Louisville Basketball's Keys To Beating The Kentucky Wildcats
By Caleb Hall
The Louisville Cardinals and the Kentucky Wildcats will face off this Thursday and the stakes couldn't be higher for Kenny Payne's team.
Kenny Payne has been under a lot of fire from the fanbase and the media for how his team has performed this season, and a big loss to the Wildcats could send him over the edge. While Louisville looked better against Pepperdine, they are not Kentucky. Kentucky is a top ten team with so much talent that may be too much for Louisville to handle.
Kenny Payne will likely have to get this win to continue coaching the Cardinals, and the team will need to play with full effort and tenacity to win this game against the Wildcats. Here are some keys that Louisville will need to follow if they want to upset #9 Kentucky.
Louisville's Offensive Keys To Victory:
While Kentucky's defense has been quite good down the stretch this season, they have shown some signs of weakness. They have had some great defensive performances this season like against Miami, but they have also let some teams keep up with them offensively. They lost to UNC Wilmington after beating Miami and gave up 80 points in the loss. While also giving up 11 three-pointers and letting them get up as many as 14 points in the game.
Against Power 6 teams Kentucky has given up 89, 83, and 73 points. If Louisville can somehow keep pace with Kentucky then they may have a chance to win. Especially if the Wildcats have an off day on the defensive side of the ball.
Louisville will need guys like Mike James and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield to especially be on their A-game. Skyy Clark and Tre White will likely get their due just based on their play for the whole season, but guys like Hatfield and James have had a very off-and-on season.
If Hatfield plays with force and can make shots against Aaron Bradshaw, that will certainly help Louisville's chances. The same goes for how well guards like Skyy Clark, Mike James, and Ty-laur Johnson will play.
Running a consistent offense will be very important in this game, as Kentucky's offense is one of the best in the country and everything Louisville does on offense will be very important in determining who wins.