Recap

The Cards finished up their three games in three days stretch with a strong performance against Buzz Peterson’s Appalachian State Mountaineers. The Slickster’s squad improved to 4-0 while Buzz’s boys fell to 2-3. The Cards jumped out of the gate and took a 25-13 lead mid-way through the first half. Appalachian State fought back and only trailed by four at 25-21 as the first half wound down. By the end of the first half, Louisville widened the margin a bit and took a 39-30 lead into half.

Slick Rick must have given a solid halftime speech because the Cards came out the break and put the game away. Louisville moved the ball around efficiently and consistently beat App State down the floor in transition which lead to easy buckets. Before five minutes were played in the 2nd half, Louisville held a 47-32 advantage. Because of the big lead, Slick Rick was able to mix and match some lineups and give some bench players extended minutes. At one point in the 2nd half, the Cards had a lineup of Mike Marra, Peyton Siva, Reginald Delk, Rakeem Buckles, and Samardo Samuels. In other words, three freshmen, a sophomore, and a senior transfer.

The Cards would slowly extend the lead as the game came to a close and in the end, the Cards took home a ‘W’ by the score of 80-53. The Cards now head west to the city that never sleeps (Las Vegas) to take on Lon Kruger’s UNLV Runnin’ Rebels. The game will be this Saturday at 4:00 pm.

My Take  

I thought the Cards gave their best performance of the three game set. They passed the ball extremely well, played solid defense for the most part, and showed great shot selection. The Cards are very good in transition. They have good spacing and have players willing to dish the ball to a teammate rather than take the shot.

Louisville finished with a 37-26 advantage on the boards which was good to see because Appalachian State have players with size. The Mountaineers have one player at 6-10 and 285 lbs, Mr. Isaac Butts (its okay to laugh, I did). They also have two players at 6-9 and two players at 6-8. While Buzz Peterson does not have a roster full of NBA draft picks, he does have legit size and I thought the Cards rebounding was very solid.

Once again, the Slickster’s squad distributed the basketball very well. The Cards finished with 16 assists on 29 field goals, which is not their best ratio, but it’s okay. However, if you watch the game again, you’ll see good ball reversals and players looking for teammates. And keep in mind, Louisville had many good passes leading to fouls, which lead to free throws and those passes don’t show up in the assist category.

The Cards shot the ball at a 54% clip. They took high percentage shots and buried them. From the three point line, the Cards hit 11-27 for 41%.  By and large, almost all of those attempts were open looks and if the Cards can shoot 41% from downtown all year, I think most Louisville fans would take it, I know I would. Free throw shooting was not quite as good. The Cards hit 64% of their attempts, which is not awful, and when you look at the stats you’ll notice Samardo hit 8-14 from the line. Simply put, Samardo accounted for all the missed free throws. Louisville only had three more attempts from the rest of the team and all attempts were converted.

Player by player breakdown

Jared Swopshire – Swop continued his improved play with a strong, and I mean physically strong performance. Swop no longer gets routinely pushed around down low and plays with much more authority. The sophomore from St. Louis finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds in 22 minutes of action.

Rakeem Buckles – Bucktown had a great game and Slick Rick was effusive in his praise of the freshman. Bucktown had the best game of his very young career and produced 6 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 assists in only 15 minutes of play.

Edgar Sosa – Lil Eddie had another solid game as he continues to try to have a great senior season. Sosa made smart decisions and took good shots. Eddie had 11 points and 4 assists.

Jerry Smith – Jerry continued to struggle at times. While I wouldn’t necessarily say he played poorly, it appears to me Jerry is still trying to figure out just what his role will be on this team. He has not shot well from the outside, but has shown the ability to drive to basket when his shot is not falling. Jerry finished with 4 points and 2 assists.

Samardo Samuels – Sam Sam once again led the Cards in scoring with 16, but only grabbed 5 rebounds. I know Bucktown and Swop were active on the glass, which is great to see, but Sam Sam needs to assert himself on the glass andmake those two fight him for rebounds as opposed to the other way around.

Preston Knowles – PK-2 just keeps on keeping on. Preston had 11 points, on 4-6 shooting, with 3 assists. As always, he was extremely active on defense and played with an energy most people don’t have.

Peyton Siva – Siva did not have a great game statistically speaking, but much like PK-2, Siva plays with an energy that is hard to find fault in. Siva does make freshman mistakes, but he also makes spectacular plays. He had another one tonight, but it was spectacular because it was so fundamentally sounds. In the first half, as the ball was being whipped around the perimeter, Siva ball faked to the corner then rifled it into the paint to Terrence Jennings for a dunk. Simply a great play. Siva finished with 5 points and 3 assists.

Reginald Delk – Reginald VelJohnson Delk did what this team needs him to do: come in and hit shots. Delk played 14 minutes, but hit two threes and provided some stellar defense. Delk ended with 8 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.

Kyle Kuric – Kuric is in an odd spot. Slick Rick likes him a lot and is very confident in him, but I think he is losing minutes early on because Pitino wants Mike Marra to get as much experience as possible. However, as the season progresses and the games get tighter, I think we’ll see plenty of Kyle Kuric. Kuric finished with 2 points and 3 rebounds.

Terrence Jennings – TJ had his best game of the year in my opinion. He did not look lost on defense and was very active on offense, at times demanding the ball in the post. TJ only had 4 points and no rebounds. I know those aren’t strong numbers, but I thought he played well.

George Great – I love George Great. He blocks shots and fouls quicker than anyone in college basketball. Seriously, the man comes into the game and wastes no time getting in the scorebook, usually due to fouling. Regardless, I love him.

Mike Marra – Marra looks more comfortable each game. While I still believe he needs to shave off the chinstrap beard, he is looking better. He played surprisingly good defense tonight which will be a key to him seeing minutes. Marra hit another three, his second in as many games, which were his only points of the game. Marra finished with 3 points, a block, and a steal. 

Chris Brickley – You got in the game!!!!!

Stephan Van Treese – See above.