The elbows are coming.
The same goes for shoves, hits, hip checks and any other measures, within the rules of course, that Tennessee can use to slow down. Louisville Basketball in attack. The Volunteers will do everything they can to hinder the freedom of movement that allowed the Cardinals to shoot 51% from 3-point range in their 99-73 victory against Memphis SATURDAY.
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This is where UofL can send a message that will resonate for the rest of the season. If the Cards don’t let themselves be intimidated by Tennessee, they can crush the idea that the way to beat them is to play physical.
Arkansas found success in Cards’ only loss this season being the most physical team, a fact that Pat Kelsey, UofL coach deemed “unacceptable” after the match.
Indiana tried to follow this plan in its 87-78 loss to Louisville. The Hoosiers fell short after falling behind big early, although they managed to get Mikel Brown Jr. offensively moody.
No team is better physically than a team coached by Rick Barnes.
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It’s his modus operandi dating back to when he developed this style of play during his coaching years at Providence. He perfected it at Clemson. And has implemented it for so many years in Texas and now Tennessee, to the extent that the style is simply his trademark.
Barnes wants to take possessions away, slow the tempo and keep UofL at a pace where they have to set up and play in half-court situations. He wants to force the Cards to execute and be precise every time they attack.
Because how can there not be a slip-up when Tennessee tries to make every possession as grueling as an Ironman triathlon.
The Vols want to play a game where the final tally is in the 70s. If they can keep it in the 60s, even better. UofL scored over 50 points in the first half in six of his 10 matches. Cincinnati is the only team to stop them from reaching 80 points in Cards win 74-64.
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Perhaps the worst thing that happened to Louisville before Tuesday night’s game was making 18 3s against Memphis on Saturday. The Cards can’t just hunt behind the arc.
They won’t have as many open looks, for starters, against a Tennessee defense that’s holding opponents to 29.7 percent 3-point shooting this season.
The way UofL can combat a bully is to stay aggressive.
The Cards had just three players at the free throw line against Arkansas for a total of 18 attempts. That number doubled to six players against IU with a total of 28 free throw attempts.
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It will take this kind of effort on just their second trip of the season to come back with a victory. This is how the Cards did it during their victory in Cincinnati.
The Bearcats played like a Tennessee-lite, trying to slow down the pace and outplay UofL. The difference is the Vols have a lot more talent than Cincinnati.
Forward Nate Ament, who is second on the Vols with 16.3 points and first with 7.1 rebounds per game, is part of the stellar freshman class nationally and projects as NBA lottery pick.
Tennessee won’t make the UofL game an uphill battle because it’s the only play to victory. The Vols will do this because they like to scramble games and make their opponents uncomfortable.
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The only way Louisville will get out of this is to fight back.
Contact sports columnist CL Brown at [email protected]follow him on @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter on profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to be sure to never miss one of his columnss.
This article was originally published in the Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville’s Tennessee basketball game can help Cards send a message
