Louisville basketball: Quick takeaways after Virginia Tech victory

Louisville basketball gets its first win of the season over a ranked team. A few quick take aways.

You know those posts on social media that are like “you have to pick one friend to not answer the phone and you win win $10 million; who are you picking”? If Louisville basketball is picking a team that it wants to play for a guaranteed win, you have to think, at this point, it’s Virginia Tech.

After a win against the Hokies on Wednesday night, Louisville basketball has a 17-game win streak.

This also marks the first win of the 2020-21 season for Louisville against a ranked team. A few quick takeaways for the Cards.

Jae’Lyn Withers could be the third piece of the Louisville triumvirate

We all want it to be Samuell Williamson, but maybe another member of the Super Six is stepping up. Obviously David Johnson and Carlik Jones are the leaders of this Louisville basketball team. However, any good team needs a third player who is a consistent threat.

If the Wednesday is any indication, perhaps its redshirt freshman Jae’Lyn Withers.

When we spoke to Mack in the offseason, he could not say enough great things about Withers. However, in the early going, Withers was not assertive enough to be one of the main pieces on this team.

That changed on Wednesday in a major way. Withers finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds in 29 minutes- all career-highs. He was fantastic all over the floor, but especially in areas where we had not seen him thrive in the past.

Withers had multiple strong drives to the basket from the elbow and the top of the key. Hey was assertive from the jump, and demonstrated the ability to crash the boards, face up, and go back-to-the-basket.

This was the best game of Withers’ career, and if it’s any indication of the future, Louisville could be damn good going forward.g

David Johnson and Carlik Jones are still good at basketball

Jones and Johnson both had 17 points. Johnson had 5 rebounds; Jones had 3.

There’s not much else to say that has not been said. This is the best backcourt in the ACC.

Louisville still struggling to put teams away

I will keep harping on this until I see something happen otherwise.

Louisville basketball has a tendency to play great in stretches and then let other teams hang around. Wednesday against Virginia Tech was no exception.

The Cards went up by 14 early in the second half, and the rest of the game, Louisville allowed the Hokies to hang around. Just like they did against Seton Hall and Kentucky, and just like they would have if Boston College could have bought a shot at the halfway point of the second half.

Related: How Charles Minlend can help Louisville basketball

This is a trend that you don’t want to see if you’re a Louisville fan. Yes, the Cards got out to a big lead. Yes, Louisville keeps winning even when teams pull close. However, do they want to keep tempting fate?

The youngsters are developing

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this game was what Louisville did to counter Virginia Tech.

The Hokies gameplanned to keep Carlik Jones out of the lane and David Johnson off the boards. The were successful at limiting both of Louisville’s stars to an extent.

However, the Cardinals took care of business in other areas. We mentioned already how awesome Withers was, but Louisville was great across the board.

Quinn Slazinski and Josh Nickelberry were fantastic off the bench. Nickelberry was great on both ends and had a couple elite-level plays, including a ridiculous crossover and step-back jumper. Slazinski finished with 10 points and four crucial rebounds. The sophomore is truly the juice that Louisville basketball needs off the bench.

Finally, Dre Davis is struggling from three. That hasn’t stopped him from taking good shots and playing excellent, fundamental basketball. Davis played 32 minutes, which was third-most on the team. He finished with 5 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Louisville basketball went eight-deep on Wednesday and didn’t flinch. You love to see it.

Louisville basketball is in first place in the ACC

Coming off of what was supposed to be the season for Louisville basketball, it is once again in solo first place in the ACC standings.

What a season.