Scouting Report: Louisville Cardinals

Admittedly, the heated rivalry between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Louisville Cardinals doesn’t have the same juice this season. Year two under Coach Kenny Payne has already surpassed year one’s win total, but it still isn’t going well. In fact, the rumblings of an in-season change are growing louder and louder. Between Coach Payne’s odd press conference admissions, rumors of issues in the locker room, and the continued losing it is hard to see light at the end of the tunnel in Louisville. However, this is still a rivalry game being played on the road and the Cardinals have played their best basketball against their best opponents this season. Weird things can happen in the game before Christmas break.

Louisville started the season 2-1 before heading to Madison Square Garden for the Empire Classic. There, the Cards were a buzzer-beater away from defeating Texas and also held a late lead against Indiana. However, both resulted in losses despite what appeared to be serious improvement in terms of the on-court product. Two wins came with their return to the YUM! Center, but beating New Mexico State in overtime and Bellarmine by just five points certainly didn’t prove that a corner had been turned in New York. Then, the wheels fell off once again with three straight losses to Virginia Tech, DePaul, and Arkansas State. Coach Payne responded with his biggest win as a head coach, a 22-point beatdown over Pepperdine, but the writing is on the wall.

As always, we have prepared a full, in-depth scouting report for Kentucky’s latest opponent. We will take a deep dive into the Cardinals’ personnel, break down their offensive and defensive schemes, and highlight the keys to the game for the ‘Cats. Let’s dive in and get to know more about the Louisville Cardinals.

Louisville Cardinals Personnel

Starters

#4 Ty-Laur Johnson: 6’0″ 180 lbs, Freshman Guard

8.8 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 3.5 apg

Point Guard. Willing shooter, but just 6-25 from 3 on the season. You can go UNDER the ballscreens and handoffs. Stay between him and the basket. Loves to use the left-to-right crossover to try and get downhill. Should be able to give him a step on the perimeter and not get beat off of the dribble. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it. Closeout short with high hands on the perimeter. We will adjust if he makes a couple. Much more worried about him driving it right than we are about him shooting it from 3 to start the game. Don’t over help when he drives it, especially when he is driving it left. Make him finish over you. Much better free throw shooter than finisher. Don’t bail him out by fouling or over helping to give up an easy assist. No right hand drives. No layups.

#55 Skyy Clark: 6’3″ 205 lbs, Sophomore Guard

15.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.5 apg

Very aggressive guard. Willing shooter, averaging 5 attempts per game, but shooting just 27.3%. Much more worried about him driving it right than we are about him shooting it from 3 to start the game. Right hand driver!!! No right hand drives! Go UNDER the ballscreens and handoffs. Should be able to give him a step on the perimeter and not get beat off of the dribble. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it. Closeout short with high hands on the perimeter. We will adjust if he makes a couple. Don’t over help when he drives it, especially when he is driving it left. Make him finish over you. Much better free throw shooter than finisher. If you do help go to take it off of him. 34 turnovers. Don’t bail him out by fouling. Get the ball stopped in transition. No right hand drives. No layups.

#0 Mike James: 6’5″ 200 lbs, Redshirt Sophomore Guard/Forward

12.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.4 apg

Big, physical wing. Most capable shooter. 12-35 from 3. Need to be tighter to him than the others. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Be less willing to help off of him, but you can still stunt and fake off of him. Be there to take away the initial catch-and-shoot 3s. No uncontested catch-and-shoot 3s. Chase him off of downscreens and get over the flares. Be very willing to switch if they ballscreen for him. Once you take him away from 3 he is going to look to drive it right. Physical right hand driver. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Good offensive rebounder. Will fly in from the perimeter. Need to find him when the shot goes up and box him out. Don’t need to fly at him on the perimeter, just have a more aggressive closeout. No catch-and-shoot 3s.

#22 Tre White: 6’7″ 205 lbs, Sophomore Guard/Forward

12.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.7 apg

Plays the 4 in their offense. Long and athletic. Willing shooter, but low percentage from 3. Just 8-31 from 3 on the season. Likes to use the shot fake on the perimeter to set up the right hand drive. No right hand drives! Much more worried about him driving it right than shooting from 3 so you shouldn’t bite on the shot fakes. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it and then closeout short to him on the perimeter. Be physical with him at the end of his drives. Stay down, wall up, and make him finish over you. Right hand, left shoulder around the basket. Excellent offensive rebounder. Averaging 2 offensive rebounds per game. Need to find him when the shot goes up and box him out. Look for opportunities to take it off of him. 23 turnovers. No right hand drives!

#5 Brandon Huntley-Hatfield: 6’10” 240 lbs, Junior Forward

9.2 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 0.9 apg

Athletic 5-man. Wants to score around the rim. Really likes to face up and use his athleticism and quickness to drive it right. No right hand drives!!! Will use the quick spin on the catch to the baseline as well. Be physical with him around the basket. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Also likes to shoot the face up jumper when he is off the block. Be ready to give it a hard contest. Much more of a face up guy to shoot the jumper or drive it right than he is a traditional post guy. You can aggressively come and try to take it off of him some in the post. Not a great passer. If you go you have to have the mindset of stealing it. Excellent offensive rebounder. Averaging over 3 per game. Box out!

