Louisville basketball looking to build momentum vs. Notre Dame

Steven Enoch/Malik Williams vs. John Mooney

I can already tell you before this game even tips off that John Mooney is going to finish with a double-double and it will be no indicator of whether Enoch and Williams played well.

Mooney leads the nation in double-doubles this season and averages 15.8 points and 13.6 rebounds per contest. He’s a beast who excels in a variety of ways around the rim, regardless of who is guarding him.

For Enoch and Williams to be successful in this one, it’s all about limiting Mooney. To do that, the best way is to make him move away from the basket. Watch for a lot of high pick and rolls with Enoch or Williams in an attempt to get Mooney out on either a smaller guard or away from the basket defensively.

Louisville’s bench vs. Notre Dame’s bench

Notre Dame’s biggest issue this season is depth, and it’s not even close. The Fighting Irish only go about seven deep (occasionally eight), playing three players over 30-plus minutes and another three over 22. Not to mention, behind Mooney and Juwan Durham the only big who comes off the bench is 6’10 sophomore Nate Laszewski, who prefers to play away from the rim.

While Chris Mack has shown the tendency to shy away from using the depth we all thought would be a major factor this season, as of late he’s been willing to let younger players like David Johnson and Samuell Williamson play through their mistakes.

Ryan McMahon, Samuell Williamson, Malik Williams, and David Johnson will be counted on to play minutes on Saturday and could have the opportunity to swing the game. Louisville’s bench scoring hasn’t necessarily been great this season, but now with McMahon playing with the second unit and a healthy Williams things should be different.

Notre Dame does pack a pretty heavy punch off of their bench behind forward Nate Laszewski and guard Dane Goodwin, and it’s been of the biggest factors in offsetting the lack of depth. Louisville’s bench really hasn’t provided a ton this season but this is the game where that needs to change.

There’s no reason to believe that Louisville shouldn’t be able to score somewhere between 20-30 points off the bench, which ultimately would mean that when guys like Nwora, Sutton, and Enoch have to come out, others are there to not drop the ball as we’ve seen.

Closeout defense vs. Three-point shooting

Aside from the weak mental tendencies that have plagued Louisville thus far, I think the other biggest issue has been closing out on three-point shooters.

Texas Tech, Kentucky, Florida State, and even some of the inferior teams Louisville played early in the season have been able to take advantage of a guard penetrating getting into the lane, the Cards defense collapsing and subsequently leaving a shooter open from behind the line.

If Notre Dame is smart, which I believe Mike Brey is, I expect to see a lot of plays drawn up to get TJ Gibbs into the lane or into John Mooney which should force the Cards to collapse or help out which could lead to open shooters.

Notre Dame has been a solid three-point shooting team this season having five guys who consistently shoot over 30 percent from deep. Guards TJ Gibbs, Prentiss Hubb, and Dane Goodwin all 38 percent and above, while big man John Mooney and Nate Laszewski both have the ability to hit off pick & pops or even on spot-up jumpers.