After a tough loss Saturday on the road to the now No. 6 Florida State Seminoles, the now No. 13 Louisville Cardinals travel to Pittsburgh for another ACC road test. The game starts at 7pm tonight and can be seen on ESPNU.
Louisville has seen Pittsburgh once already this season, a game that the Cardinals handled easily but a late Pitt surge made the score closer than the game actually was. Louisville won that game 85-80, but led by double digits for 75% of the game. That win gave Louisville its 9th straight over the Panthers, tonight they’ll look to extend that streak to double digits.
Pittsburgh came into the first meeting against the Cards with the 2 leading scorers in the ACC, they enter this game in the same situation. Forward Jamel Artis leads the ACC at 22.0 PPG and Forward Michael Young compliments his front court partner at 21.1 PPG. The first meeting, Louisville allowed Artis to get hot in the 2nd half as he poured in 43 total points for the game. Young didn’t shoot well but still added 17 points. The Cards once again will have to stop one of the two star offensive players for Pittsburgh, especially on the road.
Louisville will be without Quentin Snider (hip) for the 3rd straight game. Q is instrumental to the fluidity of the offense, however, I don’t foresee any major problems tonight. Louisville stands a 5.5-point favorite right now, but after a loss the Cards will come out hungry and win by a score of 83-70. Mitchell gets back on track, and Ray Spalding comes out of his mini-slump to put together a solid all-around night. This team is special, resilient, and not afraid of anyone, they take the next step to fulfilling their potential tonight.
Go Cards!