Bench

#1 Curtis Williams: 6’5″ 205 lbs, Freshman Guard/Forward

4.1 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 0.5 apg

Big, physical, backup wing. Very capable shooter. No catch-and-shoot 3s! 9-24 from 3. Shooting nearly the same percentage from 3 as he is from 2. Need to be tighter to him than the others. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Be less willing to help off of him, but you can still stunt and fake off of him. Be there to take away the initial catch-and-shoot 3s. No uncontested catch-and-shoot 3s. Chase him off of downscreens and get over the flares. Be very willing to switch if they ballscreen for him. Once you take him away from 3 he is going to look to drive it right. Physical right hand driver. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Pressure him out on the perimeter. Shouldn’t need to help when he drives. No catch-and-shoot 3s!

#34 Emmanuel Okorafor: 6’9″ 220 lbs, Sophomore Forward/Center

2.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 0.2 apg

Backup 5-man. Looking to score exclusively around the rim. Will ballscreen and roll to the rim. Not really looking for it on the roll. Just stay lower than him to keep him from getting an easy dunk on the roll. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical, stay down, wall up, and make him finish over you. Active on the offensive glass. You need to find him and box him out when the shot goes up. No deep post catches. No easy left shoulder baskets.

#10 Kaleb Glenn: 6’6″ 205 lbs, Freshman Forward

1.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 0.2 apg

Backup wing. Big, physical presence. Will turn drives into post moves and use his size to finish inside. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Likes to shoot the turnaround jump shot. Be ready to give it a hard contest. Right hand driver! No right hand drives! Not aggressively looking for perimeter shots. Closeout short and stay between him and the basket. Be ready for him to drive it into your chest and turn it into a post move. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. They will run some cross screen and backscreen action for him to get a catch inside. Just stay between him and the basket and be physical. Very active on the offensive glass. You have to find him and make contact. Box him out. No right hand drives.

Louisville Cardinals Offense

There aren’t many positives when it comes to the Louisville Cardinals offense. Aside from scoring 25.2% of their points from the free throw line, the 12th most nationally, and being very good on the offensive glass, there isn’t much they can hang their hat on. Also, admittedly, relying on free throws and offensive rebounds for offense is a losing proposition. Coach Kenny Payne’s group will look to attack in transition, but they turn it over too frequently and are actually one of the worst transition offensive teams in the country. Their 0.904 points per transition possession, per Synergy, ranks 340th nationally. In the half court they will set ballscreens and run sets for interior catches but those haven’t been very effective either.

As a whole, Louisville’s offense ranked 195th in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency. Their 29.4% mark from three-point range is 306th in the country. Again, aside from free throws and offensive rebounding, this group doesn’t find much success on the offensive end of the floor. The defensive game plan will be to simply to stay between the Cardinals and the basket and then go rebound the basketball. Let’s take a closer look at some of what we will see offensively from the Cards.

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There aren’t many guys you have to worry about shooting it from 3-point range when guarding the Louisville Cardinals. However, #0 James is the one to pay the most attention to. He isn’t a guy you have to blanket at all times, but you need to be tighter to him than the rest. As always, you need to be doing SOMETHING when you are guarding him. If you go aggressively help on #5 Huntley-Hatfield in the post and try to force a turnover that is okay. Otherwise, you need to stay out on James to take him away from 3. The Pepperdine defender here is in no man’s land not doing anything productive.

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Aside from #0 James, the only other consistent shooting threat for Louisville is #1 Williams off of the bench. Again, you don’t have to be tight to him at all times, but you should be tighter to him than the rest. This comes down to communication and concentration. You shouldn’t need to help this much on the backscreen. However, if you do, just switch it and get out on Williams to take away the catch-and-shoot 3.

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In the half court the Louisville Cardinals will run some set plays to get #5 Huntley-Hatfield a catch inside. He likes to use his athleticism and quickness to score around you. When he faces up, which he will do on almost every catch, you have to be ready for him to drive it at you. Don’t let him turn the corner. Make him score over you.

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Here is another look at Louisville running a diagonal backscreen action to get #5 Huntley-Hatfield a catch. However, they add an additional wrinkle this time with the staggered double away off of the backscreen. We want to chase #0 James off of the staggered double and also stay tighter to #1 Williams on the perimeter.

Louisville Cardinals Defense

The struggles continue on the defensive side of the ball for the Louisville Cardinals. Their man-to-man defense provides very little resistance to opponents attacking the basket. On the season, opponents are shooting 53.3% from two-point range as the Cardinals struggle mightily to protect the rim. However, they have held teams to just 28.7% shooting from three-point range. Some of that comes from playing teams like Coppin State, Indiana, New Mexico State, and Bellarmine who are among the worst three-point shooting teams in the country, but either way, Louisville hangs their hat on taking away the three in exchange for giving up two-point shots. Driving lanes should present themselves with crisp ball movement on the perimeter.

Keys to the Game

• Get off to a strong start. Road rivalry games heading into Christmas break can get weird. The Louisville Cardinals have played their best against their toughest opponents this season. If you give them life they will play hard and be in the game. However, if you put them away early you should get them rolled over.
• Play without fouling. The Cardinals shoot over 25 free throws per game which equates to 25.2% of their offense. If you can keep them from getting to the charity stripe it will be really hard for them to score enough to stay in the game. 20 or fewer free throw attempts for them.
• Control the glass. Louisville is a very good offensive rebounding team and derives its most efficient offense from second chance opportunities. We need to be 77% or better on the defensive glass.
• Shoot 75% or better from the free throw line.