Scouting Report: Louisville Cardinals
The Hurricanes come back home after a heart breaking fashion loss to Wake Forest.
The Louisville Cardinals doesn’t have the same juice this season. Year two under Coach Kenny Payne has already surpassed year one’s win total, but it still isn’t going well. In fact, the rumblings of an in-season change are growing louder and louder. Between Coach Payne’s odd press conference admissions, rumors of issues in the locker room, and the continued losing it is hard to see light at the end of the tunnel in Louisville.
Louisville started the season 2-1 before heading to Madison Square Garden for the Empire Classic. There, the Cards were a buzzer-beater away from defeating Texas and also held a late lead against Indiana. However, both resulted in losses despite what appeared to be serious improvement in terms of the on-court product. Two wins came with their return to the YUM! Center, but beating New Mexico State in overtime and Bellarmine by just five points certainly didn’t prove that a corner had been turned in New York. Then, the wheels fell off once again with three straight losses to Virginia Tech, DePaul, and Arkansas State. Coach Payne responded with his biggest win as a head coach, a 22-point beatdown over Pepperdine.
Let’s dive in and get to know more about the Louisville Cardinals.
Louisville Cardinals Personnel
Starters
#4 Ty-Laur Johnson: 6’0″ 180 lbs, Freshman Guard
8.8 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 3.5 apg
#55 Skyy Clark: 6’3″ 205 lbs, Sophomore Guard
15.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.5 apg
#22 Tre White: 6’7″ 205 lbs, Sophomore Guard/Forward
12.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.7 apg
#5 Brandon Huntley-Hatfield: 6’10” 240 lbs, Junior Forward
9.2 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 0.9 apg
Louisville Cardinals Offense
There aren’t many positives when it comes to the Louisville Cardinals offense. Aside from scoring 25.2% of their points from the free throw line, the 12th most nationally, and being very good on the offensive glass, there isn’t much they can hang their hat on. Also, admittedly, relying on free throws and offensive rebounds for offense is a losing proposition. Coach Kenny Payne’s group will look to attack in transition, but they turn it over too frequently and are actually one of the worst transition offensive teams in the country. Their 0.904 points per transition possession, per Synergy, ranks 340th nationally. In the half court they will set ballscreens and run sets for interior catches but those haven’t been very effective either.
As a whole, Louisville’s offense ranked 195th in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency. Their 29.4% mark from three-point range is 306th in the country.Again, aside from free throws and offensive rebounding, this group doesn’t find much success on the offensive end of the floor. The defensive game plan will be to simply to stay between the Cardinals and the basket and then go rebound the basketball. Let’s take a closer look at some of what we will see offensively from the Cards.
Louisville Cardinals Defense
The struggles continue on the defensive side of the ball for the Louisville Cardinals. Their man-to-man defense provides very little resistance to opponents attacking the basket. On the season, opponents are shooting 53.3% from two-point range as the Cardinals struggle mightily to protect the rim. However, they have held teams to just 28.7% shooting from three-point range. Some of that comes from playing teams like Coppin State, Indiana, New Mexico State, and Bellarmine who are among the worst three-point shooting teams in the country, but either way, Louisville hangs their hat on taking away the three in exchange for giving up two-point shots. Driving lanes should present themselves with crisp ball movement on the perimeter.
Trinton is the owner of CanesToday. He writes for all sports, with a focus on football and recruiting, he is a freshman in high school and wants to graduate from the University of Miami
