By Taylor Webster–
Basketball season is right around the corner and Louisville men’s basketball is ready. Rick Pitino has always pushed his teams to be conditioned enough to press the whole game and create turnovers. During the first Red-White scrimmage, the team did exactly that.
The team was split so there were limited substitutions made. However, both teams were able to press with few mistakes and without looking fatigued. The scrimmage highlighted Louisville’s athleticism, stamina, grit and will to win.
Donovan Mitchell’s was on fire in the first half with 17 points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Although he cooled off in the second half, it was apparent that he would be a difference maker for the Cards throughout the season.
“He played with pace,” Pitino said. “The other guys played too fast, didn’t change their pace. Donovan looked like a complete basketball player. He never got tired.”
Donovan is proud of his team, but believes there is still work to be done.
“I think we are looking really good especially with our new guys,” Mitchell said. “We have to take care of the able we had too many turnovers in the first scrimmage.”
Deng Adel also had a great first half with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Tony Hicks, the Penn graduate transfer, was everything Card Nation wanted him to be—athletic, fast and a scorer. Hicks lead the red team in points finishing with 26 points.
“I think I played okay. I just need to cut down on some turnovers and decision making with the speed that we are playing at.” Hicks said. “But that will come with time.”
After sitting out his senior season, Hicks is happy to be playing competitive ball and is excited about what he can bring to Louisville.
“It felt great playing in front of a crowd finally because it’s been over a year since I’ve done that,” Hicks said. “We are very deep and can play a lot of people. That’s to our benefit because we can wear teams out with our defensive pressure.”
The Cardinals do have a deep bench and redshirt freshman Ryan McMahon will be hard to keep off the court if he continues to shoot the lights out. McMahon scored 18 points on 6-for-8 3-point shots and had six assists.
McMahon said there isn’t a huge difference from this year to last, but says he can still improve.
“Nothing really changed. I continued to work hard as I always have. But I definitely needed that year to improve,” McMahon said. “I need to continue to work on becoming a better defender and learning the point guard position.”
This new team has already shown that they will be an up-and-down, fast pace team. Who steps up scoring wise has yet to be answered, but there are pieces in place for this team to be special. The second Red-White scrimmage is set for Oct. 21.
Photo by Nancy Hanner / The Louisville Cardinal
