Inside the Loud House
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Syracuse Basketball: Blueprint on Louisville, Jordan Nwora struggles

By Paul A. Esden Jr.

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - NOVEMBER 24: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals in action in the game against the Akron Zips at KFC YUM! Center on November 24, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - NOVEMBER 24: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals in action in the game against the Akron Zips at KFC YUM! Center on November 24, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /
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4. How capable are the Cardinals on defense this season? What do they run and how effective are they on that side of the ball?

"“If you would have asked about Louisville’s defense three weeks ago, you would have received a glowing review. However, over the last four games, the Cardinals defense has been trending downward. Since the start of February, Louisville’s Adjusted Defense metric, according to Ken Pomeroy, has dropped from 17th all the way down to 44th. Now, do consider that Louisville played a really solid all-around game against Virginia last Saturday and it took their best shooting night of the season, including 27 points from JUCO transfer Tomas Woldentensae and 23 from Kihei Clark, for the Cavs to remain within striking distance. That performance alone from UVA skewed Louisville’s rating a bit. The fact remains though that Louisville’s defense has become increasingly problematic in recent games. If you’re going to beat the Cardinals, it starts from outside. Louisville plays Chris Mack’s version of the pack-line defense, and that means that they are going to deny in the lane and try to force you into contested shots. Unfortunately for Louisville, they lack in size in the backcourt and have been late to contest shooters, allowing players to find their rhythm from deep. I think if I’m a Syracuse fan, given the number of solid shooters with length and athleticism, I’m okay with that. Mack has implemented a pretty basic 2-3 zone in recent games, too, and experimented with some bigger, longer lineups, and that has worked pretty well. With that said, I think you could label Louisville’s defense a work in progress. They started the year strong and as teams have figured out the secret to busting the Cardinals “D,” the coaching staff has used a bit of trial and error to figure out what works best for the Cards. If I am a Syracuse fan, I am hopeful that the Orange can knock down some open looks to start, because then things can really open up against Louisville when the defense has to extend.”"

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