Louisville moved up in the rankings to 13th because of a great week with wins against North Carolina and Boston College. But two days after drubbing the Eagles, they had to travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on the Duke Blue Devils. Duke has been struggling all season but they are still extremely talented and have one of the best freshman in the country with Brandon Ingram. Grayson Allen though, came alive for the Blue Devils tonight and Louisville’s Damion Lee struggled. Here’s the major Louisville points in their loss tonight against Coach K and Duke.

Donovan Mitchell is primed for big minutes

Damion Lee is usually expected to be the leading scorer for the Cardinals every time they step on the floor. But he was off tonight, not making a single three-point basket as he went 0/5 from deep. Off the bench, it was freshman Donovan Mitchell who sparked the Louisville team. He went 7/11 from the field and 2/3 from the three-point line. He’s usually the one guy that defenses leave open from that far because he only shoots 25 percent. But he tries to humiliate people by trying to dunk over every defender in his path. He was aggressive the entire game and looked like the only guy who could do anything against Duke. Mitchell needs to be named a starter the rest of the season and it’s hard to argue with it.

Grayson Allen can lead this Duke team in March

There are barely a handful of shooting guards better than Grayson Allen in the country. He scored 19 points, shot 4/6 from beyond the arc, and played 39 minutes. Allen seemed to have a solid defensive presence as well holding Lee to 10 points. But there was one play that should get the sophomore suspended or more. He tripped a Louisville player when he was on the ground, the trip lead to a flagrant foul called on Allen. That was totally unnecessary for Allen who was already having a great game. If Duke will form any type of special run in March, Allen will be the one to lead them to the promise land.

Game Rewind

Duke lead for most of the game around the Cameron Crazies but there was one point when Louisville looked to be locked back in and focused. They went on a 13-0 run to get the lead to 44-43 but Duke eventually threw a punch of theirs back. Spalding played great for UofL but the team still looks too young and the offense is most of the time not clicking. Duke got their first win of the season against a ranked opponent. (Sounds weird saying that in February right?)