BIRD CALLS: Louisville Dominates Samford In Opener, 86-45

By Mark Bacon

It's not wise to get real jazzed after a season debut. But I’m having a hard time containing my excitement about this year's U of L Basketball Team after witnessing a season-opening 86-45 rout of Samford last night.

Eleven different players scored in the blowout, a far cry from the nail-biting exhibition win over Kentucky Wesleyan four days ago. What happened?

• Louisville tallied nine blocked shots, nine steals, and turned Samford over 18 times. U of L held the visitors to 21-percent shooting and a paltry 18 second-half points. 

• Chinanu Onuaku and Mangok Mathiang combined for eight of those blocks; Donovan Mitchell had three of those steals.

• Louisville shot 53.6 percent for the evening, making 7-of-15 from 3-point range. There were 19 assists on 30 field goals. Freshman Donovan Mitchell (14 points), Damion Lee (14), Quentin Snider (12) and Chinanu Onuaku (11) all scored double-digit points.

• Onuaku, who's dealt with foul problems throughout the Puerto Rico trip and preseason (averaging what seems like 12 a game...), as well as Friday's first half, put together as spectacular a performance as one player can have with only 14 minutes of playing time. Nanu’s 11 points came from 5-of-5 shooting, plus five rebounds, five blocks and two assists. He also had a Trezl-like fast-break dunk (dunkl?), prompting a primal scream that took the wind out of him. He had to come out to calm down, according to sources at the game. 

• The toughest part of the evening was trying to get ESPN3.

This was just one night, one game, but I'm willing to bet this year’s team has a tremendous upside, are underrated nationally, and are going to be a lot of fun to follow.

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