BACON'S BITS: Louisville Overcomes Early Struggles, Defeats Saint Louis 77-57

By Mark Bacon

The University of Louisville basketball team faced its toughest competition on Saturday night at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, NY. The Cards came of out the gate struggling, initially. They struggled scoring. They committed stupid fouls. The rhythm that allowed them to cruise to four wins by an average margin of 37 points, wasn’t apparent.

• Graduate transfer, Trey Lewis, led the way of U of L, and scored 22 points to lead the team to a 77-57 victory over Saint Louis in the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational

• Eventually, Louisville (5-0) found their groove, subjected St. Louis (4-1) to a “boomlet,” and distanced themselves convincingly. Despite the early struggles Louisville fans have reasons to be optimistic this season.

• The Cards led 30-27 at halftime and the lead was the same when they put a run together. Lewis and Lee had four points each in a 10-0 run that made it 51-38. The Billikens never got closer than 10 points after that.

• Yet, if Louisville expects to upset third ranked Michigan State on Wednesday, in East Lancing, MI, Chinanu Onuaku's propensity for stupid fouls must end. Nanu fouled some 90 feet out when Louisville was defending. He fouled on a loose-ball situation when a Billiken guard had the ball in control. He fouls on moving picks far from the basket.

• Against Louisville's better opponents, that must stop. The Cards have are deep in the front court, and Mangok Mathiang (17 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks) showed that in Brooklyn. But Onuaku is Louisville's most talented big man. His offensive transformation this offseason has made him a major threat.

• Damion Lee also needs to be on the floor for substantial minutes if Louisville wants to beat Michigan State. Lee picked up two early fouls, missing much of the first half; eventually he fouled out with 10 points in a rather quiet performance.

• The Cards struggled defending Saint Louis 3-pointers. The Billikens (4-1) made 8-of-16, and a ton of them were open looks.

BACON'S BITS: Louisville has a top-25 basketball team with great potential, but the Cards aren't ranked yet this season because of ongoing investigations into the recent sex scandal against the program, said coach Rick Pitino. The Coach said the Cards (5-0) are "just ignored" because of all the attention surrounding Katina Powell and her claims that a former U of L basketball staffer paid her and other escorts, including her own teenage daughters, thousands of dollars and gave them game tickets in exchange for them dancing for and having sex with recruits and players.

If you like this story look for more great content from the Main Event Sports crew on our app! Just go to the Google Play Store or iPhone App Store and search keyword "Main Event Sports Radio" and you will have tons of blogs, videos, pics, and more!

For Android users simply click on the link below to download the Main Event Sports app today! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app_maineventsports.layout

For iPhone users simply click on the link below to download the Main Event Sports app today!https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/main-event-sports-radio/id989058411?mt=8