Backcourt needs led Chris Mack to pursue Jones & Minlend

With David Johnson & Josh Nickelberry the only returning guards in 2020-21, head coach Chris Mack's first priority in the grad transfer market was to get them help.

Between the one and two spots on the floor, Louisville has experienced a ton of turnover. With Lamarr "Fresh" Kimble & Ryan McMahon graduating accompanied by Darius Perry's decision to transfer, the Cardinals were losing a combined 58 starts in the backcourt alone. It also didn't help that JUCO guard and UofL signee Jay Scrubb was opting to go the professional route as well.

"We certainly needed help in the backcourt," head coach Chris Mack said in a teleconference with reporters on Thursday. "When you graduate as many guys as we did and you lose guys both to transferring, and a guy who had signed a national letter doesn't show, you're talking about a number of minutes we needed to get replaced."

As a result, point guard David Johnson & shooting guard Josh Nickelberry were now left as the only remaining non walk-on guards on the roster. Combined with a common criticism of the point guard position during the 2019-20 season, Mack made it a priority to find a top tier guards while recruiting in grad transfer targets.

"I can't tell you the number of articles that surfaced about our point guard play," Mack said. "So that was something with David's year of experience that he'd be a much better player as a sophomore and also felt like we needed to get him and Josh Nickelberry some help."

This was the driving force behind pursuing Radford grad transfer Carlik Jones & San Francisco grad transfer Charles Minlend, Jr. Between the two, they are bringing 34.5 points, 9.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game to Louisville.

"We got Carlik, so that was a big part of it, a guy that can control the game, that plays at a great pace, is a terrific decision-maker, can score," Mack said. "And then Charles supplies to ability to guard the backcourt as well, a guy who had a great tournament in the West Coast Tournament, had a great career at San Francisco. Scored a lot of points and had to create a lot on his own.

Another criticism from last year's squad was both their mental and physical toughness at times. Jones and Minlend alike immediately check both boxes. Jones developed a reputation as a clutch shooter at Radford, and Minlend was never one to shy away from attacking the rim at San Francisco.

"I think they both add an element of toughness," Mack said. "I think just in talking to coaches that coached against them for a number of years they belt both brought a lot of toughness to the table, both mentally and physically.

Mack also stated that because of their "chip on my shoulder" mentality, that he thinks they will also bring the type of energy and effort that it takes on the defensive end of the floor.

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