Category Archives: THE BEAK POST GAME REPORT

Cards Football Cures Basketball Blues

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Normally after a Cardinal loss in basketball to arch rival Kentucky I would mope around for several days afterwards in a funk. And while I am still disappointed the football teams Russell Athletic Bowl victory really did help wash the blues away. Not long after the final buzzer of the basketball game yesterday was the kickoff for the Russell Athletic Bowl. A game that featured future conference rivals and a game that Louisville football would completely dominate from start to finish. The Cards manhandled Miami beating them 36-9. Our Cards win their second straight bowl game for its second 12-win season and send a message to the ACC that they are coming to play.

Much like the big hit Teddy took against Florida last year in the Sugar Bowl the sack he took in the end-zone last night ignited a fire in this Louisville group that Miami was unable to put out. In what will likely be his final game as a Cardinal Teddy was brilliant. He threw for a career-high 447 yards and scored four touchdowns. He played toss and catch all night long with Parker (142 yards with 1 TD), Copeland (90 yards) and company throwing on the run, into double coverage, completing passes to 10 different receivers in all. He also eluded would-be tacklers and ran for 24 yards and a TD, too. Bridgewater also set the school single-season record for touchdown passes with 31 and was easily the best player on the field. He also made his case that he is the best college football player this season. After watching that young man last night it is unbelievable that he wasn’t even invited to the Heisman ceremonies and it really puts that award and the politics behind it in perspective. In all the Cardinal offense racked up 554 yards in a performance for the ages. Kudos to offensive coordinator Shawn Watson for quieting his critics in this game and really the final two games of this season.

And what about that Louisville defense? A group that has brought it ever time they have taken the field this season did it again last night holding the Canes to 174 yards of total offense and a whopping 14 yards rushing. They also held Miami to 0-11 on third down conversions. Those guys were flying all over the field and they had 52 tackles total with Preston Brown leading the way with 7, followed by Pryor with 6 and Burgess with 4. This group had four sacks on the evening with one of the nations sacks leaders Marcus Smith leading the way with 2. Louisville allowed Miami to only 9 points and just 12.2 points per game in 2013, good for 3rd Best in school history. They also didn’t allow one first quarter touchdown all season. Just as impressive Teddy was all season for the offense this defensive group for the Cardinals was equally impressive. One of the best I’ve ever watched since being a fan.

Our Cards rode out of this season in the Miami sunset proving to the college football world for the second straight season that they have arrived on the national scene. They will now get the opportunity to prove they can compete on a weekly basis with the best in the country as they will join the ACC next season. If last night was the final time we get to see Teddy in that Cardinal uniform then he also went out in fitting fashion. I know I really appreciate all he did and this team did this year and appreciate them helping me get over the blues from that basketball loss yesterday. I’m already looking forward to going out and watching spring practice next year and can’t wait for the next football season to begin. Go Cards!

Cards Lose Battle But Still In The Fight

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Yesterday the 46th chapter of the Battle of the Bluegrass was written and for the 31st time it was Kentucky who walked away with the 73-66 win. Our Cardinals are now 11-2 and will more than likely drop a few spots in the national rankings, although they did remain in the #1 spot in the Kenpom rankings despite the loss.

The stage was set yesterday for what was billed as one of the biggest games in this series as it featured both the 2012 and 2013 College Basketball National Champions. It was a pretty competitive game throughout but I think the script went a different way than what most of us expected. Kentucky was supposed to be the team that didn’t know who they were yet, they were supposed to be the team that lost focus down the stretch especially with their star player in the locker room. But that’s not what happen. It was our Cardinals that started taking bad shots, making bad decisions, and struggled to play as a team. It was the Cardinals that looked dysfunctional.

The Cardinal front-court was nonexistent yesterday afternoon and Montrezl and Chane combined for a 2 of 5 shooting effort. But more disturbing to me is that these guys really weren’t given the chance to get involved. 44 of the 58 field goals attempted by the Cards in yesterday’s game came from three guys Chris, Russ and Luke. You just aren’t going to win many games on the big stage and against good competition when you have three guys taking 75% of the shots, especially when one of those guys (Luke) goes 2-of-8 from the arc and 3-of-11 from the floor. Coming into this game I mentioned that Kentucky was ranked 200th in assist and weren’t passing the ball enough, but it was the Cardinals who fit that script on Saturday.

