Rick Pitino picked up his 700th win with the University of Louisville’s 45-33 win over Cleveland State but it’s probably a game he rather forget. An ugly win, providing keen insight for some future opponents.
UofL’s starters playing long stretches against an aggressive 1-3-1 defense, the fatigue affecting their shooting, connecting on 15 of 47 field goal attempts and only 12 of 26 shots at the free throw line.
Louisville’s vaunted full-court press was missing in action because of the dismal shooting. As Pitino pointed out after the game, “When do you press? After made shots. We didn’t have too many because we shot 33 percent. We couldn’t wear them out because we couldn’t get it on that many times.”
Lack of respect for the opponent may have been a factor, too, because Cleveland State had been nipped in overtime by a Savannah State team that UofL had blown out a couple of nights earlier.
“Unfortunately in today’s culture, we very rarely speak the truth – it was Cleveland State,” said Pitino. “Now you don’t want to give them credit because they lost to Savannah State.”
More than the normal amount of freelancing, with Louisville managing only six assists. Cleveland State would make nine turnovers, but only three of those were UofL steals.
No points and little help from the bench, Montrezl Harrell playing all 40 minutes, Terry Rozier 37 minutes, Chinanu Onuaku 35 minutes, Wayne Blackshear 34 minutes, and Chris Jones 31 minutes. Mangok Mathiang was unavailable because of an ankle injury.
David Levitch saw only one minute of action, in there just long enough to preserve his personal 23-game win streak.
The 700th win a big one for Pitino, but the manner in which it came was more than a little concerning. The game film will provide Pitino with an abundance of teaching points as the schedule beefs up immediately in December, with Ohio State coming to town on Tuesday.
Probably a good time for a wake up call.