CRAWFORD | Michigan State loss shows that Louisville's offensive makeover far from complete | Sports

EAST LANSING, Mich. (WDRB) -- It was supposed to have been an extreme offensive makeover. After last season's scoring struggles, University of Louisville basketball coach Chris Mack enlisted the assistant coaching services of Ross McMains, an offensive guru who had never coached at the collegiate level, to remake the Cardinals' attack.

The ever-present high ball screen was tossed like old wallpaper, replaced by passing and moving and cutting. Walking the ball up the court was supposed to be forbidden.

But seven games into the improvement project, the team has struggled a bit to implement the changes. It is playing with more pace – it is averaging 70 possessions per game, up more than four per game – moving it from near the bottom in national rankings for adjusted tempo into the top 100.

But the extra possessions are yielding only an additional 2.5 points per game, and Louisville's field goal percentage has dropped nearly a point overall and from three-point range, where the Cardinals are shooting just 29.2% on the season.

The struggles were evident Wednesday night at No. 22 Michigan State. When the Spartans heated up from 3-point range, the Cardinals couldn't match the output until one player, El Ellis, found the range late to make 4 of 7 threes. The result was a 20-point deficit on their way to a 73-64 loss.

After the game, Mack said the Cardinals need to find a way to get "cleaner" looks. He saw it when he was watching from a distance during his 6-game suspension. Wednesday night in East Lansing, he saw it up close in his return to the sidelines.

"I thought through the first, what, 28 minutes of the game we certainly weren't perfect, but I thought we were battling," Mack said. "And offensively we've just gone into too many droughts, so far as I've watched. And then I watched in person tonight that we've got to be able to figure out how to get the basketball in the lane efficiently so that we can get to the free throw line, so that we can open up even better looks than we're getting from the 3-point line. And we've got to make some layups. We've got to be able to finish in traffic. The physicality that we've talked about, or that's been talked about with our team, has really been about the defensive end, but there's a physicality that you have to play with on the offensive end, and we didn't do that tonight. Give Michigan State a lot of credit. They're one of the best defensive teams in the country. And our guys felt that."

Tom Izzo's Spartans do, in fact, rank No. 2 in the nation in defensive efficiency. But Louisville's offensive issues go back further than Wednesday night's contest. Michigan State dished out 20 assists to Louisville's 10, and outscored the Cardinals 25-10 on the fast break.

Mack said Michigan State just illustrated Louisville's offensive shortcomings. I asked him if it was an issue of learning a new system of play, or something else.

"Obviously we've put some plays in since I've been gone. I think we've got a long enough play package," he said. "There's a few guys on the team that need to know our stuff better. And then there's a large majority of our guys that have to execute our stuff better. And when that happens, then we'll get the looks that we want and will become a much better offensive team. . . . I don't think it's out of selfishness. I think it's out of lack of execution. And that has to get better. You know, again, the toughness factor coming off of a cut. Michigan State's going to be really physical. Are you coming off, shoulder-to-hip on the screen? Are you coming off four or five feet on the screen because they push you off on it? Your big guys have to do a much better job getting to their ball screen and getting out of it, so that we can create some type of advantage when there's a guard going downhill and getting in the lane, or the short roll. Again, Michigan State, give them a lot of credit. They don't get extended. They're a tough nut to crack. But we have to get better with the execution."

The bright spots offensively Wednesday were sophomore Dre Davis, who carried the Cardinals offensively in the first half and finished with 15 points, and Ellis, who scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the final 7:17, and 18 of the Cardinals final 19 points in the game.

"El did a great job the last 8-10 minutes the game of really getting into the lane," Mack said. "Certainly shot it well, but we need that when it's a tight game. We need him to make those plays consistently. It's a little bit looser feeling when you're down 17 points getting in there and sort of making things happen. He's got a burst to him. He can score it. Hopefully this game gives him confidence. But we need him when he gets in the lane and nothing's there not to charge over guys, to be stronger with the ball, and he will. He's seven games into his college career at this level."

Ellis said he just reacted instinctively when the Cards fell behind.

"I just wanted to win, right?" Ellis said. "And I'll do anything that that the team needs for us to win. It doesn't matter if I'm scoring, defensively, trying to get guys involved. I mean, whatever is it help us to win, that's what I'm gonna do, at the end of the day."

Guard Jarrod West said the Cardinals are just going to have to attack their offensive shortcomings the way did their defensive struggles early in the season. He said the problem on Wednesday was that Michigan State's physical defense pushed Louisville into breaking off offensive plays, which got them away from their game plan.

"Sometimes Michigan State was just too physical for us," he said. "You know, whether it's seting up our cuts, using our screens well, whatever the case is. ZBut it's all part of things that we can do to get back – like, we control those things. We can get better at all those things and I think we will. I think tonight was a good learning experience for that. Obviously, we don't want to lose the game but that's definitely an area where we're going to get better."