By Dalton Ray–

Current record: 13-3 (8-1 at home, 2-1 away, 3-1 neutral)

Team stats: 75.1 points per game, 60.8 points allowed per game, 43.3 percent field goal percentage, 33.7 percent 3-point percentage, 41.6 rebounds per game, 7.1 steals, 6.9 blocks and +3.8 turnover margin

Stat leaders: Points per game – Donovan Mitchell (13.4), assists – Quentin Snider (3.8), rebounds – Jaylen Johnson (6.9), steals – Mitchell (2.1) and blocks – Anas Mahmoud (2.1)

We’re halfway through the men’s basketball season and Louisville is in good shape after playing six top 25 teams in their first 16 games. U of L’s first challenge of the season came in the Battle 4 Atlantis against Old Dominion. Squeaking out the six-point victory against ODU was followed by the 10-point win over Wichita State.

No. 2 Baylor handed Louisville their first loss season in the finale of the Battle 4 Atlantis. U of L squandered a double-double lead and fell 66-63. The Cards returned home to face their second straight ranked opponent in then-No. 16 Purdue. The win over the Boilermakers showed similar traits to the Baylor game, but U of L prevailed.

Wins over Grand Canyon, Southern Illinois, Texas Southern and Eastern Kentucky lead up to a top 10 showdown with then-No. 4 Kentucky. In one of the best games of the early season, U of L held off the Wildcats for the 73-70 win. The win rewarded Louisville with their highest ranking of the season to date, No. 6.

One week later, Louisville hosted No. 11 Virginia. The Cardinals trailed the entire game and were down 20 at one point. A strong final 10-minute stretch made the final score 61-53 in UVA’s favor. Louisville responded with a big 77-62 win over then-No. 16 Indiana.

Louisville dropped a road game to Notre Dame, putting them 0-2 in the ACC. The team got their first conference win with a 15-point victory over Georgia Tech.

Entering the new year with a 3-3 record against ranked teams, Louisville has held Kentucky, Indiana and Purdue to under 20 points of their yearly average. All three are top 20 in the nation in points per game, led by UK at No. 2 with 94. Only three teams have scored 70 or more points against the Cardinals.

Rick Pitino has said multiple times this year that his team isn’t a good defensive team. After the Virginia game, Pitino said, “To beat Virginia you have to be able to shoot the ball well. And if you aren’t you to shoot the ball well, you have to be just as good defensively and we’re certainly not. Not this team.”

Despite not meeting Pitino’s public demands, the Cardinals are one of the stingiest defenses in the nation. They rank 17th in the country in points allowed per game and third in the ACC behind Virginia and Miami. Their 6.9 blocks per game rank top five in the nation and their 41.6 rebounds places them top 10.

Pitino may not be happy with what he sees from his defense, but it is obvious this team is benefiting from several players returning. The front court is led by rebounders and shot blockers, which sets the tone for U of L on the defensive end.

The problem for Louisville comes on the opposite end of the floor. The Cardinals still don’t have a go-to scorer and have a different leading scorer nearly every game. Like past Louisville teams, 2016-2017 has a good defense with a spotty offense.

Louisville is 135th in the nation in points per game and tied for 184th in field goal percentage. This isn’t horrible, but it’s certainly not great. The big problem comes from deep, where U of L ranks 250th out of 351 teams in 3-point percentage.

Four players have shot more than 20 threes — Snider, Mitchell, Deng Adel and Ryan McMahon — and those three are a combined 87-for-2259, 33.5 percent. The rest of the team account for the remaining 56 attempted 3-pointers, making 19.

The team thrives when they’re led by Mitchell and Deng carrying the offensive attack. Mix that with Snider controlling the pace and getting into the lane. Johnson is at his best when he is rebounding and finishing strong inside.

Mangok Mathiang, Ray Spalding and Mahmoud are combining for 17 rebounds a game and nearly five blocks. VJ King has provided consistent play off the bench, averaging 6.3 points a game.

The latter half of the season holds match-ups with Duke, North Carolina, Florida State, Miami, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Virginia. The Cardinals didn’t have the easy front half of the season but were able to escape with only two losses in 14 tries.

Pitino’s teams are known for flourishing around conference tournament time, so don’t expect this to be the team’s final form. If the team upticks like previous Cardinal teams, the Cardinals will continue be in good shape come March and April.

Photo by Laurel Slaughter / The Louisville Cardinal