Louisville basketball: Cards flee Demons in comeback win over Wake

Louisville can flip a switch like no one else but it can’t be the norm

Over Louisville’s nine game winning streak we’ve seen them find several different ways to win games for Chris Mack. We’ve seen blowouts, we’ve seen comebacks, we’ve seen leads blown, we’ve literally seen it all – but in the end, it hasn’t mattered as the Cards have figured out how to get victories when it counts.

The close calls against Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Georgia Tech showed us that when Louisville’s backs are against the wall they have the mental fortitude and ability to flip a switch and turn it on for an extended period of time. We saw that once again on Wednesday night against Wake Forest, as Louisville went from playing arguably their worst half of basketball all season (especially defensively) to playing their best.

There’s no way around what we saw from the Cards in the first half against Wake Forest. They allowed the last-place Demon Deacons to come into their building and light up the scoreboard after being one of the most average shooting teams in the ACC. Louisville’s defensive effort was so bad that even ESPN Color Commentator Dan Dakich couldn’t stop pointing it out.

Transition was bad. Three-point closeouts were bad. The interior defense was bad. Basic defensive fundamentals like playing with your hands up were missing during the first half and it allowed Wake Forest to get out to a 16 point lead behind the hot shooting of White and Childress.

I don’t know what Chris Mack said to his team at halftime, although I can guess that it wasn’t all flowers and rainbows, whatever it was it worked. Louisville came out with a defensive intensity from top to bottom that I hadn’t seen from them all season.

The defense at the top of the key by guards Darius Perry and Fresh Kimble was simply sensational while Dwayne Sutton, Jordan Nwora, Ryan McMahon, and even Steven Enoch pitched in to provide lockdown help.

On the offensive end, Louisville went from forcing quick shots and running lackadaisical sets to slashing with a purpose without the ball, feeding the interior, and keeping the ball moving around Wake Forest’s 2-3 zone. They did a great job of attacking the basket, especially Dwayne Sutton, and it led to them shooting a fairly high number of free throws in the second half that allowed them to push their lead to double-digits.

They held Wake Forest to just 30 points in the second half, and aside from solid play from Olivier Sarr and Andrien White, Louisville limited everyone else by keeping a hand in their face, closing out at full speed, and attacking the glass.

Flipping a switch against Wake Forest is one thing but can Louisville do it against the Dukes, Florida State’s, Virginia’s and other prominent ACC programs? Or what about in the tournament? If Louisville gets down against a team better than Wake Forest, will they be able to flip the same switch that they did on Wednesday night?

I don’t know the answer to that now but my hope is that with their backs being pushed up against the wall enough times that they are figuring out that maybe they should take command of games early and not rely on the second half to help them get things right.