Louisville basketball has been on an absolute tear in February, winning four straight games and improving its record to 18-6. This has put them just three games off the top spot in the ACC and has given this Louisville team momentum for the remainder of the season.
This four-game win streak has been filled with impressive performances, as Mikel Brown Jr. set the ACC freshman record for points in a game with 45 against NC State, while Ryan Conwell had 31 points, making five shots from beyond the arc. However, in the Cardinals' recent success, many other players have seen increased roles and helped this team gain some wins.
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Louisville basketball has two stars rising at the perfect time
Khani Rooths and Kasean Pryor didn’t turn into superstars in this four-game stretch, but they played exactly how Louisville fans expected them to enter the season. The Cardinals already have high-volume scorers who take a majority of the team’s shots, but these two were able to take advantage of the opportunities they are a major reason this team is peaking at the perfect time.
Brown and Ryan Conwell can only do so much, but if Louisville wants to go on a run, Pryor and Rooths have to step up. The Cards backcourt is the heart of this team, but the reason experts and fans are buying back into Louisville is because of the rise of the Cardinals frontcourt, especially from Pryor and Rooths.
Pryor was thrown into a lot more minutes than he was used to against Notre Dame, tying his season high, as he saw 16 minutes of action. The senior made the most of it, making five of his six shots, and scored in the double digits for the second time this season, finishing the night with 10 points.
He would score 17 total points over his three-game stint on this run on 7-12 shooting. Pryor has struggled to find his groove this season after coming off an ACL tear, but his past three games have been a sign of hope for the Cardinals' future. The power forward is showing that when given the opportunity, he can contribute, as he scored 11 points in 11 minutes earlier this season against Memphis. Now, as the season is coming to a close, Pryor is showing that he is gaining trust from Kelsey, and he is ready to earn more minutes and have a bigger role down the stretch and in the postseason.
Rooths, on the other hand, already has a solid role on the Cardinal team, but it seems he is ready to take the next step. Rooths has scored in double digits in three of the four games on the Cardinals' win streak, and even recorded a double-double against SMU and Notre Dame.
Good things seem to happen when Rooths plays, as he has averaged around 20 minutes per game during these past four games. The opposite can be said when the sophomore doesn’t play, with Rooths only appearing more than 13 minutes in a game where the Cardinals have lost one time.
He impacts the game on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, and is another young sparkplug on this Cardinal team that should be utilized as the season nears its end. Louisville is taking on Baylor this afternoon who runs a small lineup. The Cardinals' frontcourt has the opportunity to dominate the paint and glass, as Baylor’s tallest player in the starting lineup is 6-foot-9, while everyone else is smaller than 6-foot-5.
The stars of this Cardinal team are the guards; there is no doubt about that. However, utilizing Rooths and Pryor has worked these past couple of games, and it is a major reason why this team's Final Four odds are rising.