Daily Archives: December 7, 2013

Cards Lower The Boom On The Ragin’ Cajuns

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It was an icy afternoon in Louisville but the Cards were red hot in the Yum Center today beating the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns 113-74. The Cardinals missed the highest point total ever in the Rick Pitino Era by one point but did break the Yum Center scoring record. The Cards have now won 26 straight against non-conference teams at home. They have also won 20 straight against unranked teams. The Cards now move to 8-1 on the season.

You name it and the Cards did it today. They played a very complete game in the Yum Center and picked a good opponent to do it against. The Cajuns were a very good offensive team and did a very good job at keeping the pace with the Cards in the first half. The Cards gave up 47 points to the Cajuns in the first half but only gave up 27 points in the second half. The Cajuns shot 7 of 10 from the 3 point line in the first half but just managed 2 of 16 in the second half. For the game the Cardinals forced 17 turnovers and scored 32 points from them. Coach Pitino said in his post-game that the Cardinal defense still has a long way to go, but they did a pretty good job in the second half against a very efficient offense.

Speaking of offense the Cardinals were lighting it up today in what was probably the best offensive performance of the year for them. They shot 71.4% from inside the arc, and had six players in double figures. Montrezl lead the way with 20 points on 9-10 shooting, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Followed by Chris Jones 19 points, Russ with 16 points, and (Welcome back Wayne) with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals in what was his best effort of the season. Coach Pitino said in his post-game that he told Wayne he needed to step it up and it looks like he got the message. Coming off the bench Rozier had 11 points and Luke Hancock had 10 points. With his 10 points Luke now has 1000 points in his Cardinal career. These guys had the best effort of the year on the charity stripe shooting 82.5%. The Cards crushed them in the paint outscoring them 60 to 34.

The Cajuns came into this game as a very good rebounding team ranking in the top 70 averaging 41 a game and their best rebounder Shawn Long is ranked 6th in the nation. Today the Cardinals out-rebounded this team 41 to 29 holding them well under their season average and only allowed Long to grab 5 for the game. To me this is one of the most important stats to come out of this win. The Cards had been struggling in this area but today they dominated a very good rebounding team. Rebounding is going to be crucial as the season moves on. We will face a top 3 rebounding team in UK on the 28th. Very happy with this effort today and it’s a hustle stat that shows just how bad this team wants it right now.

With the defensive effort, the offensive out-put, the free-throw shooting, and the rebounding this team took a gigantic step forward this afternoon against what will likely be a NCAA Tournament team in the Cajuns. Players like Rozier and Mango are gaining more confidence, the go to guys like Montrezl, Russ and Chane are really starting to come into their own, Wayne and Luke are starting to get more into the flow of the offense, and Chris Jones is becoming a solid player at the point. Our role player Van Treese is giving his best effort coming off the bench. The depth of this team is starting to become more obvious and nobody played more than 23 minutes today and I can only imagine how great it will be when Ware can get back into the mix. It was a really promising day if you are a Louisville basketball fan and a great game to build from for this team going into the long week off. Its Hoops season… GO CARDS!

Coach Pitino after game:

Wayne Blackshear after game:

Montrezl Harrell after game:

Luke Hancock after game:

Russ Smith after game:

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The Beak Basketball Breakdown: The Ragin Cajuns

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The Basketball team will return to the hardwood on Saturday afternoon at 1PM in the Yum Center. They will face the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns. The game can be seen locally on WHAS TV or on ESPN3. The Cards have won 19 straight over unranked opponents and 24 straight non-conference home games. The Ragin Cajuns have dropped 12 straight against ranked opponents. Louisville is 8-0 in this series against Louisiana-Lafayette and the last time these teams played was on Dec. 23, 2009, in Freedom Hall.

“We’re excited about those guys (Payton and Long) and our new guys, too,” Bob Marlin said. “We’ve got some depth and some guys who can step in and play. We’re deeper at guard than we’ve been and deeper on the frontline than we’ve been.”

Picked to finish fourth in the Sun Belt Head Coach Bob Marlin is optimistic as the Cajuns seek their first winning season since 2005. That’s also the last year the program made the NCAA tournament another thing on the Cajuns list this season. This team doesn’t do anything exceptional but they do a lot of things well. They are averaging 84.4 points and shooting 47.5 percent, 36% from the three. They take pretty good care of the ball averaging 15 turnovers to 14 assist. This will be one of the better rebounding teams that the Cards have faced this season averaging 41 a game.
This team returns all their major contributors from last season including their two best players and two of the Sun Belt’s top players in preseason all-conference first-team selections Elfrid Payton (19.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5 assist) and Shawn Long (20.1 points, 11.6 rebounds). Payton is the team’s star and his performance last year helped earn him a spot on the U-19 USA team this summer at the World Championships. He’s also excellent at reaching the free throw line and his offensive output could be even higher if he makes more than 64 percent of his free throws. Long is less efficient than Payton but is a phenomenal rebounder and is ranked 6th in the nation in that category. Still, Marlin will need other players to step up if UL-Lafayette is going to contend with the Cards. Starters Elridge Moore (7.1 points, 4.9 rebounds) and Steven Wronkowski (6 points, 3 rebounds) both recorded sub-90 offensive ratings last season. They have been better shooters and had fewer turnovers this season making them more effective. Starter Kevin Brown (6.8 points, 1.6 rebounds) has also stepped up for this team. Their key reserves are Kasey Shepherd (6.9 points, 2.1 rebounds) and Xavian Rimmer (8.6 points, 2 rebounds).

The Ragin Cajuns
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME
84.4
28th
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
41.4
29th
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
13.6
125th
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.475
77th
OVERALL

Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #84
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-99.1 ranks 75th
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
-106.1 ranks 122nd

Our Cards are playing some of their best basketball of the season right now and this will be a good test to see just how good that is. With two sound play-makers in Payton and Long, the Ragin Cajuns might be able to compete seriously for an NCAA tournament berth. These guys will challenge the defense in the Cardinal back-court Russ and Chris will get a good work-out. With the way Long goes to the glass he will be a good test for the Cards wing players. They’ll have to find this guy and get a body on him. We’ve witnessed what an exception rebounder can do for a team that is slightly undersized a few years ago in the NCAA tourney. Long has a Kenneth Faried type of edge about him. It will be a good battle on the boards on Saturday. The competition goes up a notch with the Cajuns but I expect them to be another notch in the Cardinals belt after this one is over. The only question in this one will be Louisville’s starting line-up.