Louisville Shows Signs of Maturation in Win vs. Duke
(Photo of Jae'Lyn Withers: Natalie Ledonne via the Atlantic Coast Conference)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Throughout the season, Louisville men's basketball head coach Chris Mack has mentioned numerous times how young his team his. While he has never used that as an excuse, to his credit, he has a point. Entering the 2020-21 season, the Cardinals had the 13th-least experienced team out of the 347 Division I teams playing this year according to KenPom.
There have been many times this season where said inexperience has made itself present on the court. Slow starts and offensive stagnation are a couple issues that have popped up from time to time as a result of a young Louisville team.
However, over the last couple games, the Cardinals have begun to show signs that they are becoming a more mature team. After getting decimated at North Carolina, Louisville (13-5, 8-4 ACC) then followed that up with a win against Notre Dame without one of their best players, and then a road victory against a surging Duke.
"We got a young crew, not practicing, and then we get our brains beat out at Carolina, and I love our response," Mack said Saturday night. "Everybody leaves us for dead, and people say they're not that good, and maybe we aren't, but we're battle. Those guys listen to themselves, they allow themselves to be coached, and I was really proud of their effort today, and then resiliency."
The ability of allowing themselves to coached is what Mack thinks is one of the biggest indicators of a maturing team. That, and not letting mistakes get in their head. He specifically points out to overtime when Jae'Lyn Withers cut the wrong way on a play, but then responded with an and-one moments later.
"To do the things that we did, aren't always going to be perfect, but I just think that says a lot about you when you can battle through some tough moments. Our guys are learning that and gaining experience," Mack said.
As of late, Louisville is also starting to get more consistent effort from guys not named Carlik Jones and David Johnson. Samuell Williamson is averaging 13.8 points and 12.0 rebounds over the last four games, Jae'Lyn Withers was one rebound shy of putting up back-to-back double doubles, and Quinn Slazinski made a crucial three pointer to open up the scoring in overtime against Duke.
Mack is also pleased with the amount of effort and toughness his team is starting to show. While he knows that his guys have a while to go in that department, he believes they can compete in any game if they maintain high levels of both.
"Our team has not arrived, not even close. We got a lot of young guys, and we're learning lessons. But it feels good to be on the right end of the ledger after after the guys give the type of effort they did today," he said.
Louisville is set to play their final road game of the season when they head to Blacksburg, Va. for a rematch with Virginia Tech. Tipoff is scheduled for Wednesday, Mar. 3 at 7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN2.
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