By Aj Pfeiffer
Wednesday evening saw the Cardinals Big East Conference opener against the Seton Hall Pirates. The Cardinals were looking to bounce back after a loss to Kentucky, and bounce back they did, beating the Pirates with ease 73-54.
The contest saw a great deal of changes to Coach Pitino’s usual lineup, first and foremost, the start of Senior George Goode at the five spot.
Goode saw no playing time against Kentucky, and has been limited off of the bench this year, playing behind Jennings and Dieng, but Coach Pitino has always had high praise for the 6’8″ Missouri native.
“He got us off to a good start. He’s a good shooter, always working hard in practice.” Pitino said after Wednesdays game.
Goode certainly set the tempo for the Cards, coming out and scoring back-to-back jumpers from the elbows to put the home team up by a quick four on their first two possessions.
“I was just trying to go out there and do whatever I could to help the team.” Goode said, “Whether it’s blocking shots, rebounding and tonight to shoot and score.” When asked whether he expects to see more playing time, Goode replied, “Whatever Coach needs me to do.” Just the sort of attitude one would expect from a senior under Pitino’s tutelage, but of course Goode’s trademark smile and sense of humor were not far behind.
When asked whether fans would see more of his jump shot, as somewhat of a return to his high school days, he laughed, “I’ve still got it. it’s just been under wraps!” Whether we will see more of it? “You need to tell Coach about that.”
Another change from last weeks loss that was immediately evident was the renewed intensity towards dominating the paint by UofL’s big men. After some productive minutes, Goode was replaced by Freshmen Gorgui Dieng, who picked up right where his counterpart left off. The African transplant with a 7’4″ wing-span wasted no time making his enormous presence felt, swatting two Seton Hall lay up attempts on consecutive defensive stands. A third block, resembling something out of a volleyball match, was sent all the way to mid-court, sparking a two on one break for Peyton Seva and Mike Marra. Showing a tremendous amount of hustle, Dieng quickly followed to transform the break to a three on one, resulting in the hands down play of the game: a double alley-oop from Seva to Marra and finished by the trailing Dieng. Gorgui would finish with 9 points, 6 rebounds and a monster-sized 5 blocks.
Aside from the defensive presence asserted by the Cardinals, another concern from the UK loss was covered against the Pirates, and that was rebounding. Louisville out-rebounded the opposing squad 45 to 36, which was a good showing against a team who was fairly well matched in height.
Some of this success can be attributed to another of Pitino’s line up changes, playing Sophomore Stephan Van Treese at the 4 position alongside another of the Cards bigs. Van Treese came up huge on the glass, grabbing 10 boards to lead the team (coming in a close second was Preston Knowles with 9). Van Treese had this to say about the importance of rebounding to his teams success:
“All week (Pitino) has been trying to get our big men to rebound, and that’s why he played me, so I could get in there and rebound. I knew once Big East play started that he would use me. We weren’t rebounding very well, especially after Kentucky and he saw that I can get it done.”
Once again the Louisville offensive load was distributed evenly among the plethora of Cardinals to see action. Knowles scored 14, Smith and Dieng followed with 9, and in a much anticipated return to regular form, Mike Marra matched Knowles team high with 14, shooting a strong 3-5 from behind the arc.
This game was a run away from the beginning as Seton Hall was held to 2 points for over 8 minutes to begin the ball game. It was clear to anyone watching that the UK loss is behind this team, and a hunger for Big East competition now rests on the lips of The Cards.
As Coach Pitino put it, “Nothing anymore in this Big East makes sense, but ten wins is what you’re striving for in the conference, 11 or 12 probably gets you a bye and 14 gets you a Big East championship. So it doesn’t matter who you play, you just have to fight hard for a victory.”
