Takeaways From Louisville MBB's 2023 Red and White Scrimmage

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - On Wednesday, fans were able to get their first glance of the 2023-24 Louisville men's basketball team.

With a new college basketball season less than a month away, the Cardinals held their annual preseason Red and White intrasquad scrimmage at the KFC Yum! Center.

Like in years past, the red squad and white squad faced off against one another. It was played in two 16-minutes halves, with the score reset at halftime, and no roster switching up between the two halves.

Koron Davis, Dennis Evans, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Mike James, Ty-Laur Johnson, Danilo Jovanovich, Aidan McCool and Tre White were assigned to the red team; and Skyy Clark, Kaleb Glenn, Hercy Miller, Emmanuel Okorafor, Zan Payne, J.J. Traynor and Curtis Williams played for the white team.

Red team won the first half 34-20, while the White team took the second half 31-28. Red won the scrimmage overall, 62-51, in front of 5,719 Cardinals fans.

"I thought today was good," head coach Kenny Payne said. "Overall, had some nervous guys out there to start it, which is normal with their first time playing in front of people. But overall, I'm pleased with it."

While not much can be deduced from an intrasquad scrimmage, here are Louisville Report's main takeaways from the evening:

Defensive Effort, Overall Chemistry Improves

As many Louisville fans know by now, one of the biggest reasons for the downfall of last year's 4-28 team was that their effort, communication, and overall body language was extremely poor. There were times last season where many players would look, and act, like they wanted to be anywhere else.

While it might have been just a scrimmage, the effort was night and day when compared to last season's Red and White Scrimmage. This was particularly true on the defensive end of the court. Not only did they seem to communicate with each other with a much higher frequency, they were regularly rotating on defense, especially around the paint to not allow for easy baskets.

Both teams combined to shoot for 43.8 percent from the floor, which the White team being held to only 37.7 percent. While there were only a handful of uncontested shots, Payne believes that the defensive showing in the scrimmage actually left some to be desired.

At times you see Dennis Evans block two or three shots, or change a shot. That makes a difference," he said. "I think on the perimeter when you see four and five guys, whether it's the one, twos or threes, especially those three positions, can guard multiple players. They get out there and they want to they want to compete against each other. They have a toughness on the defensive ends. Which, tonight, I thought was less than what has been in practice. In practice, it's been a lot more physical and a lot more determination."

Even with the defense taking a step forward, the offense seemed to as well. A combined 43.8 shooting percentage might not jump off the page, but 23 of Louisville's 42 made field goals came off of assists. The Cardinals also shot a combined 12-of-30 (40.0 percent) on three-point attempts. For reference, last year's team averaged only 9.3 assists per game and 32.9 percent from beyond the arc.

While Louisville still has a ways to go, Payne likes the chemistry from his guys, and believes they can be a good team on both ends of the floor.

"We are way further along than we were a year ago at this time," he said. "We got a lot of work to do, but we have the ingredients to be a pretty good team, both offensively and defensively."

Transfer Additions Tre White, Skyy Clark Impress

While Payne and his staff brought in a freshman class that ranked inside the top-10 nationally, two of their more impactful additions over the offseason were via the transfer portal, landing USC guard Tre White and Illinois guard Skyy Clark. On Wednesday, we saw why it was such a big deal to land these two.

White was arguably the MVP of the scrimmage, collecting a game-high 17 points, tying Emmanuel Okorafor with the most rebounds at nine, and also dishing out four assists. The 6-foot-7, 205-pound guard went 5-for-11 from the field, making his hay on the drive while mixing in a midrange jumper, and also going 6-of-7 at the free throw line. He also posted a defensive plus/minus of 15.

“What I saw from him tonight is the reason I brought him here," Payne said of White. "Probably didn't see a lot of that at USC, but when I watched him and evaluated, I saw a player that can handle the ball, can pass the ball, can shoot the ball, can defend. He has a great spirit about him."

