After the Buzzer: Virginia

Quick Hitters:

-Louisville beat Virginia in basketball. I just wanted to type that because I can and it’s true. Moving on…

-More balance for the Cards. All nine guys scored, and five of them had at least seven points.

-I’ve talked recently about needing two of the four guards to play well. I honestly don’t think any of them played poorly and hurt us. They all contributed. Darius got off to a hot start. Ryan comes in and knocks down a three. Fresh played 30 minutes and only had one turnover and played good defense. David Johnson took over at the end of the game. They all did their job.

-Speaking of David Johnson, I show this in the film review, but he really did decide that he was taking over and getting to the rim with no one stopping him. The last few minutes of the game were huge for him. On three possessions in a row, he drove to the basket and the result was free throws for the Cards. The first was when he missed a layup but drew so much attention that Malik Williams was by himself for the offensive rebound and he got fouled. The next two, Johnson got to the line and knocked down three of four. Against a team that prides themselves on keeping everything out of the lane, Johnson said “I don’t care hoo you are. This is my house and that’s my rim I am getting to.”

-Steven Enoch was also a beast with a few minutes to go in the game. With the Cards desperately needing a basket, he delivered in the post. He scored eight points in a three-minute stretch from 5:44 to 2:47 left to play.

-Enoch and Malik combined for 26 points and eight rebounds.

-Jordan Nwora once again showed up in a big way. I remember one forced shot off the top of my head, and that’s when he got double-teamed on the baseline. But if that’s all he forced, that’s a good thing. He finished 7/14 from the field, 4/8 from three, and 4/4 from the line for 22 points. He also led the team with seven rebounds. Actually, he led BOTH teams with those rebounds.

-It was good to see UofL come out in a little man pressure from the start. That lackluster start against Wake Forest was not going to happen again. A good way to combat that is put a little pressure on so the guys have to be locked in on defense.

-Speaking of defense, Tomas Woldetensae just hit another three-pointer.

-That dude was on another level. Only a couple of his shots were wide open and in rhythm. The rest were contested and just shots where you tip your cap because he was in the zone. You will see in the film review that Samuell Williamson did get lost on him a couple of times. I specifically remember Fresh Kimble all over him on a couple of the shots and he still knocked them down. Guy was just on fire. Did you know he is a studio art major?

-Darius Perry also struggled on defense a few times in this one against Kihei Clark. He just got too locked in on the ball and lost Clark and paid for it. Fresh Kimble did a very good job on him for the most part.

-While on defense, Jordan Nwora brought the energy and effort on that side of the ball again. It’s amazing how much more locked in he is when he is hitting shots.

-Louisville outrebounded Virginia 31-19.

-The Cards were 21/24 from the free throw line for 87.5%.

-Go ahead and blame his next miss on me, but Jordan Nwora is 16/16 from the free throw line in the last three games and 24/25 in the last four.

-Fresh Kimble, Darius Perry, and David Johnson are averaging a combined 8.1 assists and 4.7 turnovers per game.

-Virginia played three guys off the bench for eight, six, and two minutes each. Samuell Williamson played the least for the Cards and he was at 10 minutes. The depth that this team has is huge.

-I mean it when I say that everyone contributed to this win. Dwayne Sutton and Samuell Williamson both had two points, but they were big buckets. Sutton followed up a missed three with an acrobatic put-back in the first half that got the crowd into it. And Williamson had that baseline dunk where he went backdoor with his man watching the ball. Good pass by DJ, good recognition by Sam to cut. Love when those freshmen make plays together.

-I think Coach Mack’s tech was a culmination of a lot of plays, not just one. The ball hitting the out of bounds line literally right in front of that ref’s face was bad. The entire bench reacted and the ref was looking down when it happened. I think the final straw was Steven Enoch getting hammered on his late dunk and nothing being called. However, the ref acting like a tough guy was a joke. If he isn’t going to be getting minutes, let Aidan Igiehon just stand there and be Chris Mack’s bodyguard at that moment.

-If we can get Malik and Steven to hedge screens like the Virginia big guys do, the defense will be even better. For most of the game, they hedged our guys out near mid-court. We have all seen our guys overrun the play and the opposing team just splits it and gets to the middle of the defense, opening up wide open shots.

-Louisville beat Virginia in basketball and have now won 10 in a row. It’s a good time. Enjoy it.

-As always, thank you for reading and checking out the film review. Go Cards!

Film Review: