December has been an inconsistent month for Louisville as it prepares for a home contest against Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday.
The Cardinals (6-3) began the month with a nine-point loss at then-No. 22 Michigan State but followed that up with a solid road win within ACC play, earning a 73-68 victory at NC State.
But they struggled offensively in their latest game, losing at home to DePaul on Friday, 62-55.
Now, Louisville will hope it can get back to some consistency against Southeastern Louisiana (4-6) with in-state rivalry games at Western Kentucky and at No. 21 Kentucky looming.
Louisville shot just 31.1 percent from the field overall and 21.2 percent from 3-point range against DePaul.
Louisville head coach Chris Mack said timidness was a problem for his offense against the Blue Demons.
“I think on the offensive end, just hesitancy and just a lack of toughness with the basketball,” Mack said. “And decision-making of getting in the lane, again to draw and to collapse the defense. We’re not doing that well enough.”
Offense has been a problem for most of the season with the Cardinals, who are averaging just 69.0 points per game.
Louisville only has two players averaging in double figures, those being Noah Locke (10.7 points) and Malik Williams (10.4).
Now, Louisville will turn its attention to a Southeastern Louisiana team that is also coming off a loss.
The Lions lost 72-66 at in-state rival Southern on Saturday.
It was a disappointing result for Southeastern Louisiana, which held a 12-point lead in the first half and couldn’t build on the momentum of a road win at Troy on Dec. 5.
In that game, the Lions played for most of the contest without leading scorer Gus Okafor, but still prevailed.
“We had the next-man up mentality,” Southeastern Louisiana head coach David Kiefer said after the Troy game.
Okafor (13.5 points) returned against Southern, but only scored seven points in 27 minutes.
–Field Level Media