Louisville basketball: Quick takeaways from Evansville win

I’ve had worse times as a Louisville basketball fan.

Louisville basketball is quite literally a completely different team, but they looked better than many expected in a 79-44 win in the 2020-21 season opener against Evansville.

Led by grad transfer Carlik Jones’ 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists, the Cards shook off some first game jitters to dominate the Purple Aces on both ends of the floor.

There were a ton of positive takeaways on Wednesday, so let’s get right to it.

Carlik Jones is the real deal

How about Carlik MF’in Jones?

I think a major concern over the last couple of months was that Carlik Jones kept winning the gold jersey handed out to the best practice player each week. That might turn out to just be a really good thing. The Radford graduate transfer was head and shoulders the best player on the court.

There wasn’t a single aspect of Jones’ game that was not impressive. He led Louisville basketball in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. He played the entire first half and then only 11 minutes in the second period.

We often talk about Damion Lee as the best of the grad transfers in this era. It would be a complete knee jerk reaction to say Jones is there, but based on the offseason talk and the way Jones performed in game one, he could very well be right on that same level.

Louisville basketball freshmen exceeded expectations

The two freshmen- Dre Davis and JJ Traynor- and redshirt freshman Jae’Lyn Withers could ultimately become a trio that make a serious impact on this team.

The discussion surrounding team 107 entering the game was that the Cardinals have three healthy stars that will do most of the heavy lifting in Jones, Johnson, and Samuell Williamson. The question was, however, who is going to step up after that?

Right now, the answer could very well be one of the freshmen.

Withers and Davis got the start in their first college games and showed some serious savvy for a couple of youngsters.

Traynor was probably the biggest surprise of the night. A player who most expected to redshirt or see minimal minutes in 2020-21 saw 19 minutes of action, went 5-5 from the field, and snagged 5 rebounds. Traynor’s game appears far ahead of what most expected it to be, and it feels like he could form a great duo with Withers in the middle.

Louisville will be extremly thin to start the season

We knew this, but game one only accentuated the fact that Louisville basketball is going to have some serious depth issues early on.

If we want to be realistic about the rotation, Louisville is probably going to go seven deep for now with bigs Aidan Igiehon and Gabe Wiznitzer playing sparingly. Until either Josh Nickelberry or Charles Minlend return to the lineup, we will see a ton of Jones and Johnson.

Louisville found success when David Johnson was off

Most would tell you that David Johnson is probably the most important player on this team– And he still very well may be.

However, Louisville showed tonight that when Johnson was not at his best, the Cardinals can still make up for his deficiencies.

Part of the issue with DJ was that he picked up two very early fouls and a third later in the first half. That cannot be a trend that continues. Johnson seemed to force things just a bit at the start of the second half, leading to four turnovers.

Still, Johnson accounted for 4 points, five assists, and seven rebounds. He will more likely than not be more effective in the scoring department going forward, but it was great to see that Louisville basketball can still more than just survive without him.

The basketball bubble might be weirder than football home games

What a year it’s been. While I’m certainly glad to get any basketball at all, it is a jarring experience to see a tiny, socially-distanced crowd in the KFC Yum! Center.

At least in football, we have seen a nearly empty stadium before during a down season. That has never ever been a thing for Louisville basketball.

My one hope in regards to the crowds is that something can be done to at least allow fans to have water. To not have concessions is understandable, but no freaking water? Massive yikes.

We get to do this again on Friday, people. Let’s go!