By Mark Bacon
Rick Pitino opined last week that the Louisville Cardinals were unranked because of allegations that a former graduate assistant paid escorts to have sex with players and recruits. Pitino said that was diverting attention from what the Cardinals were accomplishing on the floor.
Pitino has a point. Louisville was 5–0, winning their games by an average of 33.6 points. They feature two talented transfers in Damion Lee and Trey Lewis, and a recruiting class including three top-50 prospects. The early returns were positive. Perhaps the Cardinals do deserve more consideration. The only problem was they hadn’t played anyone of note.
That changed last night when Louisville played Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich., as part of the Big Ten/ACC challenge. For the Cards, this was an opportunity to prove their perfect record was more than merely a product of inferior competition, by getting a signature victory over a Final Four threat.
- The third-ranked Spartans, weary from a West Coast trip, needed a full supporting cast to overcome a 13-point hole in the first half and stay undefeated with a 71-67 win over No. 24 Louisville on Wednesday.
- Michigan State got strong performances from senior Bryn Forbes and leading PoY candidate, Denzel Valentine. Valentine did the most to help his team, hitting all six of his foul shots in the final minute, finishing with a game-high 25 points.
- Louisville turned Michigan State over on a third of its possessions, limited it to 42% two-point shooting and 0.87 points per possession. Louisville is long and deep on the interior—it counts five rotation players standing 6'9" or taller and ranks 12th nationally in effective height—which helps to explain why it’s so effective at forcing misses inside the arc. The Cardinals lead the nation in opponents’ two-point field goal percentage and rank sixth in block percentage.
- Louisville fell short, but it can leave the East Lansing feeling good about their performance. The Cards gave Sparty everything it could handle on its home floor, opening up a 13 point lead in the first half and pushing the Spartans down the stretch before they held on for a 71–67 win.
- Michigan State struggled containing Lewis and Lee. The two guards blew by defenders and either finished in the paint or got to the free throw line—where they both knocked down all five of their attempts—in tallying up 44 combined points.
- U of L won’t be tested again until it faces Kentucky in Lexington the day after Christmas. If the Cardinals are as good as their first six games—including Wednesday—suggest, they’ll spend more time over the next three weeks correcting minor deficiencies. The Cards would do well to develop scoring options to supplement Lee and Lewis. As dynamic as those two are slashing to the basket, Louisville needs to be able to pry open defenses that excel at limiting dribble penetration.
The Cardinals have time; at this point, it’s obvious that they’re legitimately good. Better than their seventh-in-the-ACC preseason projection and better than most observers thought. Without a win, Louisville passed its first big test of the season Wednesday. It’s safe to assume people won’t ignore this team anymore. Pitino was probably right.
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