Louisville, KY – Louisville ran away from NC Central 87-58 on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals established a comfortable lead after outscoring the Eagles by 24 in the first half, and coasted to the win, holding their opponents to a 33 percent field goal percentage for the game. Louisville’s efficiency on offense throughout led to their 29-point victory. Their smart shot selection translated to 65 percent shooting from the field and 47.6 percent from three on 21 attempts.
Jordan Nwora led the way with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from three. He showed off his elite shooting ability in numerous ways; off the catch, off a jab step and off a step back three. He is still at his best off the catch but is currently expanding his ability to hit threes off the dribble. However, he still needs to work more on the defensive end where he gambled in passing lanes and put pressure on his teammates to cover up his errors. He is making progress as an on-ball defender though, where he cut off some baseline drives and kept his man in front. Steven Enoch was the most dominant player on the floor. He was scoring in multiple ways and showed his great touch as a center, making mid-range jump shots, jump hooks and fadeaways. He also scored off multiple duck-ins due to his brute strength and ability to get great position around the basket. Defensively, he is a work in progress, especially in hedging pick and rolls and recovering to his original man.
Justin Whatley, a stretch big for the Eagles, took advantage of some of the hedging that Louisville was doing involving Enoch. Whatley hit three 3s in the game, and most of these makes came off bad recoveries from Enoch in these hedging instances. Whatley has good feel and touch as a big and has a ton of potential as only a sophomore. Randy Miller Jr. added 15 points for the Eagles and was very aggressive attacking the rim. However, he was only 2-of-7 from three.
Louisville (4-0) hosts South Carolina Upstate on Wednesday. NC Central (1-3) will have a short turnaround and play against Youngstown State on Tuesday.
This article was written by David Hendren, a correspondent and scout for NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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