Louisville basketball looks to avoid dropping its third straight against a young Duke team.
The second week of January was a forgettable one for Louisville basketball. However, the Cardinals have an opportunity for a turn around game against a name brand squad on Saturday.
Duke (5-4) enters the game, like Louisville basketball, on a two-game losing streak. The narrative around this Duke team, however, is much the opposite of the Cards. While Louisville started the season unranked and gradually gained respect, Duke was quite the opposite. The Blue Devils rose as high as 6th in the nation before plummeting when they squeaked by conference bottom feeders and then took losses to Virginia Tech and Pitt.
With that being said, while Duke looks vulnerable right now, the Blue Devils have been behind the eight ball all season. Duke played only four games in the month of December, and was without star forward Jalen Johnson for the first half of the season.
Louisville wins if
- Louisville basketball wins this game if it is the aggressor on both ends of the floor. Louisville has struggled to get to the line this season, but Duke is even worse at drawing fouls. To make matters worse for the Blue Devils, Duke is a poor free throw shooting team.
- Secondly, Louisville needs to have the good version of Samuell Williamson and Dre Davis today. The Cardinals have shown their vulnerability on the wing, and walking into the KFC Yum! Center is one of the more talented groups of forwards in the country. The Cardinals have to have an answer for Jalen Johnson, Matthew Hurt, and Jaemyn Brakefield or risk dropping a third straight.
Louisville needs a big game from
Dre Davis
The easy answer is David Johnson or Carlik Jones, both of whom have been the driving forces behind the success this season. I could also say JaeLyn Withers considering his surge in production over the last five games. However, I believe the player Louisville desperatly needs to play well is Dre Davis.
Davis has struggled since Louisville’s restart, after a hot start out of the gates. After winning ACC freshman of the week, things have gone south for Dre – although it’s mostly been on the offensive end.
Defensively, you know what you’re getting from Davis night in and night out. While he’s young and makes freshman mistakes, Davis has consistently made things challenging for opposing offenses top wing threat.
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Duke needs a big game from
Matthew Hurt
I would say Jalen Johnson, who is clearly Duke’s best player. But there is an interesting stat about his play this season.
Johnson is averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds per game, shooting 56% from the field and 40% from deep. However, the Blue Devils are just 2-4 when he’s been in the lineup. Could it be that those games have been matchups or Duke has had to overcome more because of the extended pause and lack of continuity? Sure. But it seems more likely that Johnson’s game has yet to mesh with the other players on the roster the way you’d expect.
So in lieu of that, I’ll say Matthew Hurt.
Louisville has struggled to keep teams from dropping bombs from deep, and Hurt is a shooter who could absolutely destroy the Cards. Hurt takes nearly six threes per game and he is knocking down 44 percent of his attempts.
It is difficult to envision how the Cardinals gameplan to stop Hurt on Saturday. At 6’9,” the sophomore is showing tremendous growth as the leader of this team.
Predictions
Dalton Pence: Louisville 67, Duke 65
Jacob Lane: Louisville 76, Duke 72
Presley Meyer: Louisville 82, Duke 84
Spencer Brown: Louisville 71, Duke 66
Ethan Sprowles: Louisville 78, Duke 69
Madison Wood: Louisville 72, Duke 65
Alan Thomas: Louisville 71, Duke 53
Matt McGavic: Louisville 69, Duke 67
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