, Perry seems like a “galvanizer,” a guy capable of sparking the people around him with his play and overall attitude.

Since his six turnover, zero assist game against Texas Tech, Perry has quietly been one of the most consistent players on the floor, but he’s done so in ways other than scoring. Against Miami when Louisville turned to him late in the game, he didn’t disappoint. Perry finished with 10 points overall, including hitting the lay-up and getting the foul that essentially ended the game.

Against Notre Dame, Mack will need Perry to be a factor on both the offensive and defensive end and if we’re being real, I think he has to be the trendsetter for the Cards against several really good, but limited guards.

F, Jordan Nwora – Louisville

I personally don’t see anyone on the floor for Notre Dame who can guard Nwora. The junior forward is playing like a man possessed following his no show against Kentucky and has scored 51 points on 17/27 shooting from the field and 8/11 (73 percent) from deep while grabbing 22 rebounds in the last two games.

Notre Dame will likely play a good combination of zone and man, in which guard Dane Goodwin and forward Juwan Durham will be likely responsible for slowing down Nwora. Neither is a good matchup, as one is a smaller guard who doesn’t play with much physicality or possess a lot of length. While Durham is a rim protector who thrives being able to block shots around the rim and typically isn’t asked to play on the perimeter.

Nwora’s teammates will need to step up and help shoulder the scoring load, but against Notre Dame, I think don’t the junior wing will have any problems scoring. He’ll need to play within himself and within the offense, much like he did against Miami. If he’s able to do that, the Cards should be able to win this game.

G, Dane Goodwin – Notre Dame

If redshirt senior guard Rex Pflueger is unable to go against Louisville following missing the NC State game, it means that Louisville is likely to see a very strong dose of Dane Goodwin. After averaging just 6.4 points per game as a freshman on a pretty bad Irish team, Goodwin has developed into the team’s sixth man and arguably their third-best scorer all together on the team.

He fits the bold of traditional Irish guards of years past as being a deadly shooter, solid defender, and a very high-IQ guard. He’s big at 6’6 and will have the ability to shoot over Louisville’s smaller guards like Perry, Fresh Kimble, and Ryan McMahon, which as we saw against Florida State can be a big issue.

It would not be surprising to see Goodwin finish the game as Notre Dame’s highest-scorer because of the matchup issues of the bench. I’d like to see a combination of Sutton