Louisville short-handed in backcourt

Starting junior point guard Quintin Snider injured his hip and is expected out for another week and a half. He was averaging 12.1 points and 4.0 assists per game, but the Cardinals have gone 2-1 in his absence. Graduate senior Tony Hicks, a Pennsylvania transfer, then injured his hand in the Cardinals’ last game against Pittsburgh on Tuesday, 106-51 victory.

Louisville is essentially down to four guards, which does include an experienced walk-on. The Cardinals do have six players 6-7 or bigger, including five post players.

Backcourt: The injuries have put more responsibility on Mitchell, and McMahon is now going to have to emerge after being a seldom-used reserve.

Freshman wing V.J. King and senior David Levitch provide depth.

Mitchell exploded for 29 points and shot 6 of 8 from three-point land in the last game against Pittsburgh. The long-range outburst helped push his three-point shooting percentage to 35.2 percent, and he’s shooting 39.5 percent from the field.

The muscular and athletic Mitchell has scored at least 12 points in 10 out of the last 12 games. He has cracked at least 20 points four times during that stretch.

McMahon was a well-known three-point marksman in high school, and lived up to that reputation by shooting 5 of 7 from beyond the arc for 15 points, plus five assists against Pittsburgh. He has tried 31 three-pointers this season (41.9 percent) and just four two-pointers. The Pitt game was fourth time this season he played at least 10 minutes.

The 6-6, 190-pound King, who lived in Charlotte at one point and was offered by NC State, is averaging 6.0 points and 2.2 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per game. He is shooting 11 of 27 from three-point land (40.7 percent), and he had 14 points in 22 minutes in the 92-60 win over Clemson on Jan. 19. King scored a season-high 17 points and five rebounds, and shot 3 of 3 on three-pointers in a 91-58 win over William & Mary on Nov. 14. King has cracked double figures in five contests this season.

The 6-3, 180-pound Levitch isn’t the normal walk-on. He had nine points, three rebounds and three assists in 23 minutes in the 73-68 loss at Florida State on Jan. 21, to help fill in for the injured Snider.

Levitch has played at least 10 minutes in nine games this season, and is averaging 2.3 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.

Frontcourt: Adel is Louisville’s second-leading healthy scorer and brings enough size to the position where he’d be a small ball power forward at other programs.

Similar to Mitchell, he is shooting just 39.4 percent from the field and 31.5 percent on three-pointers. However, since Snider got injured, he has shot 14 of 27 from the field and 4 of 9 on three-pointers en route to a combined 40 points the last three games.

Adel has scored a career-high 18 points in two different games — against Clemson and in the 73-70 win over Kentucky on Dec. 21. He also had 12 points and 12 rebounds for his lone double-double in a 74-51 win over Southern Illinois on Dec. 7. Adel has cracked double figures in 13 contests this season, which has easily surpassed the four times he achieved that a year ago.

Johnson and Mahmoud, who were both offered by NC State, are part of a deep rotation. Johnson has started 16 games, senior center Mangok Mathiang has 13 starts, Mahmoud has eight starts and sophomore Ray Spalding has five. A fifth post player, 7-0, 240-pounder Matz Stockman of Norway, has appeared in 14 games.

Johnson has made a nice jump this season after averaging 5.0 points and 3.5 rebounds a year ago. He is shooting a blistering 59.8 percent from the field this season, and he has three double-doubles. Johnson opened the season with 19 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks in a 78-47 win over Evansville on Nov. 11. He added nine points, 10 rebounds and six blocks against Southern Illinois.

Mahmoud is a gifted shot-blocker and erupted for 17 points, 11 rebounds and a block in 26 minutes to help the Cardinals top Duke 78-69 on Jan. 14 in his lone double-double. He has blocked at least three shots in six games, including six against both Notre Dame on Jan. 4 and Wichita State on Nov. 24.

Mahmoud, who has cracked double figures in five games, is shooting 64.9 percent from the field. He missed three games with an injury Dec. 3-10.

The 6-10, 230-pound Mathiang, who is from Australia, missed a part of last year due to injury. He is averaging 6.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.

Mathiang has come alive the last three games, combining for 34 points, 30 rebounds and four blocks. He had 13 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks, which is his lone double-double, in the loss against FSU. Mathiang has scored at least 10 points in seven games, including a season-high 15 against Southern Illinois.

The 6-10, 215-pound Spalding is full of upside, and he is averaging 6.1 points and 5.5 rebounds in 19.4 minutes per game, coming in mostly off the bench. He is shooting 61.2 percent from the field and has scored at least 10 points in six games, and he has grabbed at least seven points in six contests. Spalding had a season-high 14 points at Grand Canyon, and 11 points and eight rebounds in the 85-80 win vs. Pittsburgh on Jan. 11.