CRAWFORD | Louisville rips Georgia Tech 87-70: A convincing win doesn't convince completely

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Sometimes, writing about this Louisville team is difficult. They win games against the lower half of the ACC decisively. Yet there are moments when they appear to drift.

Louisville's 87-70 Senior Day win over Georgia Tech on Saturday was one of those games: Decisive on the scoreboard and unsettled in the details, a combination that has become something of a fingerprint of this team.

Louisville at times plays basketball the way a gifted student takes a test he didn't study for. Dazzling in bursts, careless in the margins, but still good enough to pass comfortably.

The Cardinals shot the ball Saturday as if the rims were as wide as the Ohio River: 52 percent overall with 14 made threes.

Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford

They led long enough to get comfortable, then complacent, then mildly bored. Four players reached double figures, Mikel Brown Jr. led the way with 19, and for long stretches Louisville looked machine-like if not dazzling.

And yet.

This team in stretches treats the ball the way some people treat library books, with the casual optimism that someone else will put them back where they belong. Eighteen turnovers produced 22 Georgia Tech points, a charitable donation the Yellowjackets gladly accepted. Louisville even took a four-and-a-half minute scoring vacation while holding a 25-point lead.

Against Georgia Tech — nine straight losses, 2-13 in the league, a program currently operating on fumes and fond memories — this was harmless. Against the upper crust of the ACC, well, we've seen how that can look.

The box score reads like prosperity. Louisville shot nearly 52 percent, hit 45 percent from three and made 19 of 20 free throws. But buried in the fine print is the uncomfortable truth: Georgia Tech outscored the Cardinals in the paint, 40-24, and kept nibbling whenever Louisville loosened its grip.

It cut a 25-point deficit to 11, forcing a Louisville timeout and asking for a second wind that the Cards shouldn’t have needed.

That's the Cardinals in February: brilliant from a distance, occasionally careless up close, capable of looking like a second weekend NCAA Tournament team and a cautionary tale in the same afternoon.

They can beat teams like Georgia Tech. That question has been answered, signed, notarized and filed away. The question that remains is whether they can beat teams that punch back, that teams that don’t shoot 3-for-18 from three, don't arrive on losing streaks, don't politely accept every turnover as a souvenir.

J’Vonne Hadley added 17 points for Louisville, while Ryan Conwell scored 15 and Isaac McKneely 14.

Louisville has a beautiful offense that consistently produces, even when it isn’t running at full capacity. What it still needs is for the rest of its game to do the same.

Until then, this team may continue to win comfortably while leaving you slightly uneasy.