Louisville basketball: Three takeaways from loss to Florida State
By Jacob Lane
It was a tough night for Louisville basketball in Tallahassee. We’ve got three big takeaways from the Cards loss to Florida State.
Things were great for Chris Mack and the Louisville basketball squad until they weren’t.
Monday night seemed like it was set up to be the night the Louisville Cardinals made a statement by getting revenge against the no. 6 team in the country on their home floor coming off of short rest.
The last time Louisville went toe-to-toe with Florida State, things didn’t go so well as the Seminoles length and athleticism was way too much for the smaller guards and less athletic Cardinal front line.
As you’d hope to expect, Louisville is a much different team than the one who fell 78-65 despite getting a career-high from star Jordan Nwora back in the first week of January. That loss, along with the one from Kentucky, helped to spark a much-needed run for the Cards as they ripped off 10-straight wins and looked like one of the best teams in the country.
David Johnson and Malik Williams both played during the team’s first matchup with Florida State, but neither had fully bounced back from their pre-season injuries to look like the players we all expected to see. This time around with those two in the starting lineup, I know I expected Louisville to get the Seminoles back.
But once again it was a tale of two halves.
The first half showed a Louisville team desperate for revenge playing with incredible focus and energy, despite things not going their way with Williams going out to injury. Louisville was diligent in getting the ball outside and attacking the paint against Florida State, opening things up for their shooting from three while attacking defensively and forcing the Seminoles into nine turnovers.
Much like in January, Nwora shook off the criticism and struggles from past games and gave Louisville a huge first-half scoring 11 points and grabbing eight rebounds. He was able to not only get looks from three but was a big part in setting the tone for attacking the paint off the dribble.
Fresh Kimble, Johnson, and even Dwayne Sutton all pitched in as did Ryan McMahon whose shooting from three opened up the game for the Cards and pushed the lead to double-digits.
Then the second half happened.
Whatever adjustments Leonard Hamilton made at halftime worked and did so immediately as the Seminoles were able to slide into the lead and push the game back within reach. They began clamping down in the paint defensively, forcing Louisville into quick, contested jumpers, while attacking the paint with vigor on offense drawing fouls and getting layups and jumpers within close range.
Things quickly got out of hand as the Cards no longer could do much of anything and it led to a 42 to 16 run to close out the game, including a stretch of nearly 11 scoreless minutes for Louisville.
It was quite possibly the hardest loss to stomach this season considering the expectations entering the game and the performance of the Cards in the first half. After the game, Chris Mack had the following to say:
"“We missed some layups in the second half that we’d gotten in the first half. We missed some open threes, from some guys that I want shooting them. Had those gone in, you probably wouldn’t be talking about offensive struggles. It’s not as if we had 19-20 turnovers, which can happen to a lot of teams in here. We’ve got to find a way to come up with some more offensive rebounds, maybe, but they’re big, they’re athletic, they have a plan, they switch. You’ve got to try to get in the lane, like we did in the first half, spray out, make shots, get to the foul line, which, we couldn’t get to the foul line, couldn’t get a whistle by initiating the contact. It is what it is.”"
With Louisville now dropping out of first place and trending the wrong way close to the ACC Tournament, we take a closer look at their loss to Florida State and give our three main takeaways. Keep in mind, not everything you read here is meant to be rainbows and puppies. Let’s begin.