Three takeaways from Louisville basketball overpowering Duke

It was a grind-it-out type of performance for Louisville basketball against Duke on Saturday afternoon. With a lot of ACC and NCAA implications on the line, the Cardinals came out on top of what was a battle to the end.

In a game full of touchy fouls, difficult shots, and sloppy turnovers, Louisville was fortunate enough to come out the victor with a lot of help from Carlik Jones and Jae’Lyn Withers.

Coming into the game, both teams had dropped two straight contests in ACC play. There was an awful lot on the line for a late January game between the two traditional powers. With a couple of effort plays and misses by Duke, the Cardinals came away with the win.

There were a handful of key tweaks by Chris Mack and the team to give themselves a great chance to win.

Here are three takeaways from the win over Duke

A power three is separating themselves

Yes, this much is as clear as it has ever been for the Cardinals. In the early stages of the season, you could see that Carlik Jones and David Johnson were going to be the “dudes” on this squad.

It was presumed that the third man after them would be five star sophomore Samuell Williamson. But – even then – that was a foggy thought to consider and surely a projection. While he has had his fair share of bright moments, it has been another second year player to take the reins as the third piece of the main trio.

That man is Jae’lyn Withers. He has been nothing short of fantastic recently. His surge of 10 points and 6 rebounds in the second half of the game against Duke proved that he has the goods to be the the best player on the floor at any given moment. He was that in some key times on Saturday.

After a 13-point, 7-rebound performance in this game, Withers now has scored in double digits in four of the past five games and is shooting well over 60 percent from the field this year.

Meanwhile, Carlik Jones is continuing his dominance. He has played his best basketball the past five games and he continued that against the Blue Devils with 24 points and 5 assists with 19 in the second half alone. An absolute stud.

Withers and Jones scored 29 of the team’s 34 points in the second half. That’s pure dominance and takeover from two of your team’s best players.

David Johnson is the third of the three-headed monster. He deserves his own kind of praise.