Cardinals play Pitt in the first of a two game road stint
Date: Feb. 24, 2016
Time: 8:05 p.m.
Site: Peterson Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pa. (12,508)
Television: ACC Network (WAVE-TV in Louisville) – Mike Gleason, play-by-play; Cory Alexander, analyst
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Doug Ormay, analyst (Sirius channel 132, XM 195)
Series History: UofL leads 11-5 (7-1 in Louisville, 4-1 in Pittsburgh, 0-3 neutral)
Last Meeting: Louisville 59, Pitt 41 (Jan. 14, 2016 at KFC Yum! Center)
UofL National Ranking: 11th Associated Press
Officials: Jamie Luckie, Les Jones, Michael Stephens
Next UofL Game: Feb. 27 at Miami, Miami, Fla., 2 p.m. ET (ACC Network)
Louisville plays three of its last four games on the road beginning with the first of two straight away from home on Wednesday at the Pittsburgh Panthers. Louisville prevailed 71-64 over then No. 20/19 Duke on Feb. 20 in the KFC Yum! Center as Damion Lee led the Cardinals with 24 points and four steals, scoring 19 points in the second half. Louisville recovered from a 13 point deficit in the second half and closed the game on a 30-12 run.
The Cardinals are led by two players averaging double figures, Damion Lee leads the duo of top scorers with 16.8 points per game. Trey Lewis ranks second on the team in scoring with 12.1 per game. Chinanu Onuaku leads the team in rebounding with 8.7 per game while averaging 9.7 points per game. Quentin Snider also leads the team in assists with 3.6 per game while averaging 9.3 points.
As a team, the Cardinals are shooting 47.8 percent from the field while holding opponents to 38.3 percent shooting. Louisville leads the nation in scoring margin, defeating opponents by an average of 16.6 points per game. The Cards are also averaging 39.5 rebounds and 13.7 assists per game.
Pitt (19-7, 8-6 ACC) won 66-52 at Syracuse on Feb. 20 as Jamel Artis had 21 points, 11 rebounds and four assists for the Panthers. Pitt outrebounded Syracuse 43-23 in the game and limited the Orange to 37.3 percent shooting from the field.
Junior forward Michael Young leads Pitt in scoring (16.3 ppg, 11th in the ACC, 24 double figure scoring games this season), rebounding (7.0 rpg, 13th ACC) and field goal percentage (.536, 5th ACC). Pitt ranks 10th in the nation in free throw percentage (.761), seventh in assists (18.0) and is 11th in assist/turnover ratio (1.54), and is 36th in the ratings percentage index (RPI) and 34th in the Sagarin Ratings through Feb. 20.
Louisville has an 11-5 advantage in its series with Pittsburgh, winning the last seven matchups. The Cardinals prevailed 59-41 earlier this year in the KFC Yum! Center (1-14-16) as Damion Lee and Chinanu Onuaku each scored 18 points to lead the Cardinals. Three of the UofL losses to Pitt came in Big East Conference Tournaments in its first three years in the league.
CARD FILE:
- Louisville has won 20 games for the 14th straight season. The Cardinals are one of four schools to have won 20 or more games each of the past 14 seasons (also Kansas, Duke and Gonzaga).
- Chinanu Onuaku was honored on the CoSIDA Academic All-District team, one of four ACC players with the recognition. He has nine double-doubles in ACC play, including 10 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots in his last game vs. Duke.
- Louisville’s academic performance in the 2015 fall semester was impressive, with 13 of 15 men’s basketball student-athletes achieving a 3.0 or better grade point average. The Cardinals posted a collective 3.36 GPA for the 2015 fall semester, just short of the team record of 3.47 achieved in 2013.
- Louisville’s 144 victories over the last five years are the second-most wins in the nation in that stretch.
- UofL leads the nation in scoring margin (+16.6), is seventh in scoring defense (60.8), eighth in field goal percentage defense (.383), 12th in rebound margin (+8.4) and 13th in offensive rebounds (14.0).
- With four games remaining, Damion Lee needs 26 points to reach 2,000 for his career, including his three seasons at Drexel. Trey Lewis needs nine points for 1,500 career points, including his time at Penn State and Cleveland State. Lee has scored in double figures in 24 of his 26 games this season while Lewis has 18 double-digit scoring efforts.
