Louisville vs. Kentucky: 2019-20 key storylines for rivalry matchup

2) Jordan Nwora’s production

Jordan Nwora has been one of the best players in the country all season long, averaging 21.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game to lead the Cardinals. He has solidified his place among the favorites in the National Player of the Year race and has been the kind of go-to guy Louisville can rely on.

The problem is that sometimes Louisville can rely on him too much, as we saw in Louisville’s only loss of the season.

Against Texas Tech, Nwora posted season lows in points (14), field goals made (four), and shooting percentage (25 percent). As good as Nwora is, he’s still going to have an off game here and there, and it wasn’t shocking for him to struggle against a defense as good as Texas Techs’.

However, no one else on the Cardinals stepped up to pick up the slack. Nwora still had twice as many shot attempts as anyone (the 6-7 junior takes 36 percent of Louisville’s shots when he’s on the floor) and everyone was still deferring to him. They have several other talented players capable of carrying the load – Steven Enoch and Samuell Williamson, especially – but they remained reliant on Nwora to get them out of their collective funk.

After the game, Chris Mack criticized his team for that.

"“[Nwora] didn’t play very well. He wasn’t the only one. We were disjointed on offense. We were taking some quick shots and turning the ball over in transition. Had we taken advantage of it, the game would have felt different.”"

Kentucky has the personnel to match up with Nwora physically and athletically, which a few other teams have. Slowing him down is much easier said than done, obviously, but the Wildcats will have to do it in order to win this game.