What to Watch For During Louisville's Exhibition Games

The Cardinals will warm up for the 2024-24 regular season with a pair of exhibitions against Young Harris College and Spalding.

Louisville Cardinals forward Aboubacar Traore (25) dunks the ball over Aly Khalifa (15) during the dunk contest during Louisville Live on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024 at the KFC Yum! Center. / Clare Grant/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Live games against an actual opponent have returned for the Louisville men's basketball program.

The Cardinals might have to wait until Nov. 4 to kick off the regular season, but until then, they have a pair of exhibition matches to get them warmed up - and the first one is just around the corner.

Louisville will welcome Young Harris College to the KFC Yum! Center tomorrow, Monday, Oct. 21. That will then be followed up by hosting Spalding on Monday, Oct. 28. Both games will tipoff at 7:00 p.m. EST, and will be streaming on ACC Network Extra.

Ahead of Louisville's two preseason games against the Mountain Lions and Eagles, here are some things to watch out for as the Cardinals kick off exhibition play:

A continued heavy reliance on the three-pointer.

Whether it was at Charleston or Winthrop, Pat Kelsey's five-out offensive system has always catered well to the three-pointer. In his 12 prior seasons as a head coach, his teams have shot 35.0 percent or better from long distance in seven of them. His teams also take a lot of threes, as they have ranked in the top-60 in percentage of total field goal attempts (3PA/FGA) eight times.

Not only does the system bode well for longe range shooters, the majority of Louisville's roster can hit threes with ease. Eight of the 12 transfer newcomers shot at least 32 percent from three last season, six of them shot 35 percent or better, while three connected on 39 percent or better.

Put that all together, and the Cardinals let it fly from deep in the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League this past summer. They shot a blistering 20-of-47 on three-point attempts against Bahamas Select, then followed that up with a 12-of-31 effort from deep against Calgary. Across both games, the Cardinals shot 41.0 percent on threes, and 50 percent of their total attempts were threes.

"When the lights came on, it was good to see us make shots," Kelsey said following the second game against Calgary. "Obviously, we value shooting. We spend a lot of time on our shooting. Had a ton of open looks."

Lineup changes coming at a breakneck pace.

No matter who the coach is or who is on the roster, one of the most asked questions every offseason and preseason for every college basketball program is this: who will be the starting five?

During Louisville's trip to the Bahamas, we got an early answer to this question. In both games aginst Bahamas Select and Calgary, Chucky Hepburn, Terrence Edwards Jr., Aboubacar Traore, Kasean Pryor and James Scott got the starting nods.

Of course, that exact lineup didn't last very long. In order to keep his up-tempo pace going, Kelsey pulled guys on and off the floor any chance he could. The most minutes a player saw on the floor was 23 (Koren Johnson and Reyne Smith in game one), and in both games, eight players played at least 18 minutes.

It fell in line with what Kelsey has done in the past. In his last nine seasons, his only team to not crack the top-50 in KenPom's adjusted tempo metric was last seasons, and four have cracked the top-20. During his final season at Charleston, no one averaged more than 26.0 minutes per game.

With the season on the horizon, it's going to be something that Kelsey continues to employ.

"I'm not all that concerned with who starts and who doesn't start, it's more who wins the game vs. who starts the game," Kelsey said during Media Day. "It'll fluctuate throughout the course of the year, and I couldn't even tell you who started for sure in our first exhibition yet."

Who will step forward to be "the guy"?

When looking at Louisville's roster, one which has 13 scholarship newcomers (12 of which are transfers), there are plenty of opportunities for someone to take a step forward and become "the guy." So, who will be the one that inevitably becomes the Cardinals' X-Factor? It's a very small sample size from the Bahamas, but we already have a few likely candidates.

Kasean Pryor got off to blazing hot starts in both games, scoring nine points in the first 2:19 against Bahamas Select and 10 points in the first 3:02 against Calgary. He scored 20 points vs. the Dinos, which led the team, as did his 38 combined points across both games.

Along with Pryor, Terrence Edwards Jr. was the only starter to put up double figures scoring in both games. The reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year scored 10 in the first game against Bahamas Select, and 14 in the second game vs. Calgary.

J'Vonne Hadley and Koren Johnson both had prolific scoring performances in The Bahamas despite coming off of the bench in both games. Hadley combined for 31 points, while Johnson combined for 30. Johnson also had a team-best combined 12 assists, while Hadley combined for 13 rebounds.

With the discrepancy in competition, plenty of others stood out in terms of individual statistical categories, as well as their on-court leadership and communication. It will be interesting to see who builds on their time in The Bahamas, and uses it as a springboard heading into exhibition play and the start of the season.

(Photo of Aboubacar Traore: Clare Grant - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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