Louisville is coming off one of the worst losses in program history last Friday, but this team will need to have a short memory going forward, because better opponents are coming in the near future. The Cardinals hosted Coppin State in hopes of getting back in the win column and finding some sort of identity.

Coppin State hasn’t had much success this season, opening up with an 0-4 record to begin the year. Louisville came into this game favored to win by 17.5 points and they were able to take care of business at home against an inferior opponent. This is the first time in the Kenny Payne era that the Cardinals have covered the spread at home, they were 0-8 previously.

Kenny Payne still believes this team is in the early stages of development and he’s said they’re still getting better each day. Payne is confident that he can still turn this program back around and won’t shy away from criticism in the process.

The Cardinals are already halfway there to last season’s win total, so at this rate, one could argue that there’s been improvement, but this cannot be the final product of this team if they want to be formidable.

Even in a 20 point win, there was still some significant holes in Louisville’s performance. Starting off with the positives, the Cardinals offensive sets looked more effective than they have in the past. The offense was flowing from a scheme standpoint, but it’s still lacking made baskets.

There were more open shot opportunities for everyone on the court, because the ball continued to move. Now, it’s about just knocking down the open looks, and that’s what Louisville is having difficulties with. Louisville ended this game shooting 39% from the field at their own gym, which simply won’t get it done against great teams. This team is in dire need of a knockdown three-point shooter as they continue to struggle from behind the arc. Highly touted freshman Skyy Clark has started off the year slow in all faucets, shooting only 35% from the field and a whopping 0% from three on just eight attempts. Clark will have plenty of opportunities to get in a flow, but this team will continue to struggle if he can’t produce like he was predicted to. Kenny Payne needs him to stay confident in his shot, because he knows a player of Clark’s caliber will find his groove eventually.

Louisville went into the half up by eleven points, but it wasn’t a great half of basketball from the Cardinals. Defensively, at this point is coming down to effort and just wanting it. Coppin State shot poorly for the entire game, but each time they scored it looked far too easy. Uncontested layups and three-point shots on nearly every basket, which has to get better and fast, no other way to put it. Tre White is also off to a slow start this season, but he’s shown flashes as a scorer in transition and in the half court. He finished with ten points and 12 rebounds yesterday, giving much needed help on the glass from a team who isn’t rebounding well.

Freshman Curtis Williams has shot the ball as well as anyone on the team so far. He displayed some difficult shot making and if he works hard or the defensive end, he’ll see his minutes increase.

The Cardinals started the second half on the right foot with a quick 7-0 run that kept them ahead by double digits for the remainder of the game. Coppin State did finish with their lowest scoring total on the season with 41 points, so overall the defensive performance wasn’t bad, but there’s a lot of room from improvement. Skyy Clark had better offensive half, hitting three of his first four attempts, but he showed when he stays aggressive he can put the ball in the basket, which Louisville needs a lot more of.

Mike James has continued to be Kenny Payne’s best player through the first three games and his best scorer, but even he only attempted seven shots. James also needs more buckets to generate more points for this team, all he needs is a volume increase.

One last aspect that Louisville needs to improve on is winning the 50/50 balls. At times, this team is getting out-hustled for loose balls and it usually results in points for the other team. Louisville has to continue to get better at the little things, as Kenny Payne has stated before.

Definitely a lot to unpack here, but the Cardinals are 2-1 with a chance to showcase their improvement this Sunday when they take on the Texas Longhorns in the Saatva Empire Classic at 3:30 P.M. (ET).