Points of Emphasis: Louisville vs. Wright State
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After opening up their 2022-23 season with an upset loss to Bellarmine, the Louisville men's basketball program will try and earn their first win of the Kenny Payne era this weekend when they host Wright State.
Here are a couple of the more significant storylines to follow ahead of Louisville's season-opener with Wright State:
Not Going Hard In The Paint
All offseason long, Payne has preached that he wants to utilize Louisville's current size and be a defensive-minded team, while also putting a premium on getting paint touches on offensive. Despite being the third-tallest team in Division I, the Cardinals struggled to use their size against a much smaller Bellarmine squad.
For most of the night, the Knights consistently denied the Cardinals entry into the paint on both ends of the court. On offense, this resulted in Louisville settling for a high amount of three-point shots on offense, attempting 28 threes to just 24 two-point attempts, making 11 of each.
“No question about it," Payne said when asked if the team was settling for outside shots. "I think in the first half, I think we had 16 threes and 10 twos, that is not who we are. That is not they way we practice, it is not the way we play. Since the day I got here, I have been talking about multiple lane touches. There were 10 possessions where we did not have a lane touch. That is not what we teach. That is not what we do."
Defensively, it was a similar story. Like in the two exhibition games, the Cardinals were out-scored in the paint by a much smaller opponent, this time losing the points in the paint battle 24-22. Louisville also only won the rebounding margin by six.
“I can say for myself and for our other bigs, we just have to hold our post position because they’re fighting," forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield said. "They’re not just laying on our backs. And once they do throw it in, they’re sending another guy. So, we just have to hold our post position and play stronger, that’s really it.”
Where is Syd?
One player who was expected to make a meaningful impact for Louisville this season is Sydney Curry. After a slow start to last year, the big man exploded down the stretch, averaging 17.6 points and 9.0 rebounds while shooting 64.4 percent in the final five games.
However through two exhibitions and a regular season game, Curry has been almost a complete no-show. In the season opener against Bellarmine, the only stats he logged were three rebounds, and he took no shot attempts against the Knights.
"We wanted to establish him in transition. We wanted to establish him in the post," head coach Kenny Payne said. "We ran a couple of plays for him but the timing of the play was off. We were panicked or rushed offensively and didn’t get him the ball or we went too soon."
Part of his no-show against Bellarmine was due to how the Knights threw constant double teams at him, but his effort, energy and even his conditioning has also played a role. Curry's showed next to no aggression on offense, his defense is still very suspect, and from conditioning standpoint, he does not look like the same Sydney Curry from the end of last year.
This is very much a cause for concern, especially considering their post play was thought to be the strength of this team heading into the season, but Louisville has faith that Curry will get things going again.
“We can definitely get him more involved," forward Mike James said. "We all know who Sydney Curry is. He’s one of the best bigs in the ACC so of course we got to give him looks. ... We need him to be more aggressive because he was one of our best players last year. We need him to crash the glass. We will definitely look forward to getting him more involved. You’ll see Sydney Curry soon."
I'm Mike James *WHO?*
Speaking of Mike James, he has been an incredibly pleasant surprise for the Cardinals early on. Prior to suffering his achilles injury last preseason, the previous coaching staff raved that he was one of the best players in practice. Now, it seems like that wasn't just all talk.
Making his Cardinal debut against Bellarmine, the redshirt freshman lit it up from every part of the floor, scoring 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting, 3-of-5 on three-point attempts and a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line. His 16 points was good for the fifth-most by a Cardinal in his freshman debut.
"There aren’t many players that have a spirit like his, trust it but work hard so that when you go into the game, all you have to think about is your ticker and your brain," Payne said of James. "I'm not worried about conditioning. I'm not worried about confidence. I know what I'm doing. I'm competent. I'm confident, and I'm ready to just play and trust myself. That's what I need from him and in spurts, he was really good. I'm happy with Mike James, really am.”
Not to mention that he made shots when it mattered most. 13 of his 16 points came in the second half, including a three-pointer that capped off the 11-0 run that gave Louisville one final chance to defeat Bellarmine.
“Confidence just comes from your work, and that’s what he (Kenny Payne) tells us all the time," James said. "We work so hard every day in practice. We have individual workouts, reps after reps after reps after reps. So that’s what builds your confidence. You’ve worked so hard by yourself when the lights are off and nobody’s watching. When you’re in the gym with your teammates, you work so hard that you become confident in yourself."
Close, But No Cigar
When Louisville returns to the court, they'll be facing a team who nearly was able to pull off an upset of their own in their first game of the season.
Wright State (KenPom ranking No. 202) had Davidson (KenPom ranking No. 101) on the ropes early, leading by as much as 21 points in the first half. However, Davidson mounted a second half rally to force overtime, and eventually took down Wright State 102-97 in double overtime.
A few stats jump out from that game. Firstly is the fact that guard Trey Calvin had 37 points on just 14-of-33 shooting while also connecting on a trio of three pointers. Three other Raiders broke double figures, but it was totals of 17, 11 and 11.
It goes without saying that defense was lacking by Wright State when you give up 100+ points, but a couple stats highlight why. Despite getting 10 steals, the Raiders still allowed the Wildcats to shoot 52.2 percent from the field and 43.5 percent on threes.
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