LOUISVILLE — Watching Chris Mack coach a Louisville basketball game is an experience in the fickleness of human emotion. When the Cardinals bungle a possession or when an official makes what Mack believes is a poor call, the coach’s body language and facial expressions are as animated as marionettes in a children’s puppet show. When the Cardinals are playing well, Mack can be as stone-faced as a Buckingham Palace guard.
Advertisem*nt
So when Steven Enoch’s dunk on a bounce pass from Dwayne Sutton earned an approving double nod from Mack on Saturday, it was a sign that the offense was firing as intended.
Four days after a sputtering offense shot a season-low 34 percent from the field in a loss to Texas Tech, the Cardinals shot 63 percent and tied season-highs in field goals (34), assists (22) and points in a 99-67 victory over Eastern Kentucky.
“The thing I like is that we’re a team that learns,” Mack said. “We try to correct the things that plague us.”
Jordan Nwora finished with 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting to lead the Cardinals in scoring for the 11th straight game. Enoch scored a career-high 23 points on 9-of-10 shooting, and Malik Williams added 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Sutton added 11 to reach 1,001 career points.
Louisville also went 22-of-23 from the foul line, just the third time in program history (and the first since 1997) that the Cardinals attempted at least 20 free throws and only missed one.
Here’s what else stood out from the win.
Ball movement on point
Coming off the Texas Tech game, one of the top priorities was to clean up shot selection by way of increased passing and patient decision-making. By my very unofficial estimation, on Saturday the Cardinals regularly passed the ball four or five times per possession before taking a shot. Other than on fast breaks, there were almost no instances when fewer than two players touched the ball.
“We’ve got a lot of talented guys so there’s no need for iso ball,” freshman Samuell Williamson explained.
Guard Ryan McMahon led the way with a season-high six assists, a statistic he said was subverted by mental self-sabotage.
“Darius (Perry) told me with 10 minutes left,” McMahon said. “He was like, hey don’t play any different but you have six assists. You should try get to 10. And from then on I knew I wasn’t going to get it. Once you start thinking about it …” he trailed off into laughter, shaking his head.
Advertisem*nt
McMahon credited the point guards for doing a good job of getting the ball across halfcourt and pointed out that a couple of his assists were to Enoch on duck-ins to the post, which McMahon called “the easiest assists you can get.” But two more of his assists to Enoch were highlight-worthy: a no-look pass for a flush and a soaring lob for an alley-oop.
Anyone who has heard Mack talk about offense knows that for him, it all starts in the lane, which is why the coaching staff keep track of paint touches.
Louisville got the ball inside while demonstrating diversity in its attack. Sometimes a guard drove and then kicked the ball back out, and other times a big posted up on the block or the baseline to receive a feed. The Cardinals got almost half of their points by outscoring the Colonels in the paint, 42-18. On top of that, they shot 9-of-19 from deep.
That’s productive all around, but only Enoch earned the designation of “crazy efficient” from Mack. The senior center didn’t miss a field goal until 31 minutes into the game. He went 5-of-6 from the foul line in addition to 9-of-10 from the field, with four dunks.
“It was good to see him locked in,” said Nwora, who scored his 26 points on just 14 field goal attempts.
Defense gets a passing grade
The defense was markedly improved from earlier in the week, but it still wasnt the best effort of the season.
The good: EKU shot just 37 percent from the field with no fast-break points. The Colonels’ 14 turnovers matched a season-high for a Louisville opponent.
The bad: EKU grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and forced 16 turnovers.
“I don’t think it was an A-plus, but I also don’t think it was the C-range either,” Mack said.
The upside was that the Colonels were unable to capitalize on many of those put-back opportunities; the Cardinals still held a 14-8 advantage in second-chance points.
Advertisem*nt
Louisville also spread rebounding responsibility relatively evenly on both ends of the floor. Nwora and Enoch each pulled down seven, Malik Williams had six and Sutton added five. In less than five minutes, freshman center Aidan Igiehon grabbed three.
Cards don’t crack under pressure
EKU implemented a full-court press for nearly every possession. Mack said he expected it, but it was still “a really funky way to play a basketball game.”
Louisville had faced the press earlier in the season, but not with the consistency EKU exhibited. The Colonels hounded the Cardinals guards in the backcourt, sometimes with deliberate traps off the inbound, sometimes with a 2-2-1 press and sometimes with random running and jumping.
Mack said he thought his three points guards — Perry, Fresh Kimble and David Johnson — all handled the pressure well. Perry and Kimble usually threw long passes to mid-court, while Johnson, with his bigger frame, was more adept at dribbling up the floor.
Johnson played a season-high 17 minutes and finished 2-of-3 from the field with five points, two defensive rebounds, two assists and three turnovers. The freshman fired a few impressive one-handed passes from the paint out to the wings, and despite the turnovers demonstrated notable poise.
“One thing David has, and that he’s always had ever since we started recruiting him, is a very calming demeanor,” Mack said. “It was very frustrating throughout the recruiting process because I never knew what the hell the kid was thinking, but that’s a good trait to have on the basketball court.”
Perry logged the most playing time of the three (19 minutes) and had three assists against two turnovers. The junior also shot 2-of-3 from the field for five points. Kimble played 14 minutes with two assists and one turnover while going 0-of-2 from the field.
Advertisem*nt
Johnson, who before Saturday averaged just five minutes per game, most likely will continue to see the court more. But don’t expect him to immediately jump Perry and Kimble for the No. 1 or No. 2 spot. As Mack pointed out Saturday, he’s a freshman who is still learning.
(Photo of Jordan Nwora: Jamie Rhodes/USA Today Sports)
