The dust has settled, and it still doesn't feel any better than it did last night. Louisville dropped a home game to DePaul, falling to 6-3 on the year.
Here are a few final thoughts on what took place Friday night:
THE GOOD:
- Malik Williams is back to the player Louisville fans had hoped he would be following a flurry of injuries. Williams has strung together a number of nice performances in the last couple of weeks, and he came to play once again. Williams scored 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go along with 8 rebounds in 29 minutes of game action.
THE BAD:
- Samuell Williamson and Jae'Lyn Withers are in a slump to say the least. The two combined for zero points and six rebounds, going 0-of-5 from the field. Withers came off the bench in this one, and that didn't have any impact on his effort or body language. Of the six freshmen that Chris Mack brought in during his first full recruiting class, one has panned out. David Johnson was drafted in this past year's NBA Draft. Nickelberry, Igiehon, and Slazinski transferred out. And Williamson and Withers haven't really taken any sort of step forward in their third year with the program.
FINAL STATS:
- Noah Locke struggled mightily in this one, going 2-of-12 from the field, and 2-of-9 from beyond the arc.
- Locke wasn't alone. The offense as a whole could not get going as Louisville shot 31 percent from the floor, and 21 percent from the three-point line.
- For as deep as Louisville is, the bench only scored 5 points.
- Louisville only scored on 24 of their 72 offensive possessions.
As of now, Louisville is a fringe tournament team, and the return of Chris Mack hasn't had much of an influence at all. Louisville very well could be 0-3 with Mack back on the sideline.
