Louisville basketball: Cards look to make it seven straight against Boston College

Players to watch

G, Darius Perry – Louisville

We have all been waiting to see the Darius Perry that Louisville got on Saturday during their win over Clemson. Perry did everything on the floor, including scoring a career-high in points, and ultimately was a huge part of why the Cards were able to blowout Brad Brownell’s team.

Chris Mack applauded Darius Perry during his media availability on Tuesday, and it’s not hard to see why. Perry has been one of the driving forces during Louisville’s six-game winning streak as he’s developed into a trustworthy guard on both sides of the floor capable of doing the things necessary to win.

Against Boston College, Perry will have a tougher matchup than he did on Saturday as he’ll have to deal with one of the most experienced guards in the conference in graduate-transfer Derryck Thornton as well as one of the biggest surprises in freshmen Jay Heath.

Both guards are solid defensive players who have good athleticism and length capable of making things challenging.

I want to see how Perry bounces back after a career-best scoring game. Does he come back and look focused in and letting the game come to him or does he revert back to the guard who at times can be sloppy with the ball and make bad decisions?

G, Jay Heath – Boston College

While senior point guard Derryck Thornton missed a few games earlier this month with an ankle injury, it was freshman Jay Heath who stepped up to the challenge and helped the BC program pull off a huge upset over then no. 18 Virginia. Since then he’s showed continued flashes of being a Ky Bowman like player for the Eagles over the next three to four seasons and he’s a player who I have concerns about due to his ability to score.

We’ve seen Louisville struggle at times this season with quick, athletic, scoring guards like Jay Heath. Whether it was Xavier Johnson and Trey McGowens, Dejan Vasiljevic and Chris Lykes, or even M.J. Walker and Devin Vassell, each duo had a decent amount of success scoring the ball against Louisville’s smaller guards.

Heath has been on fire over the last three games for BC, averaging 15 points per game (three more than his season average of 12.

With Thornton back into the lineup and sophomore forward Jairus Hamilton developing into another trusted scorer, Heath has the ability to pick his spots when it comes to scoring. Thornton is a solid decision-maker in the pick and roll, and if he’s able to get looks to Heath there could be some issues for Louisville.

F, Jordan Nwora – Louisville

It’s been a rather frustrating stretch of basketball that we’ve seen from Jordan Nwora over the last two weeks. While you like to see a team that was once dependent on one player scoring at a high level to win become a more well-rounded group capable of winning games on their own but it’s tough to do so at the expense of your star player.

Since dropping 32 against Florida State earlier this month, Nwora really hasn’t been the same player. While it’s been great to see him still give good effort defensively as well as on the glass, it’s been tough watching Nwora struggle to score, shooting 21/56 over the last five games.

Boston College will present a unique challenge for Nwora, as he’ll be primarily guarded by a player with similar traits to his. At 6’8, Hamilton may have the best opportunity out of any player faced this season to bother Nwora on the defensive end. The sophomore forward’s size, athleticism, and length make him a perfect match to either face-guard Nwora like we saw Duke do, or to simply shadow him throughout the entire game.

The first few minutes to the game will be key for Nwora, as he typically plays better offensively if he makes his first couple of shots early on. I personally think he’s going to have a big game as it feels like it’s just time, and if he does he’ll have done so against a pretty solid defensive matchup.