As the lead guard for the White team, Clark also had an impactful showing. He notched 11 points, and tied Ty-Laur Johnson for the most assists in the scrimmage with five. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound guard did have five turnovers, but his court vision will only get better with more reps. His ability to finish on the drive out of the point guard spot will also be something this team can benefit from.

Dennis Evans Shines Among Freshman

Of course, this team has plenty of new talent in the form of incoming freshmen. Out of all the first year talent on the team, center Dennis Evans was unquestionably the best one during the scrimmage.

Coming in at a whopping 7-foot-1 with a 9-foot-8 standing reach, his ability to impact shots around the paint was evident almost immediately. He was credited with five blocks, and even when he wasn't blocking shots, he made opposing ball handlers extremely uncomfortable when driving at or around him.

"Dennis changes so much in the game," Clark said. "Five blocks is something you guys are going to see all season. I think he should average that. Just having Dennis under the basket – for me -- I look to attack downhill but I have to think. Even throwing lobs, I usually go to the basket, act like I’m going for a layup and then throw a lob. With him, I have to throw it over the backboard, open a little scoreboard up top and it just makes the game so much harder. He’s going to be amazing for us.”

Even with an offensive game that is still very raw, you could see his potential on that end of the court during the scrimmage. He wound up finishing with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting, with five of his made shots being dunks and the other being a second-chance layup. On most of his dunks, Evans barely had to leave the floor. Once he gets in a habit of not relying simply on his height, he can be a deadly force on both ends.

"He's learning to anticipate passes to catch passes," Payne said. "He's learning how to get to spots and being a dunker spot to get a lob. He's learning to be ready for the lob to be ready for direct passes. He's learning he has to hit in order to get a rebound. He can't just say ‘I'm seven foot two and think I can get the ball because somebody's gonna hit him.’ So it's a bunch of different things that I think his development entails. The greatest thing about Dennis Evans is that every single day he comes in here and tries to learn as much as possible.”

Could Turnovers Still Be a Problem?

One of the biggest detriments to last season's team was their propensity to turn the ball over at an abnormal rate. Early on in the scrimmage, it seemed like that was well on its way to being another problem, as the Red and White teams committed a combined 17 turnovers in the first half.

But to their credit, they cut down on this mark tremendously in the second half, only committing seven combined turnovers in the second half. In fact, Payne chalks the first half's turnovers mainly to just first outing nervousness from his players, and liked the way they responded in the second half.

"The kids feel it, they feel it, and you're going to have turnovers when that happens," he sais. "When this is their first time in front of them, but I thought they made the adjustment in the second half and handled things well. They played with a different poise, even though the red (team) did play well in the first half.”

All Four Returners Make an Impact

Earlier in the week, Payne mentioned that the returners from last year's squad were all motivated to rebound from the ghastly 4-28 campaign, and that they wanted to help set the standard for the newcomers joining the program. All four scholarship returners certainly looked like they had a chip on their shoulder in the scrimmage.

Mike James, J.J. Traynor, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Emmanuel Okorafor all made meaningful contributions to their respective squads on Wednesday.

James led all returners in scoring, collecting 12 points - all off three-pointers - while also tallying three rebounds and two assists. Okorafor nearly logged a double-double with a 10 points and nine rebound performance, with six of his rebounding coming on offense. Traynor scored 11 points with three rebounds and two assists, while Huntley-Hatfield has nine points and two boards.

Of the 117 points, 59 rebounds and 23 assists in the Red and White scrimmage, these four players were responsible for 42 points, 17 rebounds and six assists.

"Having them failed and bumped their heads at a time that's great for me, because you see if there's going to be a divide or if there's going to be a coming together of guys," Payne said. "This group has come together thus far. But real adversity is coming as we all know. And they're going to have to depend on each other for us to be a good team."

(Photo of Hercy Miller, Ty-Laur Johnson: Matt Stone - Louisville Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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