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!