Louisville has got to get things figured out on the boards as well. It has been an area for concern all season long. Kentucky pulled down 17 offensive rebounds for 17 second-chance points yesterday and out-rebounded the Cards 44 to 36 on the day. Chane did a decent job on the glass grabbing 7 boards, but Montrezl and Mango only combined for 7 on the day. And when you allow any team to have that many second chance opportunities it’s not going to work out in your favor very often.

There were some positives from yesterday. I really liked how Rozier looked when he came into the game and would really like to see him get more time at the point guard position. He ran the offense yesterday in that hostile environment better than anyone. And Chris really stepped it up offensively on the big stage, just think he should have been more team oriented at times. Mango had 4 of the teams 5 blocks yesterday and that was really good to see. Our bench also did a good job out scoring Kentucky’s 14 to 8. Oh yea and Russ Smith did have the play of the game when he put Randle in a poster. That was fun to watch.

I’m still very confident in how this season will turn out and I think this early loss in December will give this team a wake up call. Where Calipari relies more on talent, Pitino has utilized development and his coaching ability to make Louisville successful. He will figure out how to best use the pieces on this team and the team will figure out how to use what they have to their advantage. We have got the nucleus for another Championship now the guys just have to keep fighting to find a way to make it all work together. I’m very disappointed in that loss yesterday and I did take it very hard, but the college basketball season is not a sprint it’s a marathon. We got a long way to go until March.

Coach Pitino after UK Loss:

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Cards Surf Past FIU

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In their first true road game of the season the Cardinals took care of business in impressive fashion beating FIU 85-56 down in Miami. With this win our Cards move to 11-1 on the season and have now won six straight. This win also puts Rick Pitino in a tie with legendary coach Denny Crum. Both now have 675 career wins.

The Cardinals put together another complete game in this one with Russ Smith leading the way with 18 points followed by Wayne Blackshear with 13 and Montrezl had 10 points with 5 boards. The Cardinals took care of the ball only turning it over 10 times on the day with just 2 in the second half. The Cardinals also shot the ball very well today from behind the arc. They shot 13-24 54.2% from 3 point range. Russ made 4, Wayne had 3, Rozier had 2. Luke, Tim, Anton, and Chris all had 1 each. Most impressive thing to me today was how this Louisville team moved and shared the basketball. They were making those extra passes and were getting those good looks. The result was a high shot percentage and 19 assist on 26 made baskets.

This FIU team is ranked in the top 25 in the nation in rebounding and today they out rebounded our Cards 39-32. Still a good effort by our guys. Terry Rozier who came into this game with 16 boards in the last two didn’t have one on this day. They did a good job of getting a body on him. Was good to see another freshman Anton Gill log some minutes in this win. He even got up some shots. I do think its possible that he will be a decent guy to bring in off the bench down the road.

Rick Pitino: “I thought our defense was good at the beach. I thought it was bad at the palm trees.”

One of the most interesting things about this game was the ocean themed basketball court that FIU plays on. Today it looked like our Cardinals were on a ocean cruise as they took care of their business and this one was never in any doubt. It really says a lot about this group to go on the road in a hostile environment and pull out a 30 point win. Every game this team takes that next step forward and does one or two things better. Today it was ball movement that then resulted into solid shooting. All eyes now turn to the next one… It’s Louisville vs Kentucky GO CARDS!

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Cards Beat Up Da Bears

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The Cardinals were in prime time tonight in a nationally televised game and they put on a show beating Missouri State 90-60. The Cards have now won five games straight and move to 10-1 on the season. This will be the last home game for the Cards as they will hit the road for the next 23 days.

I really thought that this Missouri State team might give the Cardinals a decent challenge, but that wasn’t the case tonight. Coach Pitino said after the game “That was by far the best game we have played so far” and it was really fun to watch. The Cards were running and gunning, dipping and dunking looking like they are prepared to make another run at this thing again this year. Anyone notice that Luke Hancock’s Beard is back? Yup I gotta think that the magical facial hair is somewhat responsible for this teams performance tonight. Right?

Smith, Rozier, Blackshear, Harrell, and Mathiang got the start tonight and this group looked really solid. They really seem to be meshing together well and Coach Pitino let them play together for about five minutes before making a substituion. Out of this group four players had double digit scoring with Montrezl leading the way with 17 points. This group was also terrific on the boards tonight and of the 38 rebounding opportunities in the first half, Louisville snapped up 71% of them. They had 13 offensive rebounds off 15 misses. They would out rebound the Bears tonight 51 to 30 for the game. Very.. Very good job.

