On Saturday, Louisville Basketball while already one of the more impressive teams in the country, picked up what can effectively be called their signature win at this point of the season.
Louisville Basketball took down Duke 79-73 at Cameron Indoor in a win that brought them to 15-3 on the season and 6-1 in the ACC. Most important was the fact that the win put Louisville in a tie with Florida State for first place in the ACC.
In Saturday’s win, Louisville was able to survive a rough shooting night from star forward Jordan Nwora. Head coach Chris Mack instead received a big-time scoring effort from freshman guard David Johson and overall impressive team-defensive effort in slowing down Duke’s primary weapons. This game is Lousiville’s first road win over a ranked team and was crucial, as it may be their last chance to do so until a February 24 showdown in Tallahassee with Florida State.
Chris Mack can be happy knowing that the Cardinals get home dates with Georgia Tech and Clemson, while the Seminoles will be going on the road to take on Virginia over the next two weeks. Louisville isn’t going to overlook the opponents in front of them but at the same time know that they have a solid chance at gaining sole possession of first place if they stay the course.
So now that the Cardinals have their lone season showdown with Duke locked up, they can focus on finishing out ACC play strong as they look for a regular-season title and more. Knowing that he can rely on Johnson heavily for stretches will encourage Chris Mack to play his lineup combinations as Louisville gets tourney-ready. The Cardinals close the month on the road at Boston College, in a game that they will be favored heavily. The only ACC team with a longer winning streak than Louisville (4) is Florida State (9). These two will be locked in the race for the ACC crown for the rest of the season and it will likely go down to the wire.
So as Florida State and Louisville battle it out for everything from the ACC title to best resume, let’s examine the key takeaways from the Cardinals impressive win at Cameron Indoor.