Louisville Basketball: 5 Encouraging Takeaways From Win Over Duke

We take a look at five encouraging takeaways from Louisville basketball’s big win over the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday afternoon.

The Louisville basketball team was able to get another huge win this season to add to their impressive 2016-2017 resume’. The Cards’ tough schedule has been great for this team, as they are getting better each and every week due to the strength of the teams they are playing.

It doesn’t really matter who this team has to face, they always find a way to get the victory, especially if they are playing in the KFC Yum Center.

With that being said, let’s take a look at five encouraging takeaways from the win over Duke:

5. Louisville Forced 18 Duke Turnovers

The Cardinals were able to do exactly what they do best and completely shut the Duke offense down on Saturday afternoon. The Cards ended up winning the game by nine points and that was made possible by Louisville forcing Duke to turn the basketball over 18 different times.

The biggest culprit for the Blue Devils was actually the game’s leading scorer. That’s right, Grayson Allen had a game-high 23 points, but turned the basketball over six times against Louisville.

While Allen is surely a solid basketball player, he was looking to draw the foul more often than just making plays on Saturday. It makes us wonder if the crowd’s reaction to Allen all game that forced him into making those six turnovers. Regardless, the Cards’ defense gave Allen all kinds of problems on Saturday.

4. Louisville Has 16 Assists Against Duke

We have talked before this game and discussed how important it is for this Louisville basketball team to spread the ball around efficiently. The Cards tend to go through bad shooting stretches, but good passing leads to better shots and better shots lead to a higher field goal percentage throughout the game.

With that being said, the Cards did a fantastic job of passing the ball on Saturday against Duke. The Blue Devils did a very good job of pressuring the Cardinals on offense early in the game, but it was even better Louisville passing that gave them opportunities at the rim.

Whether it was Anas Mahmoud getting the ball on a lob-pass or Quentin Snider finding his teammates in transition, Louisville found more ways to score on Saturday because of their passing.

3. Louisville Limited Duke To Only 3 Bench Points

One of the biggest difference between these two teams on Saturday was the play of Duke’s bench. While Grayson Allen and Luke Kennard had good scoring games, their bench did absolutely nothing thanks to a very good Louisville defensive effort.

This Louisville basketball team has so many different guys that can find ways to hurt you that it’s easy to forget how much deeper they are than most teams. Heck, even Tony Hicks came in and made a few plays for Rick Pitino on Saturday.

VJ King and Mangok Mathiang came off the bench for the Cards and both players finished the seven points on the day. It was really encouraging to see how well these two played, since neither player had much success against Kentucky a few weeks ago. This showed that they can be relied on in big games.

2. Quentin Snider Played Another Great Game Against A Top Ten Opponent

Quentin Snider has been one of the main reasons why Louisville has been able to be so successful this season. The Ballard High School product has been able to handle everything that the Cards’ tough schedule has thrown his way and is only getting better as the season rolls along.

While 13 points is always huge for the Cardinals, no matter who they are playing, it was his six assists that gave the Cards a better opportunity to win against Duke on Saturday.

The older he gets, the more he is able to dictate the Cards’ pace of play and find mismatches in the half-court offense. Not to mention, Snider is consistently making the big shots down the stretch for the Cardinals this year as well.

1. Anas Mahmoud Dominated Once Again

Anas Mahmoud was coming off a game against Pittsburgh where he didn’t play all that well, but that changed against Duke on Saturday afternoon. The Blue Devils just never had an answer for the kid from Egypt and Mahmoud had one of his best games of his NCAA career.

Mahmoud finished the game with 17 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals, and one block. It was his effort and grit on both sides of the court that helped Louisville dominate the Blue Devils on Saturday afternoon and improve to 3-2 in conference play.

The best thing about Mahmoud’s performance is that he is continually getting better every week. I don’t believe this is the last time we will see him get a double-double this season, especially when the Cards’ schedule is getting easier by the week.