LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The University of Louisville men’s basketball team scrubbed away the stain from its Furman defeat as well as from the struggle against winless Detroit Mercy by handling its assignment in The Bahamas last week with gusto.
Beat Mississippi State.
Beat Maryland.
By doing that, the Cardinals joined Duke as the only Atlantic Coast Conference team that has won two games against top-100 competition this season.
According to Ken Pomeroy’s computer power formula, the ACC has wobbled greatly against top-100 opponents over the first three weeks of the 2021-22 season.
ACC teams have won seven of 30 games (23.3%) against top-100 teams.
Duke leads the way with wins over Kentucky (13th in KenPom) and Gonzaga (first in KenPom). That explains why Mike Krzyzewski’s team ascended to the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press poll Monday.
Pomeroy’s numbers put Mississippi State No. 41 and Maryland No. 46.
The only other ACC wins over top-100 opponents were Virginia handling Providence (No. 66); Syracuse beating Arizona State (No. 84) and North Carolina State defeating Louisiana Tech (No. 97).
Notre Dame and North Carolina have failed to beat a single Top 200 opponent. Throw in losses by Virginia to Navy, Georgia Tech to Miami (Ohio) and Pittsburgh to The Citadel and there are plenty of flashing lights for another down season by the ACC, which put only Duke in the latest AP Top 25 poll.
From the ACC’s struggles comes opportunity for the Cardinals. They will again be led by coach Chris Mack for their first road game Wednesday night at No. 22 Michigan State. It’s part of the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge, which the Big Ten leads 2-0 after Monday night.
The Cards finish the week with their ACC opener at North Carolina State Saturday.
If there was a benefit to Mack being sidelined by suspension for the first six games, it was he cleared his calendar to watch all seven games the Spartans (5-2) played. Instead of assigning the scouting report to an assistant, Mack handled that job.
“Michigan State, they’re a team with a true identity,” Mack said.
“Every year, no matter who their players are, they’re going to play extremely fast whether it’s a made or missed shot by the opponent. They’re going to race the ball up the floor, down your neck, if you don’t get back. That’s the first thing you have to do is contend with their pace.
“The second thing is, he (Michigan State coach Tom Izzo) is going to run a thousand plays. If we cover 900 of them, we’re going to miss 100 of them. So those are the ones he’s going to run …
“… but when the shot goes up, that’s when you're going to either lose or win against Michigan State. That’s why (Izzo) practiced in shoulder pads before. That’s why more rebounding has come from East Lansing and spread to a thousand different programs around the country.
“So when you play them you’ve got to get back and you can’t give them second or third shots. It’s easier said than done. But that’s the charge for Wednesday night.”
What did Louisville do better against Mississippi State and Maryland than it did against Furman and Detroit?
Mack saw the same things that you saw. More determined rebounding. More persistent defense. More attention to detail.
But mostly rebounding.
“The first thing that stuck out was our nastiness on the glass,” Mack said. “Our team always wants to be a team that surrounds the ball, a little bit like gang tackling, keeps the ball out of the lane. I thought, while it wasn't perfect it improved.
“Our awareness off the ball got better, our stances were maintained longer. We've still got a ways to go and what we did on Thursday and Saturday of last week doesn't mean you're going to do it on Wednesday. It's got to be a habit, got to be important, and that's our job to continue to make sure our players understand that.”
For the record, after being outworked on the glass by Furman and Navy, Louisville out-rebounded Mississippi State by nine and Maryland by 26.
The Cards were rewarded with two victories, completing their half-dozen games without their head coach with five wins. No complaints.
“5-1 is 5-1,” Mack said. “Had we been a little bit better at the end of the game against Furman, we’d be 6-0.
“You can always complain about the margin or score or what you could have done differently. But that’s baloney unless you sit in that chair.”
Copyright 2021 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
