Experience lends to Louisville's road success

With a goal of nine “road kills” this season, Louisville men’s basketball is making its way toward that mark. The Cardinals (21-3 overall, 12-1 in the ACC) use the moniker “road kill” to define a road win, something Louisville has become familiar with in conference play.

Louisville is 6-0 in conference road games this season and faces Georgia Tech in Atlanta Feb. 12. The Cardinals won three straight road contests in January, which was capped by a victory over then third-ranked Duke.

Louisville coach Chris Mack says teams can’t get disrupted by home crowds and must remain poised during road games.

“You have to be understanding of the fact that the home team is going to go on runs,” Mack said. “They are going to be comfortable in their own building, they are going to play well and the crowd is going to get excited.”

Mack said Louisville’s road loss to Kentucky in Lexington in late December gave his team an experience for what it takes to when road games. He said Louisville had to execute better and come up with defensive rebounds to end the games.

Louisville’s experience has played a factor in its success on the road. Dwayne Sutton, Steven Enoch and Ryan McMahon are fifth-year seniors and Lamarr “Fresh” Kimble is a graduate transfer. Juniors Jordan Nwora, Malik Williams and Darius Perry have played road minutes since their freshmen seasons.

“We have seen enough to be able to know when it is gut check time, to really lock in,” Enoch said. “This team has done one of the best jobs of doing that.”

After Louisville’s game against Georgia Tech, the Cardinals travel to Clemson and Florida State in February before finishing the regular season against Virginia in March. Enoch says Louisville approaches every road game with the mindset of winning.

“Those games are probably going to be a lot harder to win than at home because those teams are ready to play,” Enoch said.

Louisville’s 28 conference road wins in its six years in the ACC is fourth-most in the league.