After the Buzzer: Miami (Ohio)

Quick Hitters

-Well it was a sluggish start, to say the least. But Louisville ending up turning it on in time to win the game by 24 and make it look like the correct final score margin. I am not one that’s overly concerned about it. Would you like for them to come out and get up by 24 in the first half and just coast? Sure. But they at least got it going in time to win the game and not have a really bad loss at home.

-More on that…the guys are human. A coach can say whatever he wants to hype up the opponent or tell his guys to just be locked in and focused, but sometimes their human side comes out. They know who they are playing and they came out and slept walked through the first half. Against a better team, they don’t win. But against a better team, I think they come out ready from the jump. Again, I get the frustration and you want them to play 100% against every single opponent. I’m just not worried about it until they don’t come out focused in the big games.

-Thank you, Dwayne Sutton. The Cards needed something, anything, to light a fire under them. The play that Sutton made (you will see in film review) where he dove on the floor to keep the play alive was a big boost that the team needed. Eight points, 15 rebounds, four assists, and three blocks? Have yourself a game!

-I thought Malik Williams was very good as well. He is so active on both ends of the floor. He hedges the ball screens and gets back to his man in the post pretty quickly. There was a play in this game that he actually wasn’t able to get back and Sutton switched with him. When he saw the opportunity, Malik fixed it and switched them back. Great awareness. He had 11 rebounds and five of them were on the offensive end. My only complaint with him right now is that I would love to see more dunks. Just take it up strong.

-Darius Perry also played well, in my opinion. He didn’t think that he did because his shot wasn’t falling, which shows that he doesn’t realize the different ways he can have an impact on this team. There are other scorers. I don’t think he forced bad passes or shots. He finished with five assists and two turnovers. And although he was 3-10 from the field, I don’t remember him taking really bad challenged shots like he did against Texas Tech. I only watched the game once, so I could be wrong, but he seemed to take smarter shots to me. Under control Darius is a helpful Darius.

-I have to point out David Johnson for doing other things that may not show up in the box score. On multiple occasions, he tipped the ball and kept it alive for the Cards to get an offensive rebound. He also played good help defense on opposing big men to keep them from scoring easy buckets down low. It’s really nice to have a 6’5 guard that can do those things.

-Jordan Nwora assist to turnover watch…he had one assist and four turnovers in this one, bringing his season totals to 17 assists and 28 turnovers. Those 28 are tied for the team lead with Darius Perry. Perry leads the team with 55 assists, with the next closest being Fresh Kimble with 35. Just some random stats.

-Heading into the under eight-minute media timeout, Louisville was leading 52-40. Cue up “Joker and the Thief” to spark a 9-0 run to make it 61-40 before Miami scores again. Make it an 18-6 run to finish the game after that timeout.

-Can anyone sneak into Rupp and play “Joker and the Thief” next Saturday?

Film Review