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Louisville basketball | 3 keys to a Cards win vs. Nebraska-Omaha

Jeff Greer
Courier Journal
  • Louisville vs. Nebraska-Omaha, 7 p.m., Friday, KFC Yum Center. Not on TV. On the web: ESPN3.com.

The No. 16 Louisville men's basketball team hosts Nebraska-Omaha at 7 p.m. Friday at the KFC Yum Center, with the opportunity to register its second win of the season.

Here's a guide for how to watch, listen to and follow the game.

3 KEYS TO A CARDS WIN

► Pace, pace, pace: There is a reason Louisville is projected as a 25-point favorite by Ken Pomeroy's college hoops analytics site. The Cards are the far more athletic and talented team. But if Louisville wants to avoid another stomach-twisting close affair, it'll have to push the tempo.

Luckily for the Cards, who want to get up and down the floor in a fast game, Nebraska-Omaha likes to do that, too. The Mavericks play the third-fastest tempo in college basketball, according to KenPom.com, and they've lost three games by an average of 20 points. New Mexico and Oklahoma both scored more than 100 points against Omaha.

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► Jitters, be gone: The Cards (and interim coach David Padgett) need to shake off the cobwebs and get going. An overmatched Nebraska-Omaha team provides Louisville the opportunity to deliver a dominant performance, and playing with confidence will go a long way toward that. Louisville struggled against George Mason and didn't look very convincing in its exhibition win over Bellarmine. It seemed like Padgett's team was pressing on offense, leading to poor shot selection and rushed possessions. Don't do that Friday night, and the Cards win big.

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Comfy King: Sophomore wing V.J. King has had uneven performances so far this season. He was just 2 of 5 for six points in the exhibition vs. Kentucky Wesleyan, then solid vs. Bellarmine with 14 points, then shaky vs. George Mason. Freshman Darius Perry took most of King's minutes in the second half. The 6-foot-6 King needs to be confident in his jump shot and play in attack mode. He can be a considerable scoring option opposite Deng Adel; he just has to be assertive.