Men's Basketball Returns Home to Host Pitt on Wednesday Night

GAME 17
Date: Jan. 11, 2017
Time: 7:05 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,000) (107-15 in 7th year)
Television: Regional Sports Networks/Fox Sports South in Louisville - Tim Brando, play-by-play; Dan Bonner, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) - Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 81, XM 81, Internet 81)
Series History: UofL leads 12-5 (7-1 in Louisville, 5-1 in Pittsburgh, 0-3 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 67, Pittsburgh 60 (Feb. 24, 2016 in Pittsburgh, Pa.)
UofL National Ranking: 15th USA Today, 14th Associated Press
Officials: Roger Ayers, Michael Roberts, Michael Stephens
Next UofL Game: Jan. 14 vs. Duke, KFC Yum! Center, noon ET (ESPN)

Louisville will play its first of three straight in the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals face the Pittsburgh Panthers on Wednesday. Louisville won for the eighth time in its last 10 games in winning 65-50 at Georgia Tech last Saturday for the Cardinals' first ACC victory of the season. Donovan Mitchell led UofL with 20 points -- his third straight game with 20 or more points -- and added four assists and three blocked shots while hitting a career-best 5-of-7 three-pointers.

Sophomore Donovan Mitchell leads three Cardinals who are averaging double figures. Mitchell is averaging 13.4 points per game and 4.9 rebounds. Quentin Snider ranks second on the team in scoring with 11.4 points per game along with a team leading 61 assists. Deng Adel rounds out the top scorers with 10.4 points per game. Jaylen Johnson leads the Cardinals on the boards with 6.9 rebounds per game.

As a team, the Cardinals are shooting 43.3 percent from the field and 33.7 percent from behind the arc. UofL is averaging 41.6 rebounds per game while holding opponents to 35.7 rebounds a game.

Pitt (12-4, 1-2 ACC) has won six of its last eight games, but fell 77-66 at Syracuse in its last game as Syracuse shot 52.9 percent from the field, including connecting on 14-of-27 three-pointers. The Panthers split their two ACC home games to date, winning 88-76 in overtime over No. 11 Virginia on Jan. 4 and falling 78-77 to No. 23 Notre Dame on Dec. 31.

The Panthers, which have four senior starters, are 27^th in the nation in assists turnovers ratio (1.37), 41st in scoring
offense (81.3 ppg) and 33rd in free throws made (18.2 per game). Pitt is one of three schools with two players averaging over 20 points in Michael Young (22.3 ppg, 10th in the nation) and Jamel Artis (21.5, 17th in the nation), the top two scorers in the ACC. Artis leads the ACC in three-point percentage (.457, 42-of-92, 19th in nation) and has made 15-of-24 in three ACC games (.625).

Louisville has a 12-5 series advantage over Pittsburgh and the Cardinals have won the last eight matchups. The teams met twice last year, with Louisville winning 59-41 in Louisville as the Cardinals limited the Panthers to 28.6 percent shooting from the field (1-14-16); and UofL prevailed 67-60 in Pittsburgh as Louisville flipped a 48-40 deficit by closing the game with a 27-12 run, connecting on all nine of its field goals in that stretch (2-24-16).

CARD FILE

Louisville posted a collective 3.18 grade point average for the recently completed 2016 fall semester, with 10 men's basketball student-athletes achieving a 3.0 or better GPA.
Louisville is second in the nation in blocked shots (6.9 bpg). UofL had 12 blocks at Ga. Tech.
Louisville has won at least 13 of its first 16 games for the seventh straight season. The Cards' best start in that stretch was 16-1 during UofL's 2012-13 NCAA Championship year.
Donovan Mitchell is tied for the ACC lead and is 23rd in the nation in steals (2.2 per game). He had five steals at Notre Dame, the second-most of his career. His 35 steals in 16 games is 10 more than he had his entire freshman year.
Louisville has a 34-16 record during the month of January over the last seven years, including a 18-7 record in the last four years.
Louisville has a 29-8 record in its conference home games over the last five years (.784), including an 8-1 record last season in ACC games in the KFC Yum! Center.
UofL Coach Rick Pitino, who has a 404-137 record in his 16th season at Louisville, won his 400th victory with the Cardinals on Dec. 10. He won his 750th career collegiate victory when the Cards beat Wichita State on Nov. 24. He is one of five active coaches with at least 750 victories.
Louisville's 159 victories over the last six years are the fifth-most wins in the nation in that stretch. The Cards are one of just three teams to win at least 30 games in three of the last five seasons (30-10 in 2011-12, 35-5 in '12-13, 31-6 in '13-14).
Louisville is one of just four schools which have won 20 or more games in each of the last 14 seasons (also Kansas, Duke and Gonzaga).

Men's Basketball Returns Home to Host Pitt on Wednesday Night

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Players Mentioned

Deng Adel

Jaylen Johnson

Donovan Mitchell

Quentin Snider

University of Louisville Athletics