After the Buzzer: Wake Forest

Louisville went into Winston Salem, North Carolina on Wednesday night and handled Wake Forest from the start. The game was close when it was 2-0, and that’s about it. It was a dominant first half, a really good start to the second half, some let up that looked a little sluggish, and it finally ended with the Cards leaving town with a 28-point ACC road win. Sounds good to me. Let’s get some quick hitters and film review done.

Quick Hitters

-The first thing that sticks out to me is the scoring balance of this team. Christen Cunningham only took two shots and he had two points, and they still end up scoring 82. Jordan Nwora had 20, Dwayne Sutton had 17, Malik Williams had 13, Ryan McMahon had 12, and Steven Enoch had 9. That is incredible scoring balance and this team is going to need that the rest of the season as the competition gets better.

-Dwayne Sutton is a beast. I mentioned his 17 points, but he also had 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block. He doesn’t have to score to impact the game. He is going to play his tail off and that’s how you end up with a stat line like that.

-Malik Williams continues to impress me with the energy that he plays with. I was kind of indifferent on him when the season started because he seemed a little too finesse to me, but he is changing my mind with his effort on both ends of the floor. He is rebounding better and seems to be getting tougher.

-If Jordan Nwora ever starts to make that extra pass when he is double-teamed and has an open teammate, this team takes another step. He scores a lot. He forces a lot. It can change though.

-Darius Perry made his way out of the doghouse and then picked up four fouls in 10 minutes, including a technical. Not ideal.

-I would love to see the Wake Forest scouting report where they tell their guys to double down on VJ King in the post and leave Jordan Nwora wide open for three. That didn’t seem like a great idea.

-As I am typing this, Donovan Mitchell just scored seven straight points for the Jazz. He would be a senior this year, by the way. That’s just silly to think about.

-Louisville ends the month of January with a 7-1 record in the ACC. Incredible. Business, however, is about to pick up. This schedule is about to get crazy, and I’d honestly rather it be this way. Get the “easy” games done early to get some wins, confidence, and continuity in the system, and then head right to the meat of this brutal February schedule. Can we beat North Carolina again? Beat Duke? Beat Virginia? Beat Virginia twice? Buckle up. February is about to be wild.

Film Review