UK ‘D’ shuts down Louisville star Jordan Nwora. A surprising Wildcat locks him down.
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Game day: Kentucky beats Louisville in OT
Click here to read all of the Lexington Herald-Leader’s coverage from Saturday’s 78-70 University of Kentucky men’s basketball overtime victory over Louisville in Rupp Arena.
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Jordan Nwora came to Rupp Arena playing at the level of a First-Team All-American.
If the Kentucky Wildcats were going to extend their mastery over the archrival Louisville Cardinals, UK knew it had to slow the Nwora train.
With a surprising Wildcat leading the way, the Cats derailed the U of L star.
In the pregame pool, did you have “Immanuel Quickley’s defense” as a leading reason the Cats would beat the Cards for the 11th time in the past 13 meetings?
No. 19 Kentucky gutted out a 78-70 overtime win over No. 3 Louisville before a high-decibel Rupp Arena crowd of 20,437 that included actor Bill Murray (the father of U of L assistant coach Luke Murray) and venerable commonwealth coaching legends Denny Crum and Joe B. Hall.
In a game the Cats — losers of two straight entering the contest — really needed, heroes were many. Super freshman Tyrese Maxey sliced and diced U of L for 27 points. Oft-maligned junior big man Nick Richards (13 points, 10 rebounds, an astounding 11 fouls drawn) scored seven straight UK points in overtime to rally Kentucky from three behind to a lead it never relinquished.
But don’t overlook Quickley.
In an unanticipated defensive star turn, the 6-foot-3, 189-pound sophomore did a yeoman’s job harrying the 6-7, 225-pound Nwora into a dismal afternoon in Lexington.
Relentlessly tracking Nwora through pick after pick, Quickley and UK (9-3) held the preseason ACC Player of the Year to his lowest point total of the season.
Averaging 21.2 points and hitting 48.1 percent of his shots and 41.4 percent of his three-pointers entering the game, Nwora went 2-for-10 from the field, 1-for-6 on three-pointers and finished with eight points and three turnovers.
Nwora’s previous season-low of 14 points came in the only other game the Cardinals (11-2) lost, a 70-57 defeat to Texas Tech.
“Immanuel ends up guarding Jordan — that’s a hard cover, now,” UK Coach John Calipari said. “(Nwora) never stops. He can really shoot, he’s long, athletic, can get to the rim.”
After Kentucky freshman wing Keion Brooks drew the starting assignment on Nwora, it ended up being Quickley who spent the majority of his 37:01 of game action checking the U of L star.
“Coach said whoever guards Nwora best is going to play the whole game,” Quickley said. “I just wanted to play in the game.”
In the run up to our state’s annual men’s college hoops Armageddon, it was not lost on the Wildcats how vital Nwora is to Louisville’s attack.
“In the scouting report, we did a lot of details about him,” UK’s Richards said. “We noticed they run, basically, 75 percent of their offense through him. So guys were paying attention to the little things on him.”
Quickley said Kentucky’s defensive strategy was basic.
“The game plan was not to let Nwora beat us, to try to make everybody else beat us,” he said. “I just said ‘If I get on Nwora, I’m really going to make it hard.’”
That mission was more than accomplished.
Nwora scored on a driving layup with 7:53 left in the first half, then did not make a shot for the remainder of regulation. When U of L erased all of a 38-26 Kentucky lead in the second half to set up an overtime thriller, the Cards made their run with Nwora on the bench.
“He didn’t play very well,” U of L Coach Chris Mack said, “so we took him out. The other guys were playing better.”
Asked how Kentucky limited the Louisville star, Mack said, “I thought he missed some shots he normally makes. He didn’t really get going on the offensive glass until midway through the second half. It was too late by then.”
To his credit, Nwora — 1-for-9 from the field to this point in the game — buried a cold-blooded three-pointer from the left corner to give Louisville a 68-65 lead with 2:20 left in the overtime.
With Richards scoring seven straight points, however, Kentucky ended the game on a 13-2 run to continue its domination of its intrastate rival.
The Cats were up only 72-70 when Louisville’s Ryan McMahon missed a potential go-ahead trey.
It was Quickley (18 points, three rebounds, 8-for-8 on free throws) who claimed the contested rebound, got fouled and converted two pressure foul shots to seal the Kentucky win.
For Quickley, whose reputation coming to Kentucky was based on his offensive polish, the latest UK vanquishing of U of L turned into a tribute to his toughness and defensive zeal.
“You can talk Xs and Os all you want,” Quickley said, “but Kentucky-Louisville comes down to who is going to fight.”
Immanuel Quickley fought, and that was a big reason UK defeated U of L.
Again.
This story was originally published December 28, 2019 at 8:42 PM.
