Our Cardinals moved to 7-0 on Friday night and have now won 33 straight against non-conference opponents at the Yum Center. The Cardinals beat a very scrappy FIU team 82-57 and now lead the series with them 4-0. The Cardinals came out of the gate tonight ice cold and FIU was able to keep it close until about the 9 minute mark in the first half before the Cardinals would take the lead for good and never looked back.

The defense was again solid tonight holding FIU to just 37% from the field, 33% from the three point line, forcing them into 25 turnovers, with 14 steals and 12 blocked shots. The Louisville offense muddled along tonight most of the first half but it did get better in the second half. Coach Pitino was really disappointed in his teams ability to find the open man, and really came down on his team for not passing the ball as much as they should. With the Christmas break coming up it is the time of year that Louisville teams really improve on offense, and when I asked Coach Pitino about things they would work on during the break he said “Passing”.

It was Anton Gill’s birthday on Friday night and he played like it. He lead all scores with 15 points and was 3-5 from the three point line. He let his positive momentum carry over to his defensive effort also and it was his best effort this season on that end of the floor. I really feel like Gill is a player that can be a triple threat on the perimeter for this team. He can knock down the three, he knows how to drive to the basket and finish and he is great at threading the needle (see photo below).

Montrezl Harrell had his 19th consecutive game scoring in double figures and had his third consecutive double-double scoring 13 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. He was disappointed that he had 5 turnovers. Montrezl has set the bar high for himself and his team-mates.

Wayne Blackshear had another solid outing. He had 12 points, 2-8 from the three, had 6 rebounds and a team high 4 steals. I really like Chicago Wayne.

Chris Jones said that he had heeded the words of Coach Pitino and had stayed away from his phone this past week. He had 11 points, was 2-4 from the three point line, and had 3 steals. Chris seemed more confident tonight and was again great on the defensive side of the ball.

Shout out of the night goes to Chinanu Onuaku.. He led the team tonight with 5 assist and is probably the best passer on this team. He really played well in the paint also. This kid keeps progressing and watch out come March.

It was another win and that’s always good. A lot of guys got some quality minutes and it seems like we had a guy who gained a lot of his confidence back in Gill. The defense is awesome and I think the offense looked better and will be a lot better here in a few weeks. Big game against IU coming up next week and these guys seem very excited to get back to the Garden. It will be the first trip for several of them. Will be good to see our Cardinals back on that big stage. Go Cards!

Home » A Win Over FIU and a Happy Birthday For Gill » FIU Game » FIU Game

   

 

(AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

After the first six games of the ACC/Big10 Challenge the Big 10 has the lead 4-2. Louisville was able to score its new conference their second win of the night as they beat Ohio State in their first of these challenges 64-55. With the win the Cardinals take the overall lead in the series against Ohio State 5-4. The Cardinals start 6-0 for the first time since 2011 and have now won 31 straight against non-conference opponents at the Yum Center.

Louisville was facing an Ohio State team tonight that had been shooting at a 57% clip from the field and was statistically one of the best offensive teams in the country. Their guys had been scoring in bunches from all over the court. The Cardinals came out in the first half and stepped right up to the challenge. It what Coach Pitino called one of the finest defensive performances in a very long time the Cardinals held the Buckeyes to 23% shooting and an 18 point total in that first half. They would give up a little more in the second half due to some tired legs but not much still holding the Buckeyes well under their averages at 30% shooting and 55 total points. The defense would also force 14 turnovers, have 11 steals and block 5 shots. In the battle of very good offense and very good defense it was the defense that won the night as I thought it would. The Cardinals who are currently ranked #1 in the country in rebounds per game did another good job on the glass tonight. They won that battle 46-41.

My big question in my game breakdown was if Wayne Blackshear would show up in the first big game of the season. The answer to that question is a resounding yes… Wayne “made it Wayne” in the first half and carried the Cardinals offensively scoring 16 of their 35 points. He also had 5 rebounds and 1 steal in that big first half. Ohio State made their adjustments towards him in the second half but he would still lead the team in scoring tonight and had 22 for the game. It is great to see Wayne respond in a big game environment like this and if he can do this all season it will mean great things for the Cardinals.

I also mentioned in my game breakdown that Montrezl, Chris and Terry would be the difference makers in this game. I felt like these three were the dominate players on the floor at their positions. Montrezl had a dominate state line. He had a double-double with 10 rebounds, 13 points to go along with 2 assist, 1 block and 2 steals. Chris did a good job up front at keeping pressure on their guards especially in the first half, but really wasn’t that impressive on the offensive end and did force some things towards the end.

It was the kid from Louisville D’Angelo Russell that kept Ohio State in the game, but it was the kid from Ohio that helped ice the game for Louisville. Terry Rozier is a warrior and tonight he showed just how much of a gamer he is. He dislocated his pinky finger, gets it put back in place, taped up then comes back into the game and scores 9 very important points down the stretch to help Louisville seal the victory. He had 7 rebounds and 7 assist to go along with his 11 points on the night. His night wasn’t flawless, but the intangibles more than made up for it.

Gotta give a special atta boy to the “Big Egyptian” who came into the game tonight and provided some solid minutes after Onuaku and Mango got into foul trouble early. Anas had 7 rebounds and 2 big blocked shots. He looked very good in this big game setting. Coach Pitino said at half-time when asked by the ESPN sideline reporter that Anas “surprised the hell” out of him. I think he might have surprised the hell out of a lot of people tonight.

The Cardinals have a long way to go on the offensive end of the floor, and still have to find a way to get more production out of the bench. But they are playing defense better than anyone in the country right now and that is really special considering how early it is. This defense will only continue to get better over the course of the season and that makes me giddy. We will be in every game this season thanks to that defense, but it will take steady improvement on the offensive side of the ball for this team to win those tougher games especially in March. Our Cardinals passed the first tough test of the season and are 6-0. I’m really excited about this team. Go Cards!