Louisville Basketball: 5 takeaways from the Cards' win over Purdue
We take a look at five different takeaways from the Louisville basketball team’s win over the Purdue Boilermakers on Wednesday night.
The Louisville basketball team was able to get a big win over Purdue on Wednesday night to move to 6-1 on the 2016-2017 season. They dominated for about 35 minutes until Purdue made it close at the end. It was a great game and it sure feels good to get another victory in the win column.
With that being said, let’s take a look at the top five takeaways from the Cards’ win over Purdue.
Nov 30, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Louisville Cardinals forward Jaylen Johnson (10) battles Purdue Boilermakers forward Caleb Swanigan (50) for a rebound during the first half at KFC Yum! Center. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports
5. Jaylen Johnson had another unimpressive night
Hopefully this isn’t going to be a season-long trend because the Cardinals are going to need Johnson to step up again at some point. Fortunately for the Cards, they didn’t need him a lot in this game against Purdue because of Mahmoud and Spalding.
Again, this just cannot become a trend for the Junior.
Johnson finished the game with 6 points and only two rebounds. I think it goes without saying that it not a performance that Rick Pitino is going to be happy with.
Louisville has an easy stretch of games coming up before they play the team from the east (Kentucky). I’m sure Johnson will impose his will on these smaller teams in December.
The bigger question is what will he do once conference play comes?
Nov 24, 2016; Paradise Island, BAHAMAS; Louisville Cardinals guard Donovan Mitchell (45) reacts during the second half against the Wichita State Shockers in the 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis in the Imperial Arena at the Atlantis Resort. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
4. Three-point shooting was still not very good
I understand that Rick Pitino wants the Cardinals to continue to push the basketball and try and create points, but it’s almost shutting down the offense at times. They just aren’t taking very many good shots yet.
If they can just be more consistent and take higher percentage shots, then this will be a very, very good basketball team.
It is comforting to know that the Cards were able to win, even though only two players make a three. Thank goodness for Deng Adel and Ryan McMahon or the Cardinals would have been shut out from downtown.
Louisville still has a few weeks before the big showdown with Kentucky, therefore they better start shooting better or the Cats might run them out of the gym.
Nov 24, 2016; Paradise Island, BAHAMAS; Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino reacts during the first half against the Wichita State Shockers in the 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis in the Imperial Arena at the Atlantis Resort. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
3. Louisville did an outstanding job on the boards
The major thing I was concerned with going into this game was with how tall and strong some of the players on Purdue are. This was going to be a great test of how well the Cardinals could contain the big-men and grab rebounds.
To my surprise, they actually did a fantastic job on Wednesday night, as they out-rebounded the Boilermakers 36-34.
Mathiang, Spalding, Mitchell, and Adel did a great job grabbing the boards and getting the ball back in possession for Louisville.
This is exactly the type of effort that Louisville needs to have in conference play if they want to have a shot at winning the ACC or even coming close.
Nov 24, 2016; Paradise Island, BAHAMAS; Louisville Cardinals guard Donovan Mitchell (45) and Wichita State Shockers guard Daishon Smith (2) battles for the ball during the second half in the 2016 Battle 4 Atlantis in the Imperial Arena at the Atlantis Resort. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
2. Louisville’s defense suffocated Purdue all game long
This was also extremely impressive. For most of the season, I have questioned if the Cards’ forwards were going to be athletic enough for the team to be successful. Those concerns were heightened against Baylor and diminished against Purdue.
Louisville had six different players that recorded a steal on Wednesday, which is just incredible across the board. The only starter who didn’t have a steal was Quentin Snider, but he was huge for the Cards down the stretch making his free throws.
It was pretty apparent that Purdue is not built to withstand the defensive pressure that Louisville put on them from the start. Whether it was bad passes or terrible shots, the Cardinals had the Boilermakers confused and playing ugly.
I loved the effort and commitment to defense from the Cardinals on Wednesday night.
Mar 1, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Louisville Cardinals forward Raymond Spalding (13) shoots against Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets forward James White (33) during the second half at KFC Yum! Center. Louisville defeated Georgia Tech 56-53. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports
1. Ray Spalding played his best game of the season
Ray Spalding showed up when the Cardinals needed him the most on Wednesday night. He tied for the team lead with 11 points and was first on the team with 9 rebounds. On a night where Jaylen Johnson was terrible, Spalding dominated and proved his worth on the court.
If Spalding can continue to improve and be as aggressive as he was against Purdue, then Pitino has a big-time player on his bench. I am not arguing that he should start, but I am saying that he could be the Cardinals most valuable player off the bench this season.
Don’t take that personal VJ King lovers, all I am saying is that Spalding could be the difference in many games for the Cardinals in 2016-2017.
Let’s see if he can keep this type of performance going into the month of December.
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