By Harry Barsan

The Louisville Cardinals will take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in round two of the Battle 4 Atlantis.

The Cards are only one win away from making the tournament championship. Louisville has made the Battle 4 Atlantis championship twice in their two prior tournament appearances.

The same coin

These two teams actually measure up pretty well in certain aspects of their games, and their overall situations.

The elephant in the rooms are that both teams are in year one of a rebuild with new coaches and almost entirely new rosters.

As for the play, both the Mountaineers and Cardinals play at a relatively similar tempo, both averaging roughly around 73 possessions per game, both squads average roughly 18 personal fouls per game and neither teams are particularly good at free throws.

West Virginia also relies on the three for much of their offense. While their 77.5 points per game is nothing too special they average 10.8 made three-pointers per game, which ranks 23rd in the country.

Their two top shooters, Javon Small and Tucker DeVries, are bona fide stars. Small is the Mountaineers’ leading scorer at 15.5 points per game and scored 31 in their overtime victory over No. 3 Gonzaga. DeVries is the son of West Virginia’s head coach, Darian DeVries, led Drake to an NCAA tournament appearance a year ago and is arguably a top-50 player in college basketball. Gonzaga tried their best to shut down DeVries, but only managed to hold him to 16 points.

While the Cards have been okay at defending the three, they can’t get caught slipping against an aggressive West Virginia team that hunts for looks behind the arc.

When earlier in the season the Cardinals played Tennessee, their toughest competition of the season, they let the game slip away quickly and were held to a season low 55 points. This was in large part to the disgustingly high 52.6% from three that the Volunteers shot.

Small in stature only

The Mountaineers only have one center listed on their roster, that being Eduardo Andre who rarely sees the court. Despite this, the Mountaineers still have decent height throughout the team and an even bigger presence.

West Virginia is great in defending the paint, holding opponents to just 40.9% from two-point range which is the ninth best mark in the country. WVU also averages a whopping seven blocks per game which is fifth in the nation.

Louisville has been tested by opponents physically all season, and their winning of that battle was a major reason they toppled Indiana. Just because the Mountaineers are small doesn’t mean they’re pushovers, and the number tell the exact opposite story.

What could be the biggest factor in the game is rest. West Virginia shortened their bench to just eight players, with two of those players receiving eight or fewer minutes. Three starters for the Mountaineers played over 40 minutes. Louisville runs a deep bench, even with their current injuries, and the blowout helped give them the chance to rest major players.

All things considered, there is clearly much to be wary of against, as you don’t just beat Gonzaga by accident. Still, the Cardinals stand a great chance to come out on top, especially after a dominant performance on both sides of the ball against Indiana.

They look poised to stand 5-1 and return to the Battle 4 Atlantis championship.

Photo Courtesy // Mallory Peak, Louisville Athletics