BOZICH | Louisville has "NCAA Tournament Team" look to Kent State coach | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Kent State coach Rob Senderoff watched the University of Louisville basketball team battle Tennessee, Marquette, Indiana and really everybody on the Cardinals' schedule dribble after dribble.

He recognized the way Chris Mack's team did not take silly shots. He noticed the way they shared the ball. He respected the persistence the Cardinals showed on the defensive end of the court.

Then late Saturday afternoon, after Senderoff's solid veteran team was beaten by Louisville, 83-70, he had one more observation about this improving U of L team:

"When I watched them on film, I thought they were an NCAA Tournament caliber team.

"When you play against them, they’re physical. They’ve got some length up front.

"They’ve got an elite player (Jordan Nwora). I know he didn’t play great tonight, but he’s an elite player. But he hit three huge threes in the first half that gave them separation

"They take care of the ball. When we pressured the ball, we weren’t able to create turnovers. They do a lot of things that good teams do. And they defend ... they have toughness. They play physically and they play with a competitive spirit."

Say another thing about the Cardinals, who improved to 8-3 and gained at least another spot while moving to No. 39 in Ken Pomeroy's computer rankings:

They win the games they are supposed to win. Not everybody does that. They have not retreated against anybody. Not everybody does that either.

"I thought that was as good as we have played on both ends of the floor," Mack said.

Kent State is a solid program with veteran guys. The Golden Flashes won at Vanderbilt last month. They defeated Oregon State last season. Buffalo is the class of the Mid-American Conference, but Kent State is at the top of the next tier.

No trap game. No letdown. No looking ahead to Kentucky. No looking back to Indiana or Seton Hall.

Actually, no real problems or issues to report for Mack's team, which shot the ball with precision.

The Cardinals handled Kent State the way the Cardinals were supposed to handle Kent State, finishing an entertaining day of basketball that started with a 92-59 win by the U of L women over Northern Kentucky.

On a day when Syracuse lost a home game to Old Dominion, UCLA stumbled against Belmont and Ohio State struggled to put away visiting Bucknell, Louisville treated an 8-1 Kent State team as if the Golden Flashes were 1-8. They shot better than 50 percent -- and their two leading scorers also led the team with four assists each.

"So often, teams fight themselves, don't want to make the extra pass," Mack said. "That's not a sign of our team. That's really fun to coach when guys are hitting the open man.

"The Go-To guy for us is the guy who's open. We have to make decisions and find that guy."

Dwayne Sutton continued his string of poised and productive play. Credit Sutton with 16 points. That was two more than his season high and one less than his career best. Give him special credit for making two of three shots from distance.

Christen Cunningham also excelled, scoring 17, his season best. Nwora and Malik Williams each had 13. The Cards only turned the ball over 10 times and out-rebounded the visitors by seven.

"They did a really good job in the first half of making it difficult for us to score," Senderoff said. "It was their defense. Ball pressure. Physicality. Not allowing the ball to get by guys. Keeping in front. Forcing contested shots.

"They did a good job with that in the first half. They guarded us more physically than anybody we have played this year.

"They have some physical, strong guards and wings. Then they have three big kids, but two in particular that play all the time, who have length and protect the basket.

"That’s sort of what the makings of what a good team is. Then when they make shots like they did today, they become really good."

The Cardinals got ahead and stayed ahead, never letting the Golden Flashes start to believe they could do to Louisville what they did to Vanderbilt in Nashville.

Louisville shot the ball as if they were convinced every attempt was going in — from distance, from the free throw line, from everywhere. Louisville made 76 percent of its free throws, half of its 18 three-pointers and shot 51 percent from the field.

The Cardinals will play their next three games at home — Friday night against Robert Morris, Dec. 29 against Kentucky and Jan. 6 against Miami.

"There’s a lot of games to play," Senderoff said. "I look at them and say that looks like an NCAA Tournament team.

"I look at that and see an NCAA Tournament team and they’re playing these non-conference games that are difficult and are helping them because a they have played a good schedule."