Louisville basketball can't rely only on 3s to achieve its season goal

5 days ago 2

Louisville basketball leads the nation taking 54% of its overall shots from 3-point range. That much won’t change this deep into the season. Nor should the Cardinals attempt to do so.

But after Tuesday night’s 84-73 loss to Duke, they have to realize that 3s alone won’t carry them where they want to go this season.

Not an ACC title. Definitely not a Final Four.

Oh, it seemed that way in the first half. The KFC Yum! Center was electric with fans clad in black and red in alternating sections, waving hand towels provided on every seat in the lower bowl.

UofL guard Ryan Conwell, fresh off a 2-for-14 performance from 3 in the loss at Stanford, made his first three 3-pointers. The fourth made basket by the Cards was a banked-in 3 from Aly Khalifa, who was perfect in five shots from behind the arc.

It helped Louisville jump to a 12-point lead as it knocked down 10 3s through the first 20 minutes.

That’s where the highlights ended.

Without point guard Mikel Brown Jr. in the lineup for a fifth consecutive game with a lower back injury, the Cards were made into a one-dimensional offense. All they had were all those 3s, and the shots dried up when they couldn’t generate the same looks in the second half.

UofL missed its first six attempts in the second half en route to finishing 2 for 17 from behind the arc as Duke erased a 47-38 halftime deficit and ran away with the win.

Brown certainly means so much to the Cards lineup. They generate just one basket in fast-break points without him. In the second half especially, they could have used his ability to get in the lane for easy baskets.

This column will be updated.

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball needs more than 3s to attain lofty season goals

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