Louisville basketball opened their ACC schedule last night with an impressive 20-point road victory over California. They will wrap up a two-game road trip on Friday night at Stanford, with tipoff set for 8 p.m. Last season, Louisville was dominant in ACC play, finishing 18–2, and starting conference play 1–0, and covering by 13 points is about as strong a start as you can ask for.
Louisville entered ACC play at 10–2, with two losses that left a bad taste in Cardinal fans’ mouths for a couple of weeks. With plenty of time to work on their issues since the December 16 loss to Tennessee, head coach Pat Kelsey had a lot to prove as the competition stiffens moving forward. Before Christmas, you read that Louisville had five areas to clean up before beginning conference play. This game showed they may have done exactly that over the past two weeks, as the Cards looked like a much more complete team—even without freshman star Mikel Brown Jr.
Related: 5 areas Louisville basketball must improve heading into conference play
3 huge reasons Louisville could have another dominant run in the ACC
1. Found another scorer
After dropping another big showdown against quality competition, Louisville’s offense looked lethargic and short on answers. That Tennessee loss also marked the first of three games Mikel Brown Jr. has missed due to injury. Without him pushing the pace and running the offense, it was fair to wonder where consistent scoring would come from, and Cardinal fans were left hoping someone would step up.
Even Pat Kelsey himself may not have been able to clearly identify the team’s third scoring option before last night, but that answer now appears to be emerging. In his last four games, Adrian Wooley has scored at least 15 points three times. The lone exception came against Montana State, when he attempted just four field goals. With Brown Jr. sidelined, Ryan Conwell remained the top offensive option, but Wooley has now thrown his name into the mix in a big way.
Over that four-game stretch, Wooley has shot 11-of-26 from three-point range (42%) and averaged over 15 points per game. If he can maintain that efficiency when Brown Jr. returns, Louisville may have found a reliable third scoring option as conference play rolls on.