Louisville prepares for a significant Atlantic Coast Conference matchup with Virginia Tech on Saturday while acknowledging two uncontrollable elements: injuries and weather.
As the state of Kentucky prepares for Winter Storm Fern and Louisville faces an uncertain situation with injured point guard Mikel Brown Jr., Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey noted, "The two God things are snowstorms and injuries which, that's kind of in His hands."
The No. 23 Cardinals (13-5, 3-3) have played their last eight games without Brown and won just four. The standout freshman averages 16.6 points and 5.1 assists per game, but last saw action on Dec. 13 in a 99-73 win over Memphis. Brown suffered a lower-back injury that has left Kelsey and the Cardinals looking forward to his return for quite a while.
"We've worked him into practice ... (and) just continue to ramp him up and see how things go," Kelsey said when discussing Brown's status ahead of the Virginia Tech game.
In their most recent action, the Cardinals blasted Pittsburgh 100-59 on the road last Saturday. All five starters reached double-figure point totals as Louisville shot 63.2% (36-for-57) against the Panthers.
Top scorer Ryan Conwell notched 24 points, including 5-for-11 3-point shooting, as the Cardinals made 15 of 29 from long range.
J'Vonne Hadley added 17 points while Sananda Fru and Adrian Wooley each chipped in 12 points. Virginia transfer Isaac McKneely contributed 11 points as Louisville led 53-22 at halftime.
Kelsey and the Cardinals have spent the week bracing for tighter competition from the Hokies (15-5, 4-3).
"It just seems like (Virginia Tech) coach (Mike) Young just finds these big, old, tough, rugged ... men and I feel like they've got like 16 of them," Kelsey said. "They just do their job, play hard, and screen."
Virginia Tech battled tough luck early in the new year -- losing three games by a total of five points, with all three decided by 3-point shots in the final seconds.
The Hokies might have seen their luck turn around in a 76-74 win Wednesday at Syracuse. They trailed by seven points at halftime and rallied to a nine-point lead with 1:02 to play. Tech had to hang on by its fingernails, with Syracuse twice cutting the lead to two points in the final seconds.
Syracuse made seven first-half 3-pointers to open a lead, but Tech clamped down late and allowed just three second-half 3-pointers.
"I've got a really good defensive team," Young said. "We guard the arc very, very well. We didn't in the first half. We did a much better job of that in the second half."
Sophomore guard Ben Hammond had 24 points, including 12-for-13 free throw shooting. Hammond also grabbed six steals in the game.
Veteran forward Tobi Lawal came off the bench to add 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Leading scorer Amani Hansberry battled foul trouble that limited him to just 24 minutes, but still scored 10 points in an efficient 5-for-6 shooting performance.
Highly touted point guard Neoklis Avdalas chipped in 10 points, but he shot just 4-for-15 in the game. The 6-foot-9 freshman from Greece drew comparisons to an NBA superstar from Kelsey.
"Obviously the freshman, (No.) 17, is the ACC's version of Luka (Doncic)," Kelsey said. "He is uber-uber talented in just a bunch of ways."
--Field Level Media
