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Louisville basketball: Three bold predictions against Florida State

By Presley Meyer

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - DECEMBER 03: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrates during the 58-43 win against the Michigan Wolverines at KFC YUM! Center on December 03, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - DECEMBER 03: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrates during the 58-43 win against the Michigan Wolverines at KFC YUM! Center on December 03, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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LOUISVILLE, KY – FEBRUARY 19: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrates with David Johnson #13 and Dwayne Sutton #24 after hitting a three-point shot against the Syracuse Orange in the first half of a game at KFC YUM! Center on February 19, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville defeated Syracuse 90-66. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY – FEBRUARY 19: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals celebrates with David Johnson #13 and Dwayne Sutton #24 after hitting a three-point shot against the Syracuse Orange in the first half of a game at KFC YUM! Center on February 19, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville defeated Syracuse 90-66. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

“No, really, hear me out”

Alex: Four Cards score in double digits while Cards and FSU swap field goal percentages from their last match up.

No, really, hear me out.

Look – I told Jacob I didn’t want to write about this game when he asked me to pitch in for this.

I’m nervous about this reunion on Monday, so I’m typing optimistically to make myself feel better about it. The FSU loss felt different for me, it was the first time I had seen Louisville handled (especially at home) from start to finish. However, I think there is definitely an opportunity for a better outcome for the Cards this time around.

Has anyone compared Louisville’s and FSU’s stats lately? Here are a few numbers to boast around the water cooler today.

Louisville and FSU are nearly identical as a team offensively in a few major categories thus far.

Field Goal percentage? Cards edge the Noles by .1, at 45.7% for the season.

Three-Point Percentage? Louisville shoots it from the arch 2.2% better at 38.3%

Points per game? It’s a push, with both teams clocking in 75.3 per outing.

Louisville even leads in the rebounding by exactly four more per game. So what gives? When I look back through the box score of the Cards first matchup, a few things jump out that might be telling.

There were anomalies across the board on the stat sheet from Louisville’s last matchup.

Essentially it was Nwora and everyone else, with the pre-season all-American going off for 32 points and 5-6 from beyond the arch.  Enoch was the only other Cardinal that finished in double-digits, with the next closest Louisville players finishing with 6. I think that changes.

Unfortunately, I’m predicting Jordan comes back down to earth this game. However, with David Johnson making a much larger impact helping spread the wealth amongst the team, multiple Cards will finish with double-digit scoring. So well, in fact, FOUR different players finish with double-digits.

And that’s not all.

FSU comes back down to earth as well, and that includes M.J. Walker playing closer to his season average of 10.5 points per game- not 23. With both of these teams averaging such similar stats, there’s no reason to think that Louisville couldn’t shoot 55.2 percent and FSU could cool down shooting 38.7 percent, swapping the stats from the game prior.

Hey, crazier things have happened.

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