Louisville is coming off a fierce defeat and is just 2-2 over the last four games.
The No. 11 Cardinals will look to end their mini-slump and hope to have their top-flight NBA prospect on the floor when they host Montana in a non-conference game on Saturday afternoon.
Louisville was badly outplayed during an 83-62 loss at No. 20 Tennessee on Tuesday; the Cardinals didn’t have star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. due to a back injury.
The Cardinals (9-2) have yet to decide if Brown will play against the Grizzlies (6-6) on Saturday.
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask the medical people (about) that,” Louisville coach Pat Kelsey said. “So, you know, in terms of adjusting when somebody goes down, that’s just the deal. Every team in the country, in every single sport, has people go down with injuries, and you’ve heard me say this before, and it’s the old sports axiom of next man up.”
Of course, having Brown would be the preferred option. He ranks second on the Cardinals in scoring (16.6 points per game) and leads in assists (5.1 per game) after 10 college appearances.
Resting Brown on Saturday may rate as an appealing option due to an upcoming extended break.
After the Montana contest, Louisville won’t play again until its Atlantic Coast Conference opener at Cal on Dec. 30. The Cardinals will visit Stanford on Jan. 2 to conclude the trip.
Louisville trailed by as many as 25 points against Tennessee. The Cardinals shot just 37.9% from the field and were a measly 7 of 34 from 3-point range, and the Volunteers had a 21-9 advantage in points off turnovers and a 16-4 edge in fast-break points.
“We’ve got some work to do,” Kelsey said. “We’ve got a game on Saturday before the break, and we’ve got to have a couple good days of preparation and respond the right way.”
Ryan Conwell scored 22 points against Tennessee, and Adrian Wooley added a season-best 19 in his first start of the season.
Conwell leads Louisville in scoring (19.6 ppg) and 3-point baskets (41).
Montana will face a huge challenge, as it hasn’t defeated a ranked team since beating Nevada in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament.
The Grizzlies are 5-48 all-time against ranked foes and have lost all 11 such encounters under coach Travis DeCuire, who is in his 12th season at the school.
Making matters worse is that Montana lost 82-75 to NAIA foe Montana Tech on Wednesday in Missoula.
“They showed us some wrinkles early that we hadn’t seen in their last few games, and they executed very well offensively,” DeCuire said. “Once they got confidence, the hoop got big, and we had a hard time slowing them down.”
The visiting Orediggers knocked down 14 3-pointers while notching the upset. That’s the most Montana has allowed this season. The previous high of 10 was during a 91-68 loss to host Stanford on Nov. 8.
DeCuire would like to see a totally different group of Grizzlies on Saturday.
“I hope that I see and feel more sense of urgency from top to bottom, from me all the way down,” DeCuire said. “We have to have a more urgent basketball team. We were playing slow, (Montana Tech was) playing fast, and until we were down, we never really had tempo. We have to start games like that regardless of who we are playing.”
Money Williams scored 19 points against Montana Tech and leads the Grizzlies in scoring (19.4 ppg) and assists (6.1 per game).
