CARDINALS

Instant Analysis | U of L vs. UNC WIlmington

Jeff Greer

Louisville Courier Journal

University of Louisville's Terry Rozier (0) dunks the ball over top UNC Wilmington's Freddie Jackson (10) during the first half of play at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. December 14, 2014.

Louisville held off a more-than-game UNC Wilmington on Sunday, edging past the Seahawks 68-57 at the KFC Yum! Center. Here are three quick thoughts from the game:

Quentin Snider's big minutes. Freshman point guard Quentin Snider played quite a bit on Sunday, and it didn't appear to be for any injury reasons. Chris Jones was substituted at the 6:10 mark of the first half and sat the rest of the first period. He began the second half on the bench, too, with Snider starting in his place. Jones didn't return until the 15:30 mark.

Game Rewind:Scroll back through the highs and lows of U of L-UNC Wilmington

Snider, a Louisville native who played all of two minutes against Indiana, played well in Jones's place, though he had the up-and-down moments that are expected with his playing style. He drove to the basket and carved out a bucket on one possession, then threw an outlet pass into orbit on the next. Still, has to be confidence-building thing for him to play so much in a (relatively) close game.

Another rough shooting night. Louisville's had quite a few shooting struggles this season, and Sunday was no different. U of L coach Rick Pitino kept pointing to ball movement, passing and spacing as the symptoms that've infected his team's offense, and they popped up again on Sunday. The high screens to initiate the offense were sloppy and ineffectual in the first half, and there was a lot of standing around on the perimeter. They did seem to get it together in the second half, but that came more from getting out and running, which is how they built an eight-point halftime lead, too. The halfcourt offense, it seems, is still a work in progress.

Six days off. The good news, if you're Rick Pitino, is that Louisville has almost a week off before it takes on WKU next Saturday. The pace favored U of L against Indiana on Tuesday, but the Cardinals couldn't replicate the turnover creation or tempo against UNC Wilmington, and that exposed the halfcourt offense issues that came out earlier this week. Louisville needs to get back into those concerns during practice this week.