Terry Rozier is becoming that breakout player that most expected him to be this season and is getting more and more comfortable with every game. He finished with 11 points but more impressively is how he goes to the glass. He would finish with 8 rebounds and has 18 rebounds in his last two games. We needed someone to help make up for Gorgui’s boards but I didn’t think it would come from the guard spot. Speaking of Dieng, the guy that has taken his place is starting to get it going. Mango had 8 points with 9 rebounds tonight. He is starting to catch up with Dieng’s numbers from last year as well. Dieng had a block rate of 9.4 percent and committed 3.3 fouls per 40 minutes, and Mathiang’s block rate is 8.2 percent and he’s fouling 3.6 times per 40 minutes. You can take a look at the stat sheet below for the rest of the performances on this great night of action. Really the only blemish of the performance was free-throw shooting where they shot 16 for 30 at 53%.

This one has Cardinal fans fired up and ready as we now start towards the meat of our schedule. It all starts on the 28th and chants of “Beat UK” filled the Yum Center tonight after the game. I can’t wait.. Go Cards!

U of L’s Mangok Mathiang after win over Missouri State:

Russ Smith on Louisville’s improvement and 10-1 start:

Terry Rozier on rebounding and a win over Missouri State:

Luke Hancock on a win over Missouri State for U of L:

Chris Jones on his return against Missouri State:

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Cards Too Tough To Top

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Our Cardinals came out a little sloppy against the Hilltoppers today but got it going in the second half to cruise by the in-state rival 79-63 in 12th annual Billy Minardi Classic. The Cards have now beaten the Toppers 22 out of the last 25 games and are now just one more win away from a series tie. Cards move to 9-1 on the season and have now won 4 straight.

As coach Ray Haper said in his post game “if this had been a 20 minute game Louisville would have been in trouble.” They would have been in trouble as they seemed very out of sorts during the entire first half of play. But the game does last longer than 20 minutes and the a Cardinals came out of the locker room after the half and looked like a different team. There were so many positives that came out of the win today, but perhaps the most promising was the play of Mango and Van Treese. They would combine for 18 points and 9 rebounds and that is very promising production from the biggest question mark on this team. CBS Sports Jon Rothstein tweeted after the game:“Remember the name Mangok Mathiang. Another productive day for the Louisville big man. 13 points, 5 boards, 1 block in win vs. WKU.” Very positive indeed.

The positives don’t stop there. The Cardinals without their starting point guard Chris Jones only had 7 turnovers today and 3 of those came from players stepping on the end lines. Rozier who filled in for Jones had 10 rebounds in this game. Coach Pitino called Russ Smith “the premier player in the country” today after he had a double-double with 14 points and 10 assist. Chane Behanan put together another solid performance and was named the MVP of the Minardi Classic after finishing with 11 points and 7 rebounds. The best Walk-on in the country Tim “HENDO” backed his title up today by making 4 of 6 from 3 point range finishing with 12 points. And Wayne Blackshear showed up today with 12 points, 1 block and 2 steals.

You have to love how this team came out today and faced adversity then overcame it with a true team effort. If they can keep some consistency at the 5 spot, keep adjusting to the new defensive rules, and Luke finds his groove this will be a very dangerous squad.

Rick Pitino after a win over WKU:

Terry Rozier on a win over WKU:

Tim Henderson on his expanded role against WKU:

Wayne Blackshear after U of L’s win over WKU:

Mangok Mathiang after a win over WKU:

Russ Smith on the win over WKU:

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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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Cards Will Carry The “Keg of Nails” To The ACC

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Last night the Cards sprinted toward the end zone at Nippert Stadium like kids at Christmas. Sitting idly on the turf was the coveted Keg of Nails, awarded annually to the winner of the Cincinnati/Louisville football game. For the second time in five years, the Cards laid their claws on the prize.

Not since October 14, 2006 and October 13, 2007 had UofL beaten the Bearcats in back-to-back years. The series between these schools now stands at 23-30-1 with the Bearcats having the all-time lead; but last night the Cardinals tasted victory, winning in overtime 31-24 on a cold, rainy, windswept evening in Cincinnati. The “Keg of Nails” will now be in the Cardinal trophy case for the foreseeable future until hopefully this great rivalry is renewed someday.

Over the last few weeks of the Louisville football season, we had not seen any of those magical moments that we had been accustomed to. The passing game had been on idle and the offense as a whole lacked consistency.

And while last night wasn’t a blitzkrieg of scoring it provided many of those big plays that we had all been waiting to see. These teams traded blow for blow like great rivals should but it was the Cards who dealt the knock-out punch in overtime when Dominique Brown ran 2 yards for a touchdown.

