Louisville basketball is set for a top-20 matchup against Tennessee on Tuesday night. The Cardinals will be looking for their tenth win of the season, along with their first road win. The task won’t be easy as they are taking on a stout foe from the SEC in the Volunteers, who are playing with everything to lose.
Tennessee has lost its last three games and is in danger of falling out of the rankings if it drops one more. They will be coming at the Cardinals with everything they have, so this is not the case, and Louisville must be ready.
This Cardinals squad is battle-tested and is not going to shy away from a ranked opponent. Louisville has two ranked wins already on the season, beating Kentucky and Indiana. The Cards are looking to add another ranked win to their resume and believe they can against Tennessee. Let’s take a look at five reasons why the Cardinals will beat the Volunteers.
5. The turnover battle
Turnovers decide a lot of games, and they will work in the Cardinals' favor in this game. Tennessee currently averages 13.2 turnovers a game compared to Louisville’s 10.9. In a game where extra possessions are a huge advantage, the favor definitely leans towards the Cardinals.
Louisville does a good job of causing these turnovers, as the Cardinals average 8.1 steals a game to start the season. This effort will have to be led by Kobe Rodgers, who averages 1.3 steals a game. If Rodgers and the Cardinals can make the Volunteers hand them extra possessions, it will be a long night.
This Louisville squad that averages over 94 points a game is too lethal to allow extra possessions to. If they can produce on the defensive end as they have been, the Cardinals should have no trouble taking care of business.
4. Free Throws
Louisville finds ways to make the game as easy as possible. The Cardinals average an absurd 26.1 free throws per game, ranking them No. 32 nationally in free-throw attempts. However, the Cardinals don’t just shoot foul shots; they make them.
The Cardinals are shooting 77.8 percent from the free-throw line, which again ranks them among the best in the nation. Ryan Conwell has shot 59 free throws and only missed eight of them, and the same can be said about the Cardinals' most frequent free-throw shooter, Mikel Brown Jr.
Brown Jr. has shot 68 free throws this season by playing smart and drawing fouls to get free points for his team. Even more impressively, he has only missed 11. If Brown Jr. and the rest of the Cardinals can continue to get to the free-throw line, then Louisville will have a good chance at taking this one home.
3. The Cardinals dominant offense
This Louisville squad straight up just scores too much for the Volunteers to be able to keep up with them. As mentioned previously, the Cardinals are averaging over 94 points per game this season and have scored over 100 points four times.
The Cardinals are shooting 47.9% from the floor this season and have continued to make teams pay with their shots. This effort is led by Ryan Conwell, who averages 19.4 points per game for Louisville. Conwell is a 42% three point deadeye and has been the Cardinals' main offensive weapon all season. He’s been the Cardinals' leading scorer in six games and has a team high this season of 32 points in a game.
If Conwell and the rest of the Cardinal team is able to bring bring its best to Tennessee, then the Volunteers will be fighting an uphill battle that they’ll never be able to win.
2. The Cardinals learned from their mistakes
The last SEC opponent that the Cardinals faced was the Arkansas Razorbacks. On paper, Louisville should’ve won that game with room to spare, and still should be undefeated. However, we know that was not the case.
Louisville started the game out cold and could not score against the Razorback defense. They only scored 29 points in the first half and put themselves in a hard position to fight out of. The Cardinals tried though, and put up a 51-point second half to claw back into the game. Ultimately, it wouldn’t be enough, and Louisville would suffer its first loss of the season.
However, the Cardinals have learned from their mistakes. Since that loss, Louisville is averaging 49 points in the opening half of games, and the Cardinals don’t intend to stop that trend. If Louisville can have a blazing start once again, then Tennessee will have no shot at playing catch-up all game.
1. Sananda Fru
The Cardinals' big man can do it all. Sananda Fru is currently averaging 10.6 points per game, along with being Louisville’s leading rebounder with 6.2 boards per game. Fru is also a menace on the defensive side of the ball as he is averaging over a block a game. The Cardinals will need all of Fru for this bout, and I believe Fru is ready for the challenge.
Tennessee only averages about 30 points per game in the paint, and Fru will make sure that it is even less than that on Tuesday. Fru has been a defensive presence in the paint this year and will for sure be a tough challenge for the Tennessee offense.
Fru will also have to be diligent on the glass on Tuesday night as the Volunteers are good at grabbing offensive boards. If Fru can box out in the paint and limit the second opportunities for Tennesse than this game will be no sweat for the Cards.