LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A major concern after a beatdown of the kind that the University of Louisville men's basketball team suffered at the hands of Wisconsin on Saturday is that it will leave a mark, that the bruise to the ego might leave a team tentative or unsure of itself for a time.
Then again, maybe the scar might do some good.
Louisville sophomore Quinn Slazinski said as much to reporters on Monday: "They beat us up and it's time to learn from it."
Cardinals' coach Chris Mack said his team picked itself up and showed the right attitude in practice after Saturday's 85-48 loss. They don't have much time to lick their wounds, anyway. They're back in action on Tuesday night in their ACC opener at Pittsburgh (5-1, 1-0).
"When you lose the way we did, the manner we did, on Saturday, it really doesn't matter too much to you as a coach who your next opponent is," Mack said. "It's more who your team is. I think we were all humbled on Saturday against a really good Wisconsin team and we have to get better in a lot of different areas. Pitt's going to challenge us in a few of the areas we weren't very good at on Saturday. They're a very tough group, I think that's been the stamp coach (Jeff) Capel has put on Pittsburgh. . . . We've got a lot to learn and get better at, and I felt we took a step forward yesterday in our practice. We're going to have to continue to take steps forward."
It'll help that graduate transfer Carlik Jones will be back on the court. He brings several elements that the Cardinals lacked at Wisconsin -- toughness, experience and communication. But he can't be the whole show.
"He helps in a lot of ways," Mack said. "Somebody had mentioned he's not going to make up whatever deficit that was, 37 points, and he doesn't. But it slides David (Johnson) over a little bit. It generates easier shots for everybody. It allows us to have more experience on the floor with that voice. Certainly, he's not the cure-all. Our other guys have to be able to hold their own in certain areas. And hopefully what happened on Saturday will be something that really helps our team in the long run, as tough as it felt on Saturday."
Pittsburgh is generally one of the league's better rebounding teams, and that is the case early this season. Louisville's inexperience inside will get tested in that regard.
Mack was particularly concerned at how quiet his team was on Saturday, against a group from Wisconsin that was constant communication. He said that has always been a key emphasis in his practices, but perhaps the players understand its importance better now.
"We teach them that every day when we're in practice. That's an expectation," Mack said. "But when games come around, the nature is to do what you're used to, and do what you have ingrained into habit, really, your whole life. Very, very few high school basketball players say a word, other than to talk a little smack if they hit a shot, but they don't have any meaningful communication, for the most part, when they play games. How to switch, how to switch back, who to pick up in transition, what's coming, watch this screen, watch this backscreen. It's just foreign to them. Again, with a young team, it probably gets really highlighted when you're in an empty arena, how vocal one team or certain player is, and maybe how quiet others are. We learned a lot about ourselves on Saturday."
On Tuesday, the Cards will see if they can put those lessons to good use.
The Panthers will be playing without Capel, who announced Monday that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
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