It wasn’t pretty but it was a win for Louisville basketball.
Despite being down their two leading scorers, Pittsburgh gave Louisville basketball everything it wanted. The Cards ultimately coasted to a 64-54 victory, largely due to their massive victory on the glass, outrebounding the Panthers 48-30.
The Cards went blow-for-blow down the stretch with Pittsburgh Tuesday night after blowing a big early lead. Led by graduate transfer Carlik Jones, Louisville jumped out to a 24-10 advantage midway through the first half. They were making the right cuts at the right times and Jones was doing an outstanding job of penetrating and mixing up Pitt’s defensive rotation, subsequently creating opportunities for his teammates.
But it wouldn’t last. Enter Panthers freshman Femi Odukale. The scrappy guard practically willed Pittsburgh back into the game single-handedly, as they went on an 18-4 run. Eventually, they’d close the gap to 30-28 at halftime.
Hard fought second half fuels Cards to win
The second half was basically a sloppy slugfest. Every time the Cardinals began to find an opportunity to break the game open, Pitt had an answer or two. Pitt guards were hard-charging to the paint and they were able to exploit Louisville’s Packline rotation gaps.
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Louisville looked especially sloppy handling the ball, turning it over 17 times compared to Pitt”s 12. What seemed to keep the Cards afloat late in the second half was solid post defense and perimeter passing, tossing around 12 assists as a team.
But the essence of the Cardinals tonight was the combo of David Johnson and Sam Williamson. They combined for 31 points and 23 rebounds, each putting up double-doubles, respectively. Jae’Lyn Withers and JJ Traynor added 7 and 5 rebounds in supporting roles.
Down the final stretch, the Cards pushed a 6-point lead out to 12 with a couple of possessions and a Williamson three. The young big men continue to impress and have shown a lot of fight early in the season.
Louisville outshot Pittsburgh 47.1%-40.4% from the field, but neither team looked good from 3-point land (23.5%-28.6%).
This probably wasn’t exactly the tune-up for Louisville’s Saturday matchup against Kentucky that Coach Chris Mack had in mind, but more or less, it was probably the confidence boost his team needed to be mentally ready to compete.
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