Louisville Basketball: 5 Reasons Why The Cards Can Beat Pittsburgh
We take a look at five reasons why the Louisville basketball team can beat the Pittsburgh Panthers on Wednesday evening in the Yum Center.
The Louisville basketball team was able to get their first conference win of the season against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets last weekend. It was extremely refreshing to see the Cards not have to play a top 25 opponent, but that won’t last long as they will have to play the Duke Blue Devils later in the week.
With that being said, Louisville has business to take care of before they go up against the Blue Devils. Pittsburgh is coming into the Yum Center with a 12-4 record, but just like the Cards, have a 1-2 record in ACC play.
Here are five reasons why the Cardinals can beat Pittsburgh on Wednesday night and improve to .500 in conference play after four games.
Jan 7, 2017; Syracuse, NY, USA; Syracuse Orange forward Tyler Lydon (20) dunks the ball between Pittsburgh Panthers forward Jamel Artis (1) and guard Damon Wilson (3) during the second half at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse won 77-66. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
5. The Difference On Defense
There is an extremely large difference between these two teams on the defensive side of the basketball. Louisville is currently third in the conference in points give up per game, whereas the Panthers are are second to last. Not to mention, that is just one example of how much better the Cards’ defense is this season.
As you can imagine, the Cards are at the top of the conference in defensive field goal percentage and Pittsburgh is second to last again. Those two stats go hand in hand and show us why this will be a game where the Cards will have an easier time scoring than the Panthers.
With that being said, I think the biggest difference between these two teams is Louisville’s ability to force steals. The Cardinals are averaging 7.1 per game, and yet, Pittsburgh is dead last in the ACC only forcing 3.5 per game.
This is probably the least intimidating defensive basketball team Louisville will face for a few more weeks.
Jan 7, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Donovan Mitchell (45) celebrates a basket after he was fouled on the play in the first half of their game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at McCamish Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
4. Turnover Margin
The Panthers are currently sitting at 12-4, but they are a product of an extremely easy schedule. However, what’s more troubling is that they are dead last in the conference in turnover differential per game. That should concern every Panthers basketball fan in the country.
It just doesn’t make sense that a team like Pittsburgh can struggle so much with turning over the basketball against low-level competition.
However, this should give us confidence in Louisville’s ability to really give the Panthers issues on Wednesday night. The Cards do such a great job on the defensive end of the court and make every single shot difficult for their opponents.
Expect Donovan Mitchell to have another three or four steal game against Pittsburgh.
Jan 7, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets forward Abdoulaye Gueye (34) attempts a shot against Louisville Cardinals forward Mangok Mathiang (12) and forward Ray Spalding (13) in the first half of their game at McCamish Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
3. Rebounding
With this Louisville basketball team, if they can control the boards, then they have a great shot of winning every time. The good news is that the Cardinals have done a better job rebounding the basketball this season, but the bad news is that Pittsburgh is pretty darn good at it too.
Louisville’s ACC Ranking In Rebounding Offense: 2nd
Pittsburgh’s ACC Ranking In Rebounding Offense: 5th
Louisville’s ACC Ranking In Rebounding Defense: 11th
Pittsburgh’s ACC Ranking In Rebounding Defense: 7th
When you average both of those rankings together, these two programs are extremely close in rebounding this season. Both teams will have trouble getting defensive rebounds, therefore it will be a matter of who will dominate on the offensive boards the most.
Dec 2, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Duquesne Dukes forward Isiaha Mike (45) steals the ball from Pittsburgh Panthers forward Michael Young (2) during the second half against at the PPG Paints Arena. Duquesne won 64-55. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
2. Louisville Has Been Tested More Than Pittsburgh
One of the biggest difference between these two programs, especially this season, is that Louisville has been more successful with an even tougher schedule than Pittsburgh. While the Panthers do have a very solid win over Virginia, they have a few losses that are extremely concerning.
Pittsburgh’s Wins: Eastern Michigan, Gardner-Webb, Marquette, Yale, Morehead State, Maryland, Buffalo, Penn State, Rice, Omaha, Marshall, and #11 Virginia
Pittsburgh’s Losses: SMU, Duquesne, #24 Notre Dame, and Syracuse
I hope what you see above is that the Panthers have the ability to play really well and also play really bad. However, I would argue they their losses to SMU and Duquesne are more telling of this team than their win over the Cavaliers, especially when that’s their only top 25 win this season.
Jan 7, 2017; Atlanta, GA, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Donovan Mitchell (45) drives in the second half of their game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at McCamish Pavilion. The Cardinals won 65-50. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
1. Donovan Mitchell
My goodness, Donovan Mitchell has stepped his game up big-time after being benched against the Hoosiers a few weeks ago. He is truly playing like the first round draft pick he wants to be and is getting better each and every week.
With that being said, he is the main reason why the Cardinals can beat Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.
As we spoke about previously, the Panthers mightily on the defense side of the floor. I really do believe that an aggressive Donovan Mitchell is going to give them nightmares throughout the evening.
Not to mention, Pittsburgh is also in the bottom half of the conference in defending the perimeter.
Donovan Mitchell has a fantastic opportunity to get his fourth 20 point game in-a-row in front of the home crowd. However, he may not even need that many points for the Cardinals to get their second ACC win of the season on Wednesday night.
All statistics used in this article were from the ACC’s statistics website
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