Quick hits from Louisville basketball’s drubbing of Georgia Tech

The last time Louisville basketball took full control over a game in the second half against any team was late November. That is, until the Cardinals knocked off Georgia Tech on Monday afternoon.

A 14-2 run in the first five minutes of the second half sparked by the performances of Carlik Jones, Sam Williamson, and David Johnson allowed the Cardinals to run away with the game. Louisville never led by any less than 13 in the game after the run.

That run was part of the carryover in momentum from a Sam Williamson buzzer beater in the first half as he put up a hopeful push shot outside the paint that dropped in.

The Cardinals did very little wrong in the second half as they completely dominated Georgia Tech in every facet. Missed layups in the first were cause for frustration, but the offense was moving well and never felt like it went stagnant despite some missed opportunities.

David Johnson had a game-high 24 points in the game while Williamson posted 20 points and a whopping 18 rebounds in the best performance of his young career.

With the win in hand, let’s do some postgame quick hits

Sam Williamson is a 5-star that plays like a 3-star

Williamson is far from the average five-star. After an up-and-down freshman year, he had some very lofty expectations heading into his sophomore campaign. A solid start had many excited, but some performances like the one against Kentucky left a lot to be desired.

He had been timid as an offensive player but began to find himself collecting more and more rebounds in recent games. After a benching against Virginia Tech in second half earlier in the season, Williamson put up a double-double the very next game.

He responds to adversity.

Then, a couple of more games came where he struggled and he eventually lost his starting spot to Quinn Slazinski. Since then, it’s like a switch has been flipped for him.

He has been working his tail off on the glass collecting seven and 10 rebounds in his most recent games. Then, he exploded on Monday for 20 points and 18 boards.

Williamson was all over the glass and was a leader on the offensive boards with 7 of the team’s 19 offensive rebounds.

He’s working hard and the team feeds off of his energy. As a recruit, Williamson wasn’t touted as a “grinder” built to come in and clean up the glass and do the little things for the team. He was billed as an offensive star. The offense hasn’t completely clicked yet. But his effort and energy is more apparent each and every game.

This was a heck of a performance by the sophomore.

David Johnson finds his spunk

Chris Mack decided to let David Johnson control the offense for much of the game today as he gave another one of Louisville’s star sophomores the green light to run point. Johnson didn’t have any assists in this game, but the ability to simply keep the ball moving was impressive enough.

He was an active participant rebounding as well with 10 rebounds of his own (second on the team).

But – most importantly – Johnson rediscovered his three-point shooting. He hit four of them early on in the first half and you could tell it was just his day from beyond the arc. Georgia Tech failed to find him and left him wide open on multiple occasions. He also wasn’t passing up the opportunity just because there was a man in front of him. The Yellow Jackets closed out with their hands down on multiple attempts and Johnson made them pay. He finished 6-for-11 from three and finished with 24 total points.

It’s the bounce back game he really needed.

Johnson and Jones contain Alvarado

Jose Alvarado is one of the more unsung stars of the ACC. Louisville’s star guards straight up made him look bad on Monday. Alvarado finished with 7 points on 3-for-11 shooting and was not much of a factor most of the game.

Johnson and Jones had no problems playing clean defense and staying in front of him as well as limiting his opportunities to attempt threes which is where he is most dangerous.

If it weren’t for the combined effort of these two defensively, Alvarado could easily go for 20. He did so in six of the past seven games before this matchup.

Big men – what’s happening with the layups?

This has become a very odd storyline to keep track off, but it’s absolutely worth noting. Throughout the game, big men Jae’Lyn Withers, JJ Traynor, and Gabe Wiznitzer failed to finish their easy layups at the basket. Most of the time, it ended up in Georgia Tech forward Moses Wright blocking the ball into the sixth row.

Wright finished with 7 blocks mostly in due part because the Louisville bigs were going up to the basket way too soft. The concept of dunking the ball seems important in this situation. I would imagine that it will be a major talking point by the coaching staff. it’s just an odd thing that this team is struggling with. In other games, leaving easy points on the floor will be a much bigger problem.

Overall

This team played a heck of a game. Players like Dre Davis struggled offensively, but were very sound as defensive pieces. The same could be said about Quinn Slazinski.

If Williamson can continue this streak of aggressive rebounding and offensive play, Louisville could be a very scary team when Malik Williams returns.

We’ve said this before about this team, but consistency is a big thing right now with them. Louisville would probably like to get Jae’Lyn Withers revved up again before long. But the play of Williamson has masked that issue for now. This team has dynamite talent that can play both ends of the floor. Now is the perfect time to gain momentum.

The win against Georgia Tech is just the start of a long, difficult stretch to come.