The running game with Perry (81 yards) and Brown (79 yards, 1 touchdown) did its part last night and kept enough pressure on the Bearcats to keep the passing game open and that is where Louisville had those big-play moments.

Teddy Bridgewater in what is probably his last game of the regular season as a Louisville Cardinals was part QB and part escape artist last night scrambling and breaking tackles. It was Mr. Clutch, who would throw two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to give Louisville a chance to win in overtime.

The play of the night by Teddy was when he escaped three tackles for a 14-yard scramble on fourth-and-12 to keep one touchdown drive going, and finished it by scrambling away from defenders and throwing an off-balance pass for a 22-yard score to Damian Copeland.

Copeland (35 yards, 1 touchdown) and Parker (104 yards, 2 touchdowns) both came up big in the receiving game like they have so many times in big games for the Cardinals. You couldn’t have scripted this last regular season performance as a Louisville Cardinal for Teddy Bridgewater any better. His 255 passing yards put him over 3,500 passing yards (3,523) for the second year in a row. He now has 9,370 career yards. I’m going to miss number 5.

I had a great time at the game last night and have had many great memories made in these “Keg of Nails” games. If last night was the last one we ever get to be a part of then it was a fitting end to one of the better rivals in the country.

After this big win last night the Cards accepted an invitation to play in Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando, Fla., the Cardinals’ fourth bowl game in as many years. Kickoff is slated for Saturday, Dec. 28, at 6:45 p.m. from the Florida Citrus Bowl.

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Cards Romp The Roos

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Not much suspense tonight in the Yum Center as Louisville beats UMKC 90-62. The Cardinals have now won 19 straight against unranked opponents and move to 7-1 on the early season. Coach Pitino is now 34-9 all-time against his former assistants.

There were a lot of different combinations line-up wise tonight for the Cardinals but it was the same cast of characters who would play major roles in the outcome of this one. Montrezl Harrell scored 14 points to lead five Louisville players in double figures. Chane Behanan had his best effort of the season scoring 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for his first double-double. Coach Pitino said in his post game that “Chane was the only player on the team that played well tonight. He was doing the right things offensively & defensively.” Chris Jones, Russ Smith and Luke Hancock each added 10 points and combined for five of Louisville’s 10 3-pointers. UofL’s point guard trio of Smith, Jones, and Rozier combined for 14 assists to only 1 turnover tonight. They also grabbed 11 rebounds as a group. Russ Smith sacrificed his starting spot tonight coming to Coach Pitino telling him “Don’t start me tonight, we have to find a way to get team first going.” That philosophy carried over into the game when Russ had a carrer assist night with 11. I’d say that epitomizes team first. Great to see this type of leadership out of this kid.
The biggest difference in this game was the advantage the Cardinals had underneath the basket. They dominated UMKC 44-24 in the paint, and outrebounded the Kangaroos 49-29.
Coach Pitino said in post game “we did some things well and some things not so well. We are getting beat off the dribble too much, maybe new rules?” The Cardinals defense did force 20 turnovers that led to 29 points but did allow the Roos guards easy penetration in the lane at times.

I don’t really know how much you can take from a game like this because the Roos are not a very good basketball team. Other than the reps and getting guys acclimated this one was just to go through the motions. I really hope the defense starts to come around. It’s going to be a huge problem if it doesn’t especially when we start to play a more quality opponent and teams that have good back-courts. The competition will get a lot tougher and hopefully a little more exciting as we roll through December and head into conference play.

Luke Hancock and Russ Smith continue to be very optimistic and positive about the direction of this team. They are stepping up as leaders on and off the court .

Russ Smith after the game:

Luke Hancock after the game:

Coach Pitino after the game:

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Cards Stuff The Golden Eagles

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Not much of a challenge in this one tonight and the Cards took care of business beating Southern Miss 69-38. The Cards add to their series lead over the Golden Eagles 31 to 11. The Cards who ended a 21 game winning streak last weekend now start a new one. Louisville #9 in the country is now 6-1 and has never lost back to back games in November under Pitino.

