By Derek DeBurger
Louisville lets one slip away in an extremely chippy game against the Boston College Eagles.
With Skyy Clark being a relatively late scratch due to a broken rib, freshman Ty-Laur Johnson stepped up and played major minutes for the Cards as the only available point guard.
Tuesday’s game started as a fast-paced, back-and-forth game—a clear advantage for Louisville. Midway through the first half, the Cards began to pull away after a short scoring drought from the Eagles, led by Johnson. Louisville survived a slight comeback to claim a lead as high as 10 points during their run.
At the half, Louisville led 47-39.
Boston College grabbed some quick momentum in the second half with a quickly made three-pointer, but Johnson calmed the team down and pushed the lead back up to eight. Then, in a questionable move, head coach Kenny Payne subbed Johnson from the game.
There was an immediately clear drop-off in offensive effectiveness. With Johnson out, Boston College went on a 16-2 run, pushing a six-point lead.
Once Johnson was finally put back in the game, he was quickly pulled once again after a flagrant foul was called against him for tripping and the Cards’ offense sputtered. Johnson was finally subbed back in but again came out after he was injured on another flagrant foul called on BC guard Jaeden Zackery.
Johnson’s calm, measured influence on the offense should’ve been used in a game that was anything but: there were three flagrant fouls, two technical fouls, and multiple occasions where the officiating crew verbally warned coaches and players.
The Cards found themselves down as much as 15 points. Despite cutting the deficit by as little as six, Louisville was too far out of contention and had too little momentum to make a meaningful push to win.
The Cards would lose 77-89.
This mismanagement of the rotation by coach Payne, and the failure to adjust when clear mistakes were made meant the team lost momentum and the lead. During Johnson’s absences in the second half, players on the court looked uncomfortable running an offense without a true point guard in the rotation.
With Clark and Hercy Miller set to miss significant time, Johnson is the only point guard on the roster and needs to be played despite the freshman mistakes he will make.
Besides the lack of facilitating, Louisville looked porous defensively in the second half. Three-point shooters were left wide open far too often, and when given the opportunity did not miss. Louisville will never be a consistently successful team if a major aspect of their defensive strategy is hoping the opposing team misses open looks.
Louisville falls to 8-17 on the season, 3-11 in the ACC, and back into last place in the ACC.
Photo Courtesy // Henry Hurd, BC Heights Staff
