A tale of two completely different games played out in front of Card Nation's eyes the last few nights. After coming off a 20-point domination of the California Golden Bears, the Cardinals fall 80-76 to the Cardinal. It was an off night for Louisville basketball on all fronts, but they still had a legitimate chance to win this game. Louisville struggled in many facets of its game, highlighting the holes that Mikel Brown Jr. is able to plug with the skill sets he brings to the table.
The Cardinals hope to get their star point guard back into the rotation as they will now look ahead to their showdown Tuesday night against the Duke Blue Devils. The tape from this game will be one the coaching staff and players need to review and use to address the issues that persist in their style of play. It’s an unexpected and incredibly difficult loss to stomach this early in the conference season for all of Card Nation. Hopefully, the mistakes made tonight can be corrected, and the team can rally against the ACC frontrunner, the Blue Devils, and prove their status as a legitimate contender for the ACC title.
5. Sloppy defense gave Stanford too many open looks, which they hit consistently
Stanford took advantage of an incredibly lackluster performance on the defensive end from the Louisville Cardinals. The Cardinal shot an incredible 46% from the field after a horrendous outing in their previous game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They also took a note from Louisville’s playbook and shot an eye-opening 47% from 3-point land. They kept finding open look after open look in the Louisville defense and kept making shot after shot.
Louisville's intensity appeared to be in place most of the game. The problem was that the defense's execution and the mistakes on switches or losing players in the offense bit them over and over again. Louisville won the rebounding battle 39-31; however, that did not appear to matter, as Stanford was highly efficient on offense and found plenty of opportunities to capitalize on Louisville's defensive woes.
4. Carelessness/sloppiness leads to consistent turnovers
The first half was one to forget for the Cardinals, as they came out uninspired and extremely loose with the ball on the offensive end. Stanford played excellent defense and found ways to create turnovers and convert those turnovers into points, as they had seven steals and 12 points off turnovers. Too many times in the first half, a Cardinal possession ended early due to great defense or just complete unawareness within the offense. It was incredibly frustrating to watch an offense that performed so well just the game before against Cal be stalled and tricked time and time again.
The simple fix for this issue is to get Mikel Brown back in the fold and have the offense flowing exactly as it should, with him at the helm. However, injuries do happen, and the offense should not have trouble taking care of the basketball when one player is out. Louisville typically does a great job in this field and usually has a high assist-to-turnover ratio. However, Stanford’s defensive intensity gave Louisville fits all night.
3. Foul trouble once again causes issues with lineups and star players
One of the most underrated aspects of the game was Louisville's constant foul trouble, particularly with guard Adrian Wooley. Wooley was called for two early fouls, which kept him on the bench most of the first half. With this lack of play, he was never able to get into an offensive groove and establish his shot or make his mark in the offense. Wooley emerged as one of the stars in the last game against Cal, with most Cards fans hoping to see more of the same in this game.
Foul trouble also ran rampant in the second half with senior leaders Ryan Conwell and J’Vonne Hadley. Conwell ultimately fouled out late in the second half on a careless reach-in foul for a driving Stanford guard. This call was a massive blow, as Louisville was trying to come back and win the game at that point. Ultimately, Louisville has 3 guys who can “go get you a bucket”: Ryan Conwell, Mikel Brown Jr., and Adrian Wooley. When 2 of the three guys are not on the floor, the offense stalls, and the ability to find points in challenging situations appears to vanish. Hopefully, the foul trouble issues from the last couple of games can be addressed quickly.
2. Horrendous shooting night leads to offensive struggles
Another instance of Louisville living and dying by the 3-point shot. The Cardinals struggled to find their shot all night, going 6-for-27 (22%), with most of their attempts contested and rushed in stalled offensive sets. Ryan Conwell and Isaac McKneely had off nights, going 2 of 14 and 3 of 8, respectively, from behind the arc. This team thrives on shooting efficiency, and nights like these may be a sign of more to come if the shooting numbers are this horrid again.
These types of games are where the presence of Mikel Brown Jr. can be an absolute game changer. His ability to get to the basket makes defenses respect his driving ability, thus opening up shots for others on the perimeter. When you force Ryan Conwell to be the driver to the basket and not one of the outside shooters, you are taking away a key aspect of what makes this offense elite. This also forces Conwell to find his shots on his own on the perimeter, as seen tonight, where he is not always able to get position and set his feet properly. The long and short of it is, if Louisville has more nights like the shooting performance tonight, Cards fans should expect to see more dismal results.
1. Uninspiring performance going into the Duke game
One of the biggest bummers of this game was the lack of killer instinct among the Cardinals players. It always seemed like the play was big, uninspired, and more of a case of going through the motions, which led to some careless turnovers and errant shot attempts. It's always a hard ask to be locked in on a long road trip out west, especially without one of your best players in Mikel Brown Jr. But honestly, that’s part of the gig. You put on the jersey to go out and fight each night for Louisville basketball and the fanbase.
It is hoped that this performance was an authentic learning experience about what can happen in a better ACC conference if passion and effort are not there night in and night out. The frustration of not only the coaches but also the fans was evident throughout Card Nation as the game played out. With Duke coming into town next week, the Cardinals were hoping to roll into the major matchup undefeated in conference play. Although they have fallen short of that goal, the matchup is absolutely massive in shaping the rest of conference play and in revealing which of the two conference powers could emerge as the clear-cut frontrunner for the regular-season title.