Chris Mack Not Downplaying Kentucky Despite Wildcats' Record

Kentucky might be off to their worst start in nearly a century, but Louisville men's basketball head coach Chris Mack knows his Cardinals are in for a tough matchup against their rival.

(Photo of Chris Mack: Scott Utterback/Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It's that magical time in the Commonwealth again - rivalry week. Yes, even in this odd year that is 2020, the annual Battle of the Bluegrass between the Louisville Cardinals and Kentucky Wildcats presses onwards.

But, this iteration of the showdown between the intrastate rivals lacks a little less sizzle than it would in normal years. Despite a 5-1 record, Louisville finds themselves unranked after getting bounced from the polls following their blowout loss to Wisconsin. As for Kentucky? Well, their 1-5 start to the season is their worst since 1926.

In fact, this is the first matchup in which neither team is ranked since Jan. 5, 2008, when Louisville won 89-75 at Rupp Arena.

Pre-game hoopla, or lack thereof, aside, Cardinals head coach Chris Mack is throwing Kentucky's record out the window, and knows he is in for a tall task. This is, after all, a rivalry matchup, and everyone knows to expect the unexpected when it comes to them.

"I'm expecting a team that plays extremely hard on the defensive end, is long, is athletic," he said. "That makes some mistakes, but makes up for them by deflecting passes and blocking shots, and playing with a ton of effort."

Related: Points of Emphasis: Louisville vs. Kentucky

While the majority of Kentucky's national stats, such as scoring offense & defense, rank in the bottom half of the 300+ Division I teams, Louisville hasn't played the cleanest of basketball as of late, either.

After returning to the court following an 18-day layoff due to COVID-19, Louisville then proceeded to get demolished against Wisconsin for the program's worst loss in 64 years. The Cards found the win column against Pitt, but it wasn't done in the prettiest of fashions.

Mack is pleased with how his team continues to work on their conditioning, and overall game, since returning to the court after the nearly three-week layoff, but knows the Wildcats will still be a handful.

"I thought we made some good strides at Pitt, but they're not Wisconsin, and Kentucky is a whole different animal in the way that they play, and the challenge they present," he said. "We're going to have to draw off our experiences, both positive and negative, and be better on Saturday if we expect to win."

Mack has a few areas that he wants his team to do well in against Kentucky. On the offensive end, he wants to limit the amount of careless turnovers they make. In their games vs. Wisconsin & Pitt combined, Louisville has turned it over 35 times.

"If we've had two turnovers in a row, that's not the time that you try to punch a gap when there's a couple players in there and make a play early in the shot clock," he said. "Now that leads to three turnovers in a row. Experienced teams don't do that, and we're not experienced at times."

On the other side of the court, he wants to limit the amount of chances that the Wildcats have to run in the open court with their athletic guards. Of course, not turning it over plays a large role with that, but he also wants his players to be active with offensive rebounds.

Related: Chris Mack, Carlik Jones Talk Kentucky

He's also keeping tabs on Olivier Sarr, as he knows how much of a defensive headache he presents. Coming over from Wake Forest over the offseason, the 7-foot, 237-pound transfer scored 16 points and hauled in six rebounds in his last matchup against Louisville back in February.

Of course, that was with a healthy Malik Williams and a now-graduated Steven Enoch tasked with guarding him. With redshirt freshman Jae'Lyn Withers & freshman Gabe Wiznitzer, Mack knows Kentucky head coach John Calipari will be looking to exploit that matchup.

"(Sarr) gave us problems last year, and we had two experienced post players in Malik and Steven a year ago, and he gave us problems," he said. "Now we have two freshmen. We have to do what we need to do to make it a hard game on him."

It's fairly commonplace, across multiple levels of sport, for teams to downplay their opponent due to their record or lack of perceived ability. If Kentucky finds a way to break their five-game losing streak and extend their winning streak against Louisville, it appears it won't be because of this.

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