Louisville's lack of physicality exposed at Arkansas

No. 6 Louisville men’s basketball picks up its first loss of the season at No. 25 Arkansas 89-80, in a game where Pat Kelsey’s Cards didn’t lead once.

The Cardinals played catch-up over the course of the evening, going down by as many as 20 in the first half.

Besides Louisville scoring 51 points in the second half, there were glaring issues with the Cards’ performance. Led by 22 points from freshman Mikel Brown Jr, he was able to make the game close in the final minutes. Arkansas fifth-year senior Trevon Brazile had 21, while all three bench players for the Razorbacks scored in double figures.

This is the most points Louisville has given up all season, but matches the third time giving up over 80 this year. Defensively, the Cards couldn’t get stops. Allowing Arkansas to score over 40 points in each half, there were minimal second-half improvements. 

Physicality and effort plagued the Cards. On multiple occasions, players were caught flat-footed and didn’t put the same effort on defense as they did on offense. 

“First half, especially, we were very discombobulated. We didn’t play a complicated style of basketball. We weren’t us as I told the guys,” Kelsey said postgame.

You can find his full press conference here.

Louisville’s defense was moving in slow motion

Apart from three “buy games”, Louisville has given up an average of 76.4 points per game. This would be good for 239th in the country. 

Arkansas led in FG percentage, 3-point FG percentage, and assists. They were in cruise control, working their way around the Cards. Louisville had two steals Wednesday night, shockingly below its 9.4 average this season. The Cards’ three blocks also didn’t help make up any ground, going below their average.

On many occasions, the Cards lacked defensive communication, leading to open layups. On a baseline out-of-bounds play for the Razorbacks, two Cardinal players got caught covering the same man, leading to a basket. With chemistry being off, Louisville looked stagnant on both ends of the floor. 

Especially in the first half, Arkansas didn’t need to be flashy off the ball because they still found a way to be open around the arc, shooting the ball 45.5 percent from deep. Known for their ability to create shots, the Razorbacks had it easy as Louisville lacked closing out on shooters. 

Louisville tried to make a late push in the second half, but didn’t respond defensively. Giving up 34 points in the paint, Arkansas emphasized utilizing speedy guard Darius Acuff on screen opportunities. Louisville big man Sananda Fru got dragged out, which allowed multiple Acuff driving layups.

The Razorbacks outshot the Cards 35-18 at the charity stripe. Just when Louisville thought they could get back into it, the Cards would foul or shoot themselves in the foot with a poor defensive

“We have to be better in our middle pick and role coverage. I thought that was an area of the game that we needed to be better…The big difference in the game was our inability to keep them off the free-throw line and our inability to keep them off the offensive glass,” said Kelsey.

Caught watching on the glass

Physically, Louisville needs to look at itself in the mirror.

Louisville came in averaging a 12-rebound margin per game, good for 13th in the country. On paper, the Cardinals had a significant advantage in the rebounding department, with Arkansas averaging a two-rebound margin per game, good for 180th in the nation. This was not the case as the Razorbacks out-rebounded Louisville 46-36. 

Arkansas secured 18 offensive rebounds, in comparison to the nation’s leading Virginia Cavaliers, who average 17 per game. These second-chance opportunities led to 27 points, good for 30 percent of their points.

Maybe a couple were due to a lucky bounce, but most came from a lack of physicality down low. One through five were accountable for a lack of effort on the glass. Players didn’t box out their man while others watched, expecting someone to come away with the ball.

On one possession, Mi Brown was under the rim, arms hanging low, while he stared at three Arkansas players wrestling J’Vonne Hadley in the paint. This lapse in doing the dirty work came back to bite the Cards, who attempted to make a comeback.

“We fouled too much, and they got a ton of offensive rebounds. The fouling part of it is disappointing. Offensive rebounding, they got 43 percent of their misses. That’s just the physical and toughness they play with, and it can’t happen,” Kelsey added.

Louisville opens December with a tough loss on the road. Their next three games will be no drop off, starting with No. 22 Indiana on Saturday. 

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