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Mike James has a career outing in Louisville’s season-opening win
Mike James recorded his first career double-double in Louisville’s win over UMBC
Louisville redshirt sophomore Mike James was an absolute need in the team’s season opener on Monday night. Hosting UMBC in front of 11,010 at the KFC Yum! Center, the Cardinals received a double-double outing from James to lead UofL to a 94-93 victory.
Playing a team-high 33 minutes, James logged career highs with 25 points and 10 rebounds for the first ever double-double at the college level. Additionally, he drew eight fouls and committed just one turnover while recording an assist.
“Mike James, I say it all the time – if you have eight Mike James, you don’t lose,” UofL head coach Kenny Payne said after the win. “His will, his fight – it’s not about his talent, it’s about his work ethic, his professionalism, coming in every day, just fighting to get a win and fighting to get better.”
James ability to score came from different levels. While he missed on a trio of three-point attempts, the 6-foot-5 wing frequently attacked the rim. He finished 6 of 12 from the field, while hitting 13 of 14 free throw attempts. His near perfect outing at the charity stripe made him just the fifth Louisville player all time to make 13 free throws with no more than one miss.
“I just say it is playing hard,” James said of his outing. “I can’t pinpoint it on anything, just trying to get to get to the lane. Get some layups and playing hard. They were fouling a lot. So, we just kept driving them, and they are smaller defenders so we can take advantage of that. Just had to get up to the line and knock down my free throws.”
Payne has often mentioned the need to push his players for more in differing factors, both in practice and in games. Mike James is not one of those players.
“You don’t really have to say anything to guys like Mike James,” Payne said. “They have love for winning. They have a love for competing. Mike James is very astute. He watches everything. He sees everything. He is listening to everything. He has a will to win. To be honest with you, he understands the situation that we are in. He understands how bad this community wants to win. He understands how much, even for me, winning is important. He sees it every day. I don’t have to talk about it with him. He already sees and knows. I just have to make sure he trusts himself and not second guess himself. I don’t care if he goes 0-6, I really don’t. I need his heart and I need the way he cares about his teammates, and I need his fight. If you shoot the ball well, great. If you don’t, you still impact winning with your spirit.”
The Cardinals needed to overcome a 13-point first-half deficit to squeeze out the one-point victory.
“I feel like it was good for us because playing in the first game and coming down to crunch time – learning how to play in those situations is always good for a team,” James said. “So, I’m glad that we went through that. If we put two halfs together like we did in the second half, I think we can come out with more and more dominant victories.”
Up next for Louisville is a home game against Chattanooga on Friday evening.
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