Osama Mahmoud doesn't typically talk to his son, Anas, about basketball. They talk about school and family as their lives unfold 6,200 miles apart, with Anas in college at the University of Louisville and Osama and the Mahmouds home in Cairo, Egypt.

The basketball? It takes care of itself.

But the elder Mahmoud, after watching Anas struggle in Louisville's 85-80 win over Pittsburgh on Wednesday, noticed something off about his son, something worth breaking off their usual conversation path. Anas was thinking too much about his missed shots, his dad said, and he was not playing with his usual amusement and zest.

"He said, 'You didn't play as well as you did the last three or four games because you weren't having fun,'" the younger Mahmoud said after Saturday's 78-69 win over Duke. "'That's not you. You've always been the kid who doesn't really care what happens in the game. You always have fun.'"

Mahmoud enjoyed totaling career-highs in points (17) and rebounds (11) while helping 15th-ranked U of L top No. 7 Duke in front of a rowdy 22,686 at the KFC Yum! Center. He did it with his usual merriment, pumping his fist and smiling after a big play on multiple occasions as Louisville won its third consecutive ACC game.

"I think today was the most fired up I've ever been after Georgia Tech last year," Mahmoud said, referring to the previous game in which he notched his career-high in scoring.

Mahmoud also had two steals and a block on Saturday, extending his streak of games with at least one block to 18. The last time Mahmoud didn't block a shot in a game was Jan. 30, 2016, when Louisville lost to Virginia. He has swatted 46 shots over his last 18 games.

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The Duke game might not have seen the typical block production Mahmoud has put up in recent games, but his rejection of Jayson Tatum a few minutes into the first half was the jump-start the junior center needed to know Saturday would be a good day.

Especially, Mahmoud said, after he woke up tired and early at 8 a.m.

"The first possession, if I'm there blocking shots and on time, then I know that I'm focused in," Mahmoud said. "I didn't block as many shots today, but I deflected a lot of balls, and I know that every time they see me they're just going to miss the shot. That's all we need to do: Be there, get the rebound and go on the break."

Pitino raved about Mahmoud after the win, saying he's "just going to keep getting better and better" as he plays more games and adds weight to his 223-pound frame.

The Cards had 25 deflections in the second half, Pitino said, and Mahmoud was a key factor in that.

Mahmoud's teammates said they weren't surprised by his performance: Since Pitino inserted Mahmoud into the Cards' starting lineup for the Indiana game on Dec. 31, the center has averaged 9.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.8 blocks and 1.4 steals per game and has made 19-of-33 shots from the field, or 57.6 percent.

"Everybody has shown what they can do in practice and it was just a matter of time before it came out in a game," said Donovan Mitchell, who scored 15 points. "He couldn’t have picked a better time to do it. He kept playing the way he was playing the whole year in practice."

To get there and find that moxie after Wednesday's frustration, Mahmoud had to tap back into what makes him a unique figure in Louisville's locker room. He is always an entertaining conversationalist, and there is a college kid vibe to everything he does.

He is the team's most dominant player in the EA Sports video game, "FIFA," and he lets his teammates know about it. Mahmoud is so good at "FIFA," Mitchell said in October, that Mitchell ran around the room screaming when he finally beat his Egyptian teammate in a game.

Mahmoud didn't start playing basketball thinking it would be a career or that it would take him to top-flight Division I college hoops.

He started playing because he was tall and he enjoyed having something competitive and fun to do.

But he got away from that a little bit on Wednesday, at least in his dad's eyes. After all, parents have a way of seeing those things in their children.

"Hopefully he watched a little bit today," Mahmoud said, "and he'll be proud of me."