Louisville basketball: Jordan Nwora missing on ACC POY doesn’t define season

Louisville basketball star Jordan Nwora finished second in the ACC Player of the Year race but that won’t define his final year as a Cardinal.

Expectations were at an all-time high for Louisville basketball entering Chris Mack’s second season as head coach. With the return of six upperclassmen and six highly ranked recruits with a ton of potential the Cards finally had a loaded roster with star power, experience, athleticism, youth, and everything else you’d think you might need for a deep tournament run.

When you consider Louisville basketball would be returning arguably the best shooter in the ACC and one of America’s top scorers in Jordan Nwora for one final season, it wasn’t unfathomable to think maybe of the most successful seasons for an individual was on the way.

As a sophomore, Nwora literally came out of nowhere going from averaging 5.7 points per game to nearly 18 while showing an ability to fill it up from deep at a level Louisville fans hadn’t seen in years. At 6’7 his size gave him a unique mismatch as neither traditional power forwards or smaller wing players were able to keep him from getting the looks he wanted. His big season led to him claiming the ACC’s Most Improved Player of the Year while setting him up for a run at the ACC Player of the Year Award amongst other national accolades as a junior.

After spurning the 2019 NBA Draft, Nwora came back to Louisville looking to not only improve his draft stock but also put his name in the record books and leave his mark on a program that he helped to get back on track.

Louisville got off to a fast and furious start behind big offensive numbers from Jordan Nwora as he scored in double figures in each of the first 12 games of the season, highlighted by 23 and 10 performance in the opener against Miami, and helped the Cards gain the no. 1 ranking early in the season.

The ACC Player of the Year award all but looked like his as he continued to make his case for not only a National First-Team All-American but also for being in the conversation for National Player of the Year. Nwora continued to show not only his ability to score, especially from three but displayed improved defensive abilities, an improved motor, and the ability to play make for others.

As the season pushed into late December and early January, things started to get away from the junior forward. Fans of Louisville basketball were quick to jump off the bandwagon of Nwora after an eight-point, four rebound performance against Kentucky in what was supposed to be a game the Cards won. That criticism from fans lingered, even as Nwora dropped 32 in a loss against Florida State in what was without question his best offensive game in a Louisville uniform.

Each and every game more fans started to speak up about their concerns over Nwora’s ability to disappear during big games, his body language, lack of defensive intensity, and overall desire to play for the Cards in general. After being hailed as potentially one of the most successful Cardinals to ever do it, fans quickly turned when his play went south and while some criticism was fair most of it was unwarranted and way over the top.

Chris Mack didn’t mince words after the Cards loss to Georgia Tech, one of two games back-to-back where Louisville got nothing from their star player. He wanted more and expected to see it from Nwora, saying:

”They put a 5-foot-11, 6-foot tough kid on him. We run post-up plays and Jordan can’t figure out how to be tough enough to hold a guy off of him and lay the ball in.”

At that point and probably after this quote, the chances of Nwora winning the ACC Player of the Year Award, receiving the national recognition of being a First Team All-American and the NPOY where gone. In a down year for the ACC with tons of hype surrounding his team, Nwora had it set up perfectly to claim the award, becoming the first Card to win the ACC Player of the Year Award; but it wasn’t meant to be. That didn’t mean it was over, in fact, quite the contrary.

Everything was on the line now for the entire team as March approached and fans weren’t willing to settle, but more so, it was all on the line for Nwora. With his draft stock seemingly falling, draft writers beginning to wonder if maybe he had peaked, Louisville fans all tearing down his doors, and his head coach inexcusably moving him to the bench, Nwora turned the heat up on himself.

With those out the door, Nwora pushed it another level and gave Chris Mack nearly everything he had left. As I pointed out yesterday in a piece recapping the loss to Virginia, Nwora proceeded to give the Cards some of the best basketball of his career at a time where it was desperately needed.

Now with the ACC Player of the Year award officially being handed out to Tre Jones out of Duke, the season doesn’t have to be defined by awards. Now for Nwora, it’s about coming back and taking the program to the next level following a disappointing exit against Minnesota. It’s not all doom and gloom on the award front as he received notable individual recognition being named to the First-Team All-ACC squad and finishing second in voting behind Jones. He also was named as a finalist for two of college basketball’s most prestigious awards, the John Wooden Award as well as the Julius Erving Award.

Louisville players have never been defined by individual success. The program has had a ton of great players throughout its history, as evident by the names at the top of this list,  but the players who have moved from being great players to legends, have been defined by their ability to win in March.

Guys like Darrell Griffith, Pervis Ellison, Russ Smith, Peyton Siva, Wes Unseld, Milt Wagner, Francisco Garcia and plenty of others have put their money where their mouth is when it comes to producing at the highest level when it matters most.

With the ACC Tournament set to begin Thursday for Louisville and the NCAA Tournament kicking off next week, there’s still plenty of time for the Cardinals star to put the finishing touches on the work of art that is his career.

When it’s all said and done, Nwora will be in the top 10 in Louisville basketball history in total three-point field goals made and will be able to claim he was apart of 66 important victories that helped reshape the trajectory of the program following years of scandal and hopefully will be apart of a team that exceeded fans wildest expectations.

Nwora along with his teammates, several of whom collected their own recognition, now have the opportunity to do something we all thought they could along that will not only change the course of the program but put their names in the record book for the rest of time.