Coming out of a 76-65 home win over Notre Dame, Louisville has turned around its rough start to ACC play with a 4-1 stretch that includes big wins over Virginia Tech and SMU. The return of Mikel Brown Jr from injury for those games has been crucial and well-publicized (the Cardinals were 4-4 in his absence), but they were also missing Khani Rooths (illness) and Kasean Pryor (coach's decision) for the majority of January.
Both Rooths and Pryor starred against the Fighting Irish, with the former posting a second straight double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds) and the latter having his best game of the season, with 10 points and 5 rebounds, all in the second half. Louisville dominated the rebounding battle 46-35, which had lurked as the potential biggest weakness in the battle with Carson Towt and company.
It was a milestone victory for the shot happy Cardinals, who after a 7-31 performance from three, have now won back-to-back games despite shooting under 30% from deep in both, an unthinkable proposition even a week ago. Add in the star guard duo of Brown and Ryan Conwell combining for 18 total points between them, and you had the perfect recipe for a disastrous home loss.
Rooths' breakout week, which started with a Kenpom MVP in his 20-point, 10-rebound, 4-assist performance in the win over SMU, has completely changed the Louisville frontcourt. His combination of size, athleticism, burst and leap is unique to the previous rotation of slower centers and an undersized J'Vonne Hadley. After the game, coach Pat Kelsey provided some color as to Rooths' importance, "his energy, his grit, his tenacity, just the way he raises the level of the intensity of the game."
But the lone other big man who can provide those elements is Pryor. Long gone is the run in the November 2024, when he was Louisville's best player, before a torn ACL robbed him of the remainder of the season. Since his return, he's been lost amidst a sea of depth, a casualty of the tweener skills that had made him so valuable to the previous roster. Now, there are more forceful players at the center position and more skilled players at the power forward position. Not to mention, all of them are less likely to have the type of negative plays that Pryor's manic energy can often bring.
But tonight, Hadley's injury may have turned into a blessing in disguise that forced Pryor back in the rotation. His rebounding was a significant factor, as was his lethal five-foot hook shot, but the energy may have been the most important element of all. Diving on the floor, even when he doesn't have to, and trying to goad Notre Dame star Jalen Haralson into a technical, lit up the Louisville crowd during a point of struggle for the Cardinals early in the second half. Even when he committed a turnover on the fast break, the mere thought of what he might do if he got a look at the rim left the stands buzzing.
Which brings all three of the Louisville returners, Rooths, Pryor, and Brown, together. Those are the three Cardinals who can flip a crowd's energy in a single play. They are probably the three best athletes on the team as well. And outside of Brown's playmaking, that's what Louisville was missing the most in January, athleticism, energy, and a bit of fun.
The Ryan Conwell and Adrian Wooley-centered offense was far more deliberate and predictable. The rim protection on defense was significantly hampered. Overall, Louisville looked far from the speed and shooting identity that Kelsey wants to instill in every opponent. The Cardinals still need to prove consistency and their ceiling, but perhaps the rough stretch of losses that hit them in December and January had fixable issues. Maybe Rooths and Pryor were the key to elevating this team all along. As February goes along, we shall see.