Three Factors Fueling Louisville's Four-Game Winning Streak

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Not to long ago, there were some legitimate concerns regarding the Louisville men's basketball program.

Back on Jan. 26, the Cardinals were dealt an embarassing 83-52 loss at Duke. Not only was the 31-point loss the worst margin of defeat under second year head coach Pat Kelsey, it was their fourth loss in a seven game span. At the time, Louisville was still considered a lock to make the NCAA Tournament, but their ability to make a deep run was was put into question.

Since that loss, Louisville has looked like a completely different team. They've rattled off four wins in a row, which is their longest win streak since opening up the season 7-0. The Cardinals took down SMU 88-74, followed that up with a 76-65 win over Notre Dame, went on the road and claimed an 88-80 victory at Wake Forest, then most recently dropped the hammer on NC State for an 118-77 win.

With seven game left in the regular season, Louisville is setting themselves up for a strong finish - one that could vastly improve their standing in both the ACC and NCAA Tournaments. So what have been the keys to this recent turnaround?

Khani Rooths and Kasean Pryor taking a step forward.

Louisville is undoubtedly a team that is led by their backcourt, and that remains true even during this winning streak. But one key reason why they are starting to generate momentum is because of two frontcourt players - Khani Rooths and Kasean Pryor - starting to find their footing.

Rooths coming off of a true freshman campaign where he showed flashed of his potential, and many had hoped that would led to a breakout sophomore season. But over the first couple months, he still had a lot of variance and streakiness in his game, averaging 6.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. He had even missed the four games prior to the streak due to an unspecified illness.

But when he returned to action, the 6-foot-10, 215-pound forward elevated his game. During the four game winning streak, he is averaging 10.3 points and 7.3 rebounds, and notched back-to-back double-doubles against SMU and Notre Dame.

"Rooths is just like blossoming before our eyes," head coach Pat Kelsey said after the Notre Dame game.

With Pryor, he was expected to be a big time contributor to the team this season after announcing that he would return for another year. However, once he finally made his return to action after tearing his ACL last season, he struggled to find consistency on the court.

The 6-foot-10, 230-pound stretch four played in just 13 of the Cardinals' first 21 games, averaging only 2.5 points and 2.2 rebound in 7.4 minutes. He had even missed three straight games, prompting many to question his role on the team moving forward.

But in the last three games, he seems to be playing with a heightened sense of confidence. Against Notre Dame, he was thrust into extended minutes with J'Vonne Hadley suffering a back injury early in the game, and finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

During this last three games, he's averaging 4.3 points and 2.6 rebounds, which might not be a lot, but it's a steady step in the right direction. Especially when considering that the front court is viewed by many as a weakness when compared to the backcourt.

"Kasean just played with that reckless abandon that I love to see out of him," Kelsey said after the Notre Dame game. "He's had a tough run of it coming off of a tough injury, just the way the chips have fallen this season."

An uptick in taking shots at the rim.

Anyone who's ever watched a Pat Kelsey-led Louisville team even just once knows that they're going to take their fair share of threes. But during this winning streak, they've found balance in attempting two-point shots vs. three-point shots.

Over the first 20 games of the season, just 45.7 percent of their total shot attempts were two-point tries. This came despite the fact that, while they were shooting a respectible 35.2 percent on three-pointers, they were much more efficient on twos shooting 59.3 percent on such shots.

Recently, it's been evident that Louisville has been making a concerted effort to get more attempts inside the arc when the drive to the lane to get their paint touches. During this four-game winning streak, not only are 50.4 percent of their total shot attempts coming inside the arc, but their shooting percentage on two-pointers has increased to 65.0 percent.

This has also had an impact on their efficiency shooting three-pointers. The uptick in tries at the rim has freed up more shooters on the perimeter, and the amount of bad shots taken from long range has decreased tremendously. As a a result, Louisville went from shooting 35.2 percent on threes over the first 20 games, to 37.2 percent during this winning streak.

"I just think our process has been really good. Do we shoot great shots all the time? No, but just- bubblegum card, man," Kelsey said after the NC State game.

Mikel Brown Jr. finding his shooting stroke.

There's no doubt that Mikel Brown Jr. is a bonafide playmaker, and he is destined to be a lottery pick later this year when the 2026 NBA Draft arrives. But if there's one on-court thing people were critical of, it was his streaky shooting.

Prior to this current winning streak, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound point guard was still having a good season, averaging 16.1 points, 5.1 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game. However, he was having trouble getting consistent looks on the perimeter, which resulted in him only shooting 27.4 percent on three-point tries.

It took a couple games for him to warm up after missing eight games due to a back injury, but it appears that Brown has finally found his shooting stroke at this level. In this winning streak, he is shooting 41.7 percent on three pointers.

Of course, a lot of this is a result of his insane 45-point game against NC State. But he's also looked more like a complete player during this streak, as he's putting up 20.8 points, 5.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds over the last four games.

"I had a talk with Mikel the other day, and he’s been frustrated because he hasn’t shot it to his standard, and Kel [Mikel] is not a good shooter, he’s a great shooter. He was just frustrated. ... I literally said this and I’m not lying, I said, Mikel, your process is great, nobody works harder than you, you can’t live or die on every miss. If you just keep staying consistently you’re going to have a game where you make like 10 threes."

Khani Rooths and Kasean Pryor taking a step forward.

An uptick in taking shots at the rim.

Mikel Brown Jr. finding his shooting stroke.

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