Louisville basketball: Benching Jordan Nwora an inexcusable mistake

After Louisville basketball’s embarrassing loss to Clemson in which Jordan Nwora was benched as a starter, there are now more questions than answers.

Louisville basketball lost to Clemson 77-62, dropping two in a row against .500 opponents. It’s not even like it was close between the two teams as the Cards were dominated, trailing most of the way.

Chris Mack didn’t have any answers in postgame.

“I’m not going to be able to answer a lot of questions about our team,” Mack said. “We’re not playing very well and I own it. Until I can watch the film and have some one-on-one conversations, I see the same thing you do. It’s a team that started flat, plays uphill or tries to play uphill the rest of the way and the teams we are playing are too together and we’re not right now. It happens sometimes, but it’s my job to keep this team on course.

Let’s be honest.

Mack’s decision to bench ACC Play of the year front runner Jordan Nwora was brainless.

Louisville suffered an upset loss to Georgia Tech on Wednesday and Nwora only scored two points.

Then rumors of a potential lineup change to combat slow starts surfaced. Mack picked an unconventional tactic and benched their leading scorer against Clemson.

It backfired and the team started slow again.

“It’s my fault. I have to figure it out. We as a coaching staff have to figure it out. Generally, it looks like we’re not playing for anything. Really frustrating. But it’s my job to figure it out, and I’ve failed so far,” Mack said.

Louisville was down 12-5 before the first TV timeout and then Nwora entered the game. However, they continued their struggles and had their worst half of the season. The shooting was abhorrent throughout the first half as Louisville shot 16 percent from the field and scored a measly 14 points as they got behind 31-14.

In the second half Louisville’s offense was better, but their defense was putrid as they allowed 46 points.

Mack explained how Clemson dominated.

“I thought Clemson’s physicality on the defensive end really bothered us,” Mack said postgame. “It pushed us off our spot. We weren’t strong with our straight-line drives. We drove the ball in defending fashion, and that had a lot to do with our rushed shots. On the other end, I thought their offense was moving much faster than our defense, which is frustrating.”

To be clear, benching Nwora wasn’t the reason why Louisville lost, he only had five points in 30 minutes, but he appeared discombobulated and was never in rhythm.  But can you blame him, he’s a college basketball star and got benched for one bad performance.

Nwora is both an all-American and John R. Wooden candidate. You do not bench your star player after a bad game to “spark the team.” Maybe you can do that at Xavier, but it won’t work in the ACC.

Nwora averaged 17.2 and shot a blistering 46 percent from three during the 10 game winning streak and Louisville was in first place in the ACC standings prior to this week.

Mack picked the wrong guy to bench and the strategy behind the benching was perplexing.

Mack started Samuel Williamson in place of Nwora but he only played six minutes. When the rumblings of a lineup change was coming, some thought it would be in the backcourt.

Against Georgia Tech, Perry and Kimble combined for three points and three assists in 37 minutes. Johnson scored 16 points, five rebounds and two assists.

David Johnson is playing better than Darius Perry and Fresh Kimble and was labeled as the teams’ best playmaker.

For a spark, starting Johnson appeared logical, not benching Nwora but Mack left Perry and Kimble in the starting lineup. And the same trend continued against Clemson.

Kimble and Perry combined for nine points and zero assist. Johnson had 12 points, six rebounds, and eight assists.

If there’s a change to be made, it’s evident in Johnson.

Mack is doing a good job at Louisville but he made a mistake. However, Nwora has to do his part and get back to playing well if Louisville has any shot of reaching their lofty expectations and it starts against Syracuse.