Of all the things coach Pat Kelsey has had to exorcise from the down years of Louisville basketball, a seven game losing streak to Duke was not high on the list.
But it’s front and center now.
Nothing UofL has done so far has indicated it can be a Final Four contender like a win over the Blue Devils would. And Louisville could sure use a reminder of its outstanding potential as freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr.’s tenuous status from a back injury has changed their outlook the past few games.
The Cards posted just a 2-2 record without him in the lineup after a 9-1 start to the season. Brown will miss his fifth consecutive game due to the injury.
Still, UofL has a chance to send a message on Tuesday — both to the ACC and the rest of college basketball.
Duke has clearly been the standard bearer for the ACC, more often than not, since UofL joined the league ahead of the 2014-15 season. Kelsey and the Cardinals were viewed as the team most likely to challenge the Blue Devils for the conference crown this season — that’s why the league office put this matchup on the schedule twice.
Louisville has a stripe out planned for the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday when the Blue Devils come to town in the first of two meetings between the teams over just a six-game stretch. The Cards make the return trip to Durham, North Carolina, on Jan. 26.
Beating Duke may sound funny with the Cards coming off an 80-76 loss at Stanford. But that appeared to be more of an anomaly than a sign of more bad things to come.
UofL guard Ryan Conwell had his worst shooting outing from 3-point range of the season, going 2-for-14 before fouling out. That’s not likely to happen a second straight game, especially considering Conwell shoots 41.4% from 3 at home.
That’s the pathway for Louisville to take the Devils down.
Defending the 3-point line has been an issue for Duke against Quad 1 teams in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Duke has allowed its five Q1 opponents to shoot 39% from behind the arc, which ranks 141st nationally according to BartTorvik.com.
UofL, also in five games against Quad 1 teams, is shooting 53.4% from 3, which ranked 17th.
Duke has all the accoutrements that usually accompany its visits.
The Blue Devils have a 12-1 record and that one blemish was just a one-point loss to Texas Tech at Madison Square Garden.
They have one of the nation’s best freshmen in forward Cameron Boozer, who is also in the running for the national player of the year. The hype is well-warranted as evidenced by his season averages of 23 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists.
But the Blue Devils are not invincible.
Since losing to the Red Raiders and starting ACC play, they struggled against two of the teams that figure to finish in the bottom third of the league.
Georgia Tech led them at halftime at Cameron Indoor Stadium and trailed by just one with three minutes left before the Blue Devils finished off an 85-79 victory. Florida State played them to a one-possession game within the final minute before Duke emerged with a 91-87 road win.
Oddsmakers viewed Duke as a 27.5-point favorite over Georgia Tech and 16.5-point favorites over the Yellow Jackets.
In other words, Duke doesn’t always deliver.
Louisville has a chance to remind everyone that when it’s on, it can be one of the best in the nation.
