By Andrew Krumme
Louisville cruised Monday night over the UC Davis Aggies in their final non-conference game of the year winning 81-58. Despite the absence of Taquan Dean (resting a sprained ankle) and freshman Chad Millard who was still ailing from a bug he caught on the way home from Saturday’s win against Providence, Coach Rick Pitino’s squad handled their business.
With Dean out, his fellow backcourt mate Brandon Jenkins picked up the slack going 11-13 from the field, including seven threes for a career high 31 points. Pitino sang the praises of his junior guard from Detroit. “I think every junior I have has a great year and I wish they could be like junior year for four years. They don’t have the pressures that the seniors have and [are] wise enough to be a senior in terms of the mental capacities that you have.”
Louisville got off to a sluggish start as UC Davis hung tough for the first 10 minutes of the half but then clearly showed later on why they have more than twice as many losses as wins.
Louisville mixed in a variety of defenses throughout the game aside from their usual man to man pressure. “We put in a different zone along with our 2-3 and vary our presses and put in an extra press and extra zone. We aren’t physical enough so we can’t stay with one defense and be very effective,” Pitino said. Kyle Brucculeri led a balanced scoring attack for the Aggies with 15 points.
While Jenkins picked up much of the slack, both Terrance Williams and David Padgett did their part in making up for the missing Dean. Williams played an all around solid game with eight points, eight rebounds and eight assists while David Padgett seems to finally be getting into game shape and added 14. As Padgett continues to improve so does this team, giving them a great post presence to open it up for the guards on the perimeter. UC Davis’s Gary Stewart noted how important the big fellow’s presence was, “They got the ball in the high post area to David Padgett. Then, Padgett was able to drop it down inside or go in for easy baskets.”
After three games in five days, Louisville now has five days to rest before they take on 11th-ranked and undefeated Pittsburgh who comes to town on Sunday.
