(Photo By: Jeff Reinking | Louisville Athletics)
Tonight was another ceremonial one in the KFC Yum Center and it began with the unveiling of a banner adding coach Rick Pitino to the school’s list of Naismith Memorial Hall of Famers. The Cards would finish this night off winning their 18th game in a row beating Hofstra 97 to 69. The 18 game win streak ties for the longest ever. The Cards are now 2-0 in the early season and 2-0 in the series vs. Hofstra.
Despite some nervous moments early in the second half it was another easy victory tonight by the Cards and they seem to have things rolling right along. Now with all of their pieces back in place they can really start to focus on the little things to get better as they head into some tougher games. Two of those pieces Luke Hancock and Chane Behanan made their returns to the team tonight. The two of them didn’t have much impact on the game as they both still have to work on getting in game shape.
The story on this night would be the play of the Louisville guards and the hot shooting. Chris Jones and Russ 2.0 combined for 50 points, 12 assist and 6 steals. Russ was lights out shooting 12 of 22 from the field including 5 of 12 from beyond the arc. Russ now has 1286 points and passed Chuck Noble tonight moving him into 32nd all-time in scoring at UofL.
Chris Jones got his 20 points but most impressive was the fact he had 7 assist with no turnovers. In 55 minutes played this season he has 12 assist with no turnovers. He has really stepped in and filled that spot nicely. The team as a whole only has 8 turnovers in a two game stretch and that’s the fewest in Coach Pitino’s 13 seasons. This team makes good decisions and takes care of the basketball. That’s a very good thing especially this early.
The shooting was another area that I highlighted in my pre-game article and it was much improved from the last time out. The Cardinals finished 12 of 31 from deep and shot 35 of 68 overall (51.5 percent), a big improvement from the 38-percent last game. One guy who had a hot hand at the right time tonight was Wayne Blackshear who made three straight 3s for nine points to help Louisville break the game open with a 26-2 second-half run. Wayne has had two very solid games for this team and if he continues to produce it is going to be big for the Cards. He would finish with 9 points but most important were his hustle stats 2 blocks and 3 steals.
Montrezl Harrell was abusing the rims again tonight in the KFC Yum Center and was the 3rd leading scorer in the game with 19 points. But his most impressive stat of the night was going 5-5 at the free throw line. With the new foul rules he is going to be spending a lot of time at the charity stripe this season especially as we get into March. His free throw shooting will be critical. Coach Pitino had pointed out that he had started to line out on his improvement due to not having anyone to compete against in practice. With the return of Chane Behanan he will start to be challenged more and this will help him get better.
The area of concern coming out of the last two games and tonight is the rebounding. I look for that to improve as Chane gets more acclimated to the team but right now it is an area that is in need of some answers. I knew coming into this game that Hofstra had some good re-bounders on their team and I pointed that out in my pre-game article. They out-rebounded the Cards tonight 35 to 34. When we start to play more long and athletic teams this is an area that concerns me. One positive is that our guards especially the new guys aren’t afraid to bang and hit the boards. That will help. As a team the Cards did dominate the paint area on offense scoring 44 points to their 16.
Defensively this team is right on track and tonight they forced 22 turnovers leading to 30 points. They have forced 43 turnover in their last two games.
While writing this article I’m looking in on the Kansas vs. Duke game at the time Dick Vitale and the other guys are talking about teams who are real contenders this year. Dick said that “everyone should watch out” for this Louisville team and went on to say that he feels that they can be a team that does repeat this season. I agree with Dick. Now that everyone is back and all the ceremonies and fluff stuff is over its time for these guys to get focused on the task ahead. And there is no better coach in America to make sure that happens than Rick Pitino. This team can repeat but still have a lot of work to be done. They are on the right path and are looking great for a group that has only played two real games together. I like what I’m seeing and can’t wait for the next one. GO CARDS!
U of L coach Rick Pitino after win over Hofstra:
U of L’s Wayne Blackshear after win over Hofstra:
