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Louisville basketball fans got their first look at Cards in game action at the Red-White Scrimmage held in Cardinal arena last Wednesday. With sophomore big men David Padgett and Tello Palacios out with injuries, the game was dominated and highlighted by three freshmen and senior guard Taquan Dean.
Freshman Terrence Williams thrilled the sold-out crowd of 850, scoring 28 points on high-flying dunks and long-range three-point bombs while also hauling down 11 rebounds. “T-Will,” as head coach Rick Pitino and his teammates call him, was not the only freshman to impress during the exhibition game though.
Freshman teammate Andre McGee scored 28 points and added three assists and three rebounds, while fellow forward Chad Millard tossed in 13 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, two blocked shots, two steals, and four assists.
Dean rounded out the double-digit scoring on the Red Team, tallying 27 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and two steals. The Red Team won the intrasquad scrimmage over the White team 108-81.
“We’re a talented offensive team, but Taquan is the only guy playing the type of defense we want played,” Pitino admitted. “They’re a tremendous (freshmen) class, but it’s easy to put on a show when you’re going against no one defensively. If this team can ever get it at the defensive end, the sky is the limit to their potential,” Pitino said.
Pitino, who enters his fifth year with the Cards, was quick to point out where the defense is lacking. “T-Will should be much better defensively, but he’s not. Jonathan [Huffman] has tremendous offensive potential, but he can’t guard any of us here. Not any of us. He can’t block out any of us. And as I’m looking around, I don’t see very many people in good shape.”
All six freshmen got a lot of playing time and got to see just how hard a 40-minute college basketball game can be. But Cards fans shouldn’t expect this team to great right away.
“They’re just freshmen,” Pitino said. “They were all the best players on their high school team, needed to stay on the court and out of foul trouble, so they don’t know how to guard anybody. When they get to college, they have to defend someone and it’s new to them.”
While Pitino admitted working with the freshmen on the defensive end will be a big hurdle, he said he was pleased with their overall effort. “There is tremendous potential, tremendous,” Pitino said. “This is a great freshman class. They’re going to be together for a long time. You look at the talent out here and then you add Padgett and Palacios and we’re a pretty good ball club.”
Both Padgett and Palacios were in attendance but did not see any playing time. Pitino reported Palacios will be held out of practice until at least December and may not see game action until the Big East Conference schedule opens on Jan. 4 against Villinova. As for Padgett, he will begin practice this week and will likely start playing in the second week of the season.
“We’ll hold him out of Bellarmine, even though Bellarmine is harping a lot that they’re going to whip us, but we’re going to hold him out,” Pitino said about the 6-foot-11 sophomore center that broke his right foot in a pickup game on Sept. 19. This will mark Padgett’s first season with the Cards.
Scotty Davenport is in his first season as head coach of Bellarmine. Before taking his current post, the Louisville native served as an assistant for the Cardinals under Rick Pitino and former Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum. The U of L-Bellarmine exhibition game is slated to tip-off at 7:05 p.m. tomorrow night (Wednesday) in Freedom Hall. WHAS will carry the show on TV.
