Louisville C Malik Williams suspended for North Carolina game

Louisville senior captain Malik Williams has been suspended for at least Tuesday night’s game against North Carolina.

Interim head coach Mike Pegues described Williams’ suspension as “indefinite” and for “one game for now.” Pegues made the announcement during his radio show Monday night.

“Bottom line, there’s a standard which all of our guys are expected to meet,” Pegues said. “Unfortunately Malik hasn’t met that standard at different times throughout the year. As a result of that, now that I’m the interim head coach, I feel like it’s my duty and responsibility to maintain the character and the integrity in our locker room.”

Williams is currently Louisville’s leader in both scoring (10.0 ppg) and rebounding (8.7 rpg). He has produced a career-high six double-doubles this season, including a 10 point, 12 rebound effort in Saturday’s 74-65 loss to Duke.

Obviously, it’s never good news when your team captain/leading scorer and rebounder is suspended on the final day of January, but this would be a completely different story if this Louisville team were in contention for ... well, anything, really.

At this point, the season ought to be about making sure the players who are doing the right things every day are rewarded and given the best possible opportunity to make these final five weeks of the season an enjoyable experience. If you’re not one of those people, I don’t care who you are, I’m fine with you staying on the sidelines.

Let’s beat UNC.