Louisville Men’s Basketball 2019 NCAA Tournament Capsule

March 7, 2019 · CSM Staff
 

Louisville Cardinals

ACC (20-13, 10-8)

 
Coach Chris Mack has done a wonderful job during his first season with Louisville. The Cardinals played a tough non-conference schedule and lost games to Tennessee, Marquette, Indiana and Kentucky, but picked up quality wins against the likes of Michigan State and Seton Hall. In ACC play Louisville had their ups and downs too, but for the most part there have been more ups than downs.
 
Big Wins: 11/27 Michigan State (82-78), 1/12 at North Carolina (83-62), 2/4 at Virginia Tech (72-64)
Bad Losses: 12/8 at Indiana (67-68), 1/9 at Pitt (86-89), 2/27 at Boston College (59-66)
Coach: Chris Mack
 
Why They Can Surprise:
Louisville has a trio of scorers who can score in every possible way. Jordan Nwora, a 6-7 sophomore forward, leads the team with 17.2 points per game and 7.5 rebounds. He is a prolific outside shooter, but will also attack the basket very effectively. Both Dwayne Sutton and Christen Cunningham can shoot the ball too. Those two will also get to the charity stripe quite often. And it is at the free-throw line where Louisville can do a surprising amount of damage. They get to the line often and hit their free-throws and it is difficult to slow down an offense that can consistently score at the line.
 
Why They Can Disappoint:
Louisville has plenty of depth with big men Malik Williams and Steven Enoch and guards Khwan Fore, Ryan McMahon and V.J. King. Those guys are all solid role-players, but Louisville needs at least a couple of them to have big games if they are going to make a move towards the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Enoch and Williams are certainly capable of recording double-doubles and McMahon score in bunches, like when he dropped 24 points in the victory over Michigan State. If Louisville gets that much production out of players other than Sutton, Nwora and Cunningham, they can go a long way.
 
Probable Starters:
Khwan Fore, Senior, Guard, 3.2 ppg
Christen Cunningham, Senior, Guard, 9.8 ppg, 4.9 apg
Dwayne Sutton, Junior, Forward, 10.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg
Jordan Nwora, Sophomore, Forward, 17.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg
Malik Williams, Sophomore, Center, 7.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.2 bpg
 
Key Role Players:
Steven Enoch, Junior, Center, 9.3 ppg, 5.2 rpg
Ryan McMahon, Junior, Guard, 7.4 ppg, 1.8 apg
V.J. King, Junior, Guard, 4.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg
 
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 74.7 (119th in nation, 5th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 67.8 (79, 8)
Field-Goal Percentage: 43.6 (219, 9)
Field-Goal Defense: 40.8 (37, 7)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 8.5 (88, 3)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 34.5 (171, 5)
Free-Throw Percentage: 77.3 (10, 1)
Rebound Margin: 3.8 (62, 6)
Assists Per Game: 13.2 (190, 7)
Turnovers Per Game: 12.6 (139, 7)
 
Recent Postseason Appearances:
 
2018 NIT First Round win over Northern Kentucky
2018 NIT Second Round win over Middle Tennessee State
2018 NIT Quarterfinal loss to Mississippi State
2017 NCAA Round of 64 win over Jacksonville State
2017 NCAA Round of 32 loss to Michigan
2015 NCAA Round of 64 win over UC Irvine
2015 NCAA Round of 32 win over Northern Iowa
2015 NCAA Regional Semifinal win over North Carolina State
2015 NCAA Regional Final loss to Michigan State
2014 NCAA Round of 64 win over Manhattan
2014 NCAA Round of 32 win over Saint Louis
2014 NCAA Regional Semifinal loss to Kentucky
2013 NCAA Round of 64 win over North Carolina A&T
2013 NCAA Round of 32 win over Colorado State
2013 NCAA Regional Semifinal win over Oregon
2013 NCAA Regional Final win over Duke
2013 NCAA National Semifinal win over Wichita State
2013 NCAA National Final win over Michigan
2012 NCAA Round of 64 win over Davidson
2012 NCAA Round of 32 win over New Mexico
2012 NCAA Regional Semifinal win over Michigan State
2012 NCAA Regional Final win over Florida
2012 NCAA National Semifinal loss to Kentucky
2011 NCAA Round of 64 loss to Morehead State
2010 NCAA Round of 64 loss to California
2009 NCAA Round of 64 win over Morehead State
2009 NCAA Round of 32 win over Siena
2009 NCAA Regional Semifinal win over Arizona
2009 NCAA Regional Final loss to Michigan State
2008 NCAA Round of 64 win over Boise State
2008 NCAA Round of 32 win over Oklahoma
2008 NCAA Regional Semifinal win over Tennessee
2008 NCAA Regional Final loss to Kansas
2007 NCAA Round of 64 win over Stanford
2007 NCAA Round of 32 loss to Texas A&M
 
*all team stats through 3/10