Louisville vs. Puerto Rico Day 1

Mark BlankenbakerAugust 11, 2015

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Download PDFs of both Louisville vs. Puerto Rico Box Scores from today.

Louisville A vs Puerto Rico National Team

Louisville B vs Puerto Junior National Team

Louisville’s first day in Puerto Rico resulted in two losses for the Cards. The 5:30 game featured a limited Louisville squad without the services of Damion Lee, Quentin Snider, Trey Lewis, Mangok Mathiang, Donovan Mitchell and Chinanu Onuaku. In Game 1 the Cards fell 94-88 despite a 16 point, 5 rebound performance from walk-on Jay Henderson and a 14 point, 5 rebound performance from Deng Adel. Henderson displayed a nice stroke and was a willing player for the Cards in the first session and Adel showed a natural aggressiveness. The 1st game wasn’t a true test for the Cards despite the result.

The Main Event

Starters Quentin Snider, Trey Lewis, Damion Lee, Mangok Mathiang, and Chinanu Onuaku really did well against Puerto Rico. Foul trouble really doomed the Cards and Quentin Snider had 4 early fouls while guarding Dallas Maverick J.J. Barea which affected him the rest of the night. Former New York Knick 1st round selection Renaldo Balkman was AWESOME for Puerto Rico as was current Portland Trailblazer Maurice Harkless. Louisville held their own and had the lead for much of the game until Puerto Rico made a run in the 3rd quarter with Barea out. (J.J. will miss tomorrow with a thigh bruise). Still, Louisville made it a game and found itself in too much foul trouble late to mount a late rally.

The story however, was Damion Lee. Lee finished 11-18 from the field for 36 points and added 2 steals and 1 rebound. Lee likely needs to hit the glass a bit more but the production from the field is something Louisville hasn’t had in a while. He was a natural scorer.

Chinanu Onuaku looked much improved and even his ‘granny’ free throw style netted him 3/6 from the foul line. Mangok may have improved some, but still struggled to finish around the rim. Even though his numbers don’t suggest it, Louisville really lost something without Quentin Snider in the game. Q will need to avoid foul trouble for the rest of the week in order to stay on the floor.

Trey Lewis was a firecracker and played an antagonistic role for the Cards. It wasn’t Trey’s best night from the floor (3/14) but he played good defense. I’d like to see him hit a higher percentage on Wednesday. Lastly Donovan Mitchell played with a lot of energy, but we’re going to have to find a way to harness some of that energy and point it into a meaningful direction. Donovan was 0/6 with 3 turnovers.

Louisville gets back after it again tomorrow with games at 5:30 and 8:00 again.

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Click This Link to Watch Mangok Mathiang With your Mobile Device

Click This Link to Watch Trey Lewis With your Mobile Device