– Cards return home from Island with an understanding of where they stand.
UofL 51 UNI 46
The Battle 4 Atlantis started on Thanksgiving Day when the Cards faced the University of Northern Iowa. And even though the Cards were playing in the Bahamas they couldn’t throw it in the ocean on this night. They shot 22 of their 62 shots from the 3-point line in this game and only made 5 of them. And on a night where I thought our inside game would take over Gorgui and Chane had one field goal in the post out of the half court set. Gorgui would finish the game with 6 pts and 9 boards. Chane would finish with 4 pts and 8 boards. Russ Smith led all scores with 16 pts but was wild at times in this one committing 6 turnovers. The Defense was very solid in this one as the Cards scored 25 pts off 22 UNI turnovers. And did hold a very good shooting team to just 34.8% from the field and 31.6% from 3-point land.
Coach Pitino: “Our guys played tight tonight, and instead of playing to win the game they played to not lose the game.”
That was pretty much the takeaway from this one. UNI was not a very good match-up for the Cards and the slow tempo did not do much for a team that likes to get up and down the court on the fast break. Those fast breaks lead to more scoring opportunities. It was good for the Cards to see a team like this early on because they will see it again as the season progresses.
UofL 84 Mizzou 61
The second game for the Cards in the Battle 4 Atlantis was against the Missouri Tigers. This game had a completely different feel from the first one as the teams got up and down the floor. The scoring was much more frantic with Missouri hitting 46 % from the field and our Cards shooting 49% from the field. Unlike the first night in Atlantis the Cards would hit 9-21 from the 3 point line for 43%. The majority of those coming from the player who was the story of the night Luke Hancock. This was the game that most Louisville fans including myself had been waiting for from this young man. He went 5-7 from the 3-point line, 6-9 from the field to lead all scorers with 19 pts. It was a great break out game for Luke and one he will need to build his confidence for the season ahead. The defense was also solid as the Cards would score 31 points off 23 turnovers. Russ Smith would force 8 of those from a very good guard Phil Pressey. Our frontcourt of Siva and Smith had a solid effort in this one combining for 31 pts 9 assist and 7 steals. The Cards bench also stepped up big in this one as well. With Gorgui and Siva in foul trouble, they were able to extend the lead. The bench had 23 pts.
Coach Pitino on Smith: “Russ is a home run player. Every possession you really have your heart in your mouth, but he really hits a lot of home runs.” “He bothers everybody, and he allows Peyton to do a lot of good things out there because he is so intense.”
Coach Pitino: “Our bench won the game. The starters finished it off, but when Peyton and Gorgui are out and you extend the lead, that’s special.”
The take away from this one was the fact that if Louisville is more patient and finds better shots for themselves instead of just jacking them up it pays off. They shot fewer shots in the second half but scored more points with 65 % shooting against a very good team.
UofL 71 Duke 76
Game three in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship was supposed to feature two of the best big men in college basketball but we found out before the game last night that Gorgui would sit due to a hurt wrist. This hurt the Cards as expected when the team had only 6 assist on the night leading to a lot of one on one basketball. Gorgui is one of the leading assist men for this team and a guy who directs the offense. Also coming into this game the Cards had made 140 pts off of 374 steals. In this one, they had 14 pts off 14 steals. They were not able to force Duke into many mistakes with the ball. Both teams shot the ball pretty well. The most surprising stat to me was that Louisville outscored Duke in the paint 46 to 26.The Cards also out rebounded the Blue Devils 37-31. Duke held their biggest advantage at the free-throw line hitting 23-27 while the Cards only made 9-14.
Our Frontcourt duo in Siva and Smith were once again very solid combining for 36 pts and 9 boards. Would have liked to seen them have more assist but still very solid.
The takeaway from this one is that we have a very good basketball team. Even without perhaps our best player, we went blow for blow with a high caliber team. Couple of plays here and there was the difference.
The Cards come home 2-1 from the Battle 4 Atlantis and with a lot of very good experience heading into the rest of the season. They learned an awful lot about themselves against 3 very different teams. Was good to see Luke Hancock have a great game, and was very good to see our bench step up at critical moments for this team. We found out that we have strengths all over the court. I can’t think of another season when we knew so much about the basketball team this early. I am looking forward to the rest of this season and looking forward to watching this team mature and develop along the way. They took those first steps this weekend.
(Hat Tip to @EricCrawford for the stat sheets)