LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Under his mask, Louisville men’s basketball coach Chris Mack was smiling. Even from their upper-deck perch, the ACC Network cameras caught just a glimpse of it as his starters left the game, a 75-54 victory over Western Kentucky well in hand.
Beating WKU wasn’t necessarily a surprise. Beating the Hilltopppers this badly was.
Mack wasn’t smiling after Louisville’s 22-point win over Prairie View A&M on Sunday. He said his team had been “too cool” and had some long talks with his players about it Monday. Against WKU a day later, the short-handed and lightly seasoned Cardinals were cool in a good way, methodically dismantling a team that is far better than the final score indicated.
Louisville is playing without three starters and four overall who are in the regular rotation. It has only eight scholarship players available. There’s little room for error and even less room for foul trouble. But Tuesday, the Cardinals’ played clean defense, efficient offense and beat a larger WKU team on the boards, 34-31.
A freshman, Dre Davis, continued to play beyond his years, leading Louisville with 21 points. Sophomore David Johnson turned in his best game of the season: 17 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Graduate transfer guard Carlik Jones added 18 points. No wonder Mack was smiling.
“We fully expected this to be our toughest test to date,” Mack said. “For our guys to come out and face a team that probably will lose their entire starting lineup whether to the draft or all seniors, and we’ve got freshmen and four sophomores and we’re down four guys, I told our group I couldn’t be more pleased with what the game meant to them. I thought we were first to the floor in a few situations. I thought we were locked into the details of what Western was trying to execute. To limit them to eight offensive rebounds, albeit two of their guys got seven of them, we knew that’s what we were going to face. I thought our defense was excellent. We took care of it all until we got pressed late, first time we’ve been in that situation. We will be better as we move forward. I’m really happy with our group.”
Davis has been rock solid in his first four college games. His mature frame allows him to hold position inside and hold his own with more experienced players, and his shooting touch inside and out has made him an effective shooter and scorer.
“Dre is a great defensive player,” Mack said. “He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. He’s been through, what, four scouting reports at the college level? The great thing is he’s getting all this experience. Most years, he certainly would be an impact players, but you have eight or nine players out there, maybe less. He’s getting to play through mistakes. He’s a warrior. That’s certainly what we saw from him at Lawrence Central (High School). He moves his feet incredibly well on the defensive end. And when you’re out there for an extended period of time, you start to feel a level of comfort out there ... He does not play like a freshman. He’s really poised, and his body certainly isn’t at freshman level.”
Louisville trailed by eight points early but started to get its defense ironed out midway through the first half and clawed back to lead by five at the half. The Cards led by just four with 11:41 to play then held WKU scoreless for just over five minutes, pushing its lead to 16 in that time to take control of the game.
WKU was playing hurt, too. Guard Taveion Hollingsworth played despite a sprained thumb and hyperextended elbow. He still scored 19 points.
Big man Charles Bassey added 13 points and 15 rebounds, but WKU couldn’t get him enough looks around the basket to do more damage. He went 0-3 from three-point range, where Louisville was content to let him shoot.
“I thought (Bassey) was dominant in the first half with his rebounding, not necessarily his scoring,” Mack said. “He’s just so doggone strong and quick to the rim that he’s going to get a few of those dunks, especially with the playmakers on their team ... I thought our guys did a good job trying to force his catches a little further out. He turned it over a few times. At times, he’ll settle for threes, and we liked for him to shoot threes. He’s got a really good touch, but it’s a hell of a lot scarier 3 feet from the basket than 23 feet from the basket.”
The win moves Louisville to 4-0 with one more game scheduled in its bubble situation: a Friday matchup against UNC Greensboro. And while Mack is happy for his young team to derive some confidence from its win over WKU, he doesn’t want to see over-confidence. And he certainly doesn’t want a return to the “cool” team he saw two nights prior.
“I’m a huge believer in not feeling so good about yourself,” Mack said. “I don’t know if that was the case. No respect to Prairie View A&M, but we’ve got young guys. We beat a veteran, tough, grizzled Seton Hall team, but we didn’t play very well the other night. So while it gives us confidence, it can’t give us a false sense of entitlement. We were locked in. Our guys executed the details, and we have to continue to get better at that stuff ... Game confidence, yes. Over-confidence? Better not.”
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