In true Pitino fashion the Cards starting line-up for this game had a few changes. Terry Rozier got the nod over Chris Jones and Mangok Mathiang got the starting nod at the center position. Both players took advantage of their starting roles early as Rozier hit a pair of three pointers and Magok hit a shot to help the Cards take a 13-0 advantage in the first five minutes. These guys would finish off their nights just as impressively as Rozier would end up with 9 points while Mango had 7 rebounds and three blocked shots. I hope this duo continues to trend upward. Would be huge for this team.
Louisville’s offense looked sharp tonight and ten players made it into the scoring column shooting 23 of 55 for 42% and matched a season high with 12 3-pointers. And while he didn’t get the start Chris Jones made the best out of coming off the bench and was a very big part of this offensive production. He lead the team with 18 points making 4 of 7 from three and 5 of 10 overall.
Russ was quiet in the first half but got things going in the second half and ended up stuffing the stat sheet with 11 points, 1 rebound, 4 steals and led the team with 6 assist.
Montrezl also had a good night scoring 11 points with 9 rebounds. I love seeing this guy try to rip the rim off but seeing him have a big rebounding night is just as fun. His rebounding is needed more than his offense in my opinion.
Kudos to Wayne Blackshear for showing up tonight. He had 9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assist. Now let’s see if he can keep it going. Consistency is the key with Wayne.

The Cardinals’ defense was the thing that everyone was watching tonight after the dismal showing in the loss last weekend. Tonight they were back on track forcing 22 turnovers and snuffed out the Golden Eagles at the start of both halves, holding them scoreless for nearly 12 combined minutes in the game.
Rebounding was also better tonight and the Cards grabbed 38 to their 33.
Free throw shooting took a step backwards again tonight and they were 11-22 for 50%.

The guys returned to the court tonight with a look of purpose. You could tell that they had been in the practice gym for a week. I think Rozier and Mangok will benefit from getting this start and it will help their confidence. Coach Pitino knows what he is doing with these two and knows that their development is critical for the teams success. It was a good night and good return to the court for the guys tonight. The December grind starts next week. Time to continue to improve and keep building on the successes. Lots of good things to build off of from this one tonight. Go Cards!

Wayne Blackshear after the game:

Terry Rozier after the game:

Luke Hancock after the game:

Mangok Mathiang after the game:

Montrezl Harrell after the game:

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Tar heeled And Feathered

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Today Cardinal Basketball fans are dealing with something we haven’t had to deal with in 289 days. A Cardinal loss.. The team fell in the Hall of Fame Tip Off Classic Championship today to North Carolina 93-84. With this loss the Tarheels now lead the all-time series 9-3. The Cards also have their 21 game winning streak snapped and are now 5-1 on the season.

Coach Pitino after the loss: “We learned a lot from this game. They exploited some weaknesses of our team.”

Not much was going right for the Cardinals today and you could almost see this one coming by the way they played yesterday. The loss of Peyton Siva and Gorgui Dieng along with the injuries and off the court issues has really hurt the group dynamic of this team. Last year they were one heart beat and now this team has to re-focus and get that back.
The biggest issues today were the lack of transition defense and poor rotation in the half-court defense. It’s been a long time since I’ve written that about a Coach Pitino coached team. This is the first time Louisville has allowed 91 points since Western Carolina beat the Cards 91-83 in Freedom Hall on 12/12/09. Another thing missing in this Louisville defense is the lack of that big-time shot blocking presence in the low post. Hopefully we will develop one of our bigs to fill those shoes as the season progresses.
This group also needs to figure out what their identity is going to be on the offensive end of the floor. They looked really confused against the zone defense and weren’t very fundamentally sound, missing lay-ups, taking bad shots and the result was a 38.8% day from the field. That’s not going to get it done. This team must also get stronger on the boards. They were out-rebounded today 39-36. This was a better effort and I think it will continue to improve. Taking care and making better decisions with the ball also must continue to improve. 14 turnovers to 3 assist today. Not going to win many games with that stat.
Back-court scoring isn’t going to be a problem for this team and today Russ had 36, Jones had 18, and Luke had 10. Luke right now isn’t even close to being where he was last year. He just started practicing a few weeks ago so he will get it back. The real issue seems to be a lack of points coming from the front-court guys. Today Harrell had 5, Behanan 7, Van Treese 2, and Mathiang 2. And Wayne Blackshear ZERO’s across the board. Really thought he was done with his Houdini acts. This kid may never get it. But this front-court needs to do some real soul searching. They gotta be better.. This team has to and will get better…

North Carolina had a very good game plan and they are very well coached. They exposed the lack of transition defense and confused our guys with the zone. Their players stepped up big for them today. They deserved this one and got it. They had their Belmont moment and today was ours.
This one really hurts, but let’s face it Cardinal fans this basketball team has taken us on an amazing journey over the last 289 days since our last loss. They have given us memories that will last a lifetime. And now this group will refocus and find their own identity. A lot still to come for the 2013-14 Louisville Cardinals and they have a month to get some things right. December 28th is the next big one. The new streak starts Friday.. Go Cards!