– “Samford” and “My Son”
The “Battle 4 Atlantis” started tonight in the KFC YUM center. It is expected to be one of the most entertaining and challenging early season tournaments of the year. At times our Cards did provide some entertainment but this one was far from being challenging as Louisville rolls to 2-0 on the early season beating Samford 80-54 on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs were not a high profile team, the game was a blow-out, and essentially meant nothing in the grand scheme of things but I will remember it forever. Other than watching my Cards win a national championship this will go down as the most important one of my life. November 15, 2012 was the night I celebrated my 40th and my son’s 1st birthday. It was also his very first Louisville Cardinal basketball game. I have always dreamed of sharing this special moment with my son and to get to do this on these monumental birthdays was really something.
Coming into this game tonight I had three questions. What kind of night would the Cards have on the boards? Would Wayne Blackshear start to get things going and start looking like the player we had seen in the Super-dome last March? Would Luke Hancock get things going and start providing the offensive production we were expecting of him this season?
Coach Pitino said after the Manhattan game that he was going to take the week and really focus on getting his guys to be more agressive on the boards, and he must have gotten their attention because tonight the answer to my first question was yes. The Cards dominated the boards and it wasn’t close as they pulled down 53 rebounds to Samford’s 28. Thanks to a big effort from Chane Behanan who had a game-high 18 boards and Gorgui Dieng who had 13 boards.
Coach Pitino: “We improved our rebounding and that was a staple.”
If you have been paying attention the last couple of weeks then you have noticed that Wayne Blackshear has been really quite on the court. So quiet that Coach Pitino came out during his weekly press conference and said that he didn’t think Wayne was back from his injuries at a 100% yet. I think Wayne has heard the rumblings about his early performance and the answer to my second question tonight was also answered with a yes. Wayne started the game and in 24 minutes of play he was the second highest scorer with 13 points. He also added 5 rebounds to go along with 2 steals. Tonight he did look more involved and in the post game interview he said that he played more aggressive and that he was starting to get his confidence back.
We all know that this team is in need of some instant offense and we thought we had the guy who would provide that in Luke Hancock. He came to us from George Mason University shooting 49% from the field and 34% from the 3. During his brief time as a player for the Cardinals he is shooting 18% from the field and 16% from the 3. And the answer to my 3rd question of the night was unfortunately a no as Luke shot 1-12 from the field, 1-10 from 3. He finished with just 4 points. To add something positive he did have 6 rebounds.
Coach Pitino: “Fans have no idea how down Luke is right now.” He also mentioned that shoulder injury was still a factor.
Was really good to see Russdiculous continue to provide an offensive spark to this team as he lead all scorers with 18 points. Would really like to see him add some assist to go along with that and after listening to Coach Pitino’s post game it sounds like he would also.
Coach Pitino: “Russ took some challenged shots there at the end so he could go home and call his father and tell him he scored 30.”
The Cardinals didn’t shoot well hitting just 39 percent from the field, 22 percent from three-point range, and 57 percent from the free throw line. But still had no problem winning the opener and concludes its home-stand Sunday against Miami (Ohio). These tuneups will hopefully prepare our Cards for tougher competition when it resumes the Battle 4 Atlantis on Thursday against Northern Iowa.
