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Louisville basketball: 3 bold predictions vs. Syracuse

By Jacob Lane

LOUISVILLE, KY - JANUARY 25: Steven Enoch #23, Jordan Nwora #33, Darius Perry #2 and Dwayne Sutton #24 of the Louisville Cardinals take the floor in the second half of a game against the Clemson Tigers at KFC YUM! Center on January 25, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville defeated Clemson 80-62. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY - JANUARY 25: Steven Enoch #23, Jordan Nwora #33, Darius Perry #2 and Dwayne Sutton #24 of the Louisville Cardinals take the floor in the second half of a game against the Clemson Tigers at KFC YUM! Center on January 25, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville defeated Clemson 80-62. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – FEBRUARY 08: Dwayne Sutton #24 of the Louisville Cardinals takes a three point shot while guarded by Mamadi Diakite #25 during the second half of the game at KFC YUM! Center on February 08, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – FEBRUARY 08: Dwayne Sutton #24 of the Louisville Cardinals takes a three point shot while guarded by Mamadi Diakite #25 during the second half of the game at KFC YUM! Center on February 08, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images) /

Louisville shoots above season average from three

While Syracuse’s defense has not been at the level we have grown accustomed to in recent years, the Orange are still forcing teams to shoot a ton of threes.

Louisville is a team that loves to shoot the three-ball and does so well. But Syracuse forces you to take even more deep shots than the Cards are accustomed to. Teams average 29 three-point attempts per game against Cuse (Twenty. Freaking. Nine), making 31.2 percent of those which ranks Syracuse as the nation’s 92nd best three-point shooting defense.

I don’t love the idea of Louisville tossing up a ton of deep ones on Wednesday, but if the Cardinals are able to find shots in rhythm, they are honestly playing to their strengths. We all have to hope that what we saw from Louisville last season against the Cuse won’t be replicated. In 40 minutes of play, the Cards took an incredibly high 28 three-pointers, of which they only six. Considering Louisville’s shooting the last two games has been absolutely horrendous 17 percent (9/51 overall)

Jordan Nwora (1/9), Ryan McMahon (3/16), Fresh Kimble (0/4), and Darius Perry (1/4) have been way off-target from deep the last two games, but like anything this season, statistics often seem to regress to the mean. I believe that if the Cards are able to get their shooters some open looks, shots are eventually going to start falling.

The Cardinals are shooting 38 percent from deep this season, and I expect them to bounce back from some lackluster performances against Georgia Tech and Clemson beyond the arc and find their groove against a team that will let you put up a ton of three balls.

Look for Nwora and McMahon, in particular, to try and exorcise some of those demons on Wednesday in an attempt to close the ugly chapter that was last week.

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