The Floyd Street Tribune: A meaningful win, part II
Inside: Two newsletters, two wins for Louisville men's basketball this week.
Miss the last newsletter? I wrote about the meaningful win on Wednesday night vs. Western Kentucky. For just $7 a month, paid subscribers receive each newsletter in full and have access to each newsletter via the main TFST page.
Just a few days ago, after Louisville’s win over Western Kentucky, we discussed in this newsletter the importance of the Cards navigating a different scenario. When they don’t play well — when they shoot poorly and have to labor through a game — can they still win?
We’ve now seen what it looks like when Louisville shoots 50+% from the field and makes 19 of 20 from the foul line while (somewhat) reducing turnovers. The big step for this team will be winning a game when the shots aren’t falling. Can Louisville find ways to string together stops that help them grind out wins? The lack of offensive cohesion, until Wednesday night, really impacted the defense. U of L has to figure out how to defend at a high level, get its easy baskets from putbacks on the offensive glass and scratch and claw.
Louisville did that on Saturday, shooting just 42% from the field (3 of 14 from 3) and turning the ball over on 34.4% of its possessions … and winning. Yes, it was ugly. Very ugly. And it was against one of the worst teams in the country. But five days ago the Cards were 0-9 and had lost six straight by 19 or more points — you take the wins however you get ‘em.
The bottom line is, Louisville desperately needed some good news, and this week’s performances delivered that. Two wins against two very different opponents slowed what was profuse bleeding for the program. As I said in Thursday’s letter, my larger-picture opinion hasn’t changed a whole lot about the state of the program, but a couple wins and a couple decent performances in terms of effort — both very welcome for Louisville and perhaps encouraging signs of life.
Props to Sydney Curry
Expectations were high for the big fella coming off a few standout games late last season. He is the type of frontcourt player Louisville fans typically love: A bully around the basket who wants to dunk everything. That is, of course, when he is engaged and playing with a ton of energy. He did that Saturday, bullying his way to 13 points and 19 rebounds, including five offensive boards.
In the two wins, Curry is 8 for 12 from the field, with 23 total points and 25 rebounds. But more importantly, he has 10 offensive boards. He should be a regular menace on the offensive glass, and offensive rebounding should help him get going in most games. He scored six of his 13 points off putbacks on Saturday. I know the Florida A&M frontcourt isn’t exactly hulking, but that production matters in the grand scheme of things.
Louisville needs Curry to play hard and contribute. It’s a good sign for the Cards that he helped in both games against two very different frontcourt opponents. We mentioned recently how much Kenny Payne has gotten after guys like JJ Traynor and Kamari Lands to be confident regardless of how they’re shooting. With Curry, Payne has been on him about his conditioning and effort. Clearly, that approach didn’t get off to the best start. But again, as I’ve also written before, the season story isn’t written in nine or 10 games. Curry has the chance to use the past two performances to jump into a new phase of his campaign.
Turnover solutions
Louisville continues to be perplexed by turnovers. The Cards are third-to-last in all of college basketball in those pesky non-steal turnovers — silly giveaways. Nine of the 22 turnovers on Saturday were non-steal turnovers. Nine! That has to change as ACC play really kicks into action.
How? I’m not the guy making $3.3 million a year to figure that out, but I do think Louisville needs to get more creative with the way it runs offense and limit the Gene Hackman Hoosiers passing concepts. This team isn’t built for that. It’ll help to have Fabio Basili playing more, too.
Win or lose, it’s great to see fight out of the team. Helps the players, helps the fans.