Louisville recovered nicely from a frustrating but understandable Wednesday night home loss to Virginia.

Indiana is now in the muck and needs to right itself in a hurry, but that's not going to be easy.

The Cardinals (12-2) had their way with the Hoosiers (10-4) on Saturday afternoon, winning 77-62 and reminding all of college basketball in the process that Rick Pitino's team should remain on the list of Final Four contenders.

Five takeaways, starting now.

1. Indiana's losing habit likely isn't stopping soon

The Hoosiers are in the midst of their toughest stretch. First came the unexpected home loss to Nebraska on Wednesday. That was a doozy. But by losing to Louisville, now look at the schedule:

Jan. 3: vs. 12-2 Wisconsin
Jan. 7: vs. 10-4 Illinois
Jan. 10: at 13-1 Maryland

Beating Wisconsin is basically a must-win for Indiana's Big Ten hopes. The Badgers and the Purdue Boilermakers are looking like early favorites to take the league, since IU blew it at home against Nebraska. Plus, Illinois isn't a really good team, but it's actually got a roster with almost as much basketball talent as Indiana. That's just a weird, tricky game sandwiched in between two very tough opponents.

Going at least 2-1 is essential to Indiana's hopes for both keeping up in the Big Ten and remaining in the rankings.

Four straight games vs. ranked teams

2. Louisville a lock to finish top-3 in defense

In the regular season, that is. The Cardinals are still the No. 1 per-possession team in the country in terms of points allowed. (This via the ever-valuable KenPom.com, which tracks teams' per-possession numbers, the truest barometer for trends, successes and failures.)

Indiana, which is a team with some of the most creative and opportunistic offensive schemes in America, was just deflated against Pitino's D. This was a clinic. The Hoosiers were 4 for 21 from 3-point range and managed just 32 percent overall from the field. Turnovers? Indiana had 14, half of them coming by way of Louisville steals.

OG Anunoby, who you see with a big-time dunk in the video above, led IU with 14 points, but just two Hoosiers managed double digits. And Anas Mahmoud in the middle for the Cardinals gives this team a great dynamic. They can run, get "in your shirt," as Bill Raftery said on the broadcast, but also have really good presence and rim protection.

3. Most important outcome: Donovan Mitchell

Almost everything he did was right on Saturday. Louisville's sophomore shooting guard, who I think is its most important player, scored a career-high 25 points.

Coming off the bench.

Pitino hit the right buttons. See, in the postgame interview, Pitino told Raftery that he threatened Mitchell with not being a starter, and he also told him to stop counting his misses -- to count his makes instead. All of it worked. Mitchell, who has been way too into his mediocre 3-point stroke, was 4-of-8 from deep, but all but one of those attempts were open and/or in the flow of the offense.

This is a big piece for Louisville. If Donovan can get his shot selection in order and keep his confidence, the team is good enough to be top-five in the country.

4. Hoosiers fans, trust the offense

Indiana's got too much talent and personnel to think the sky should be falling. Now, it's been an uneasy swing from 8-1 to 10-4, but before you IU honks starting totally freaking out, remember: The offense will steady.

The defense isn't awful, either. Indiana is still a team capable, on its best days, to beat any team in America. Kansas and North Carolina have fallen victim already.

I do think it's going to take one more win against a top-15/20 team (Wisconsin, you're up next) to soothe the feelings of Indiana fans. There's some fretting out there, but I still like what this group has on the whole. It's not all figured out, but selling your IU stock right now wouldn't be a good move. Let's assess one more time come mid-January.

Teams that take care of the ball (Indiana does) and are really good in the paint (Indiana is) don't lose those traits midway through the season.

5. Overall, an important 10-day stretch for Cards

In a span of 10 days Louisville has gone 2-1 against Kentucky, Virginia and Indiana. All ranked teams, all teams (even Indiana still) with realistic goals of playing in Phoenix at this season's Final Four.

And Louisville went 2-1.

Cardinals fans would've taken that rather than chance it otherwise. No question. That's the big picture for the Cards. You get a quality nonconference win on a neutral here, and with that, Louisville still has a top 10 resume in America. Now you head back into ACC play with road games against Notre Dame and Georgia Tech next.

Now you can see why Saturday's win was all the more important. Going 2-0 in that stretch isn't a given. (Georgia Tech just shockingly beat UNC on Saturday!) The ACC is a gauntlet this season, and losses will come. Getting to 12-2 gives Louisville some insurance, and anyway, with this defense? I think Pitino's team will be, at absolute worst, fourth-best in the ACC this season.