Pitino Previews Saturday's Game against Charlotte
December 04, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2009
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville men's basketball head coach Rick Pitino and senior guard Chris Brickley met with members of the media on Friday at the Yum! Center to preview Saturday's game against Charlotte. The Cards and 49ers will tip off at 7:00 p.m. ET at Freedom Hall and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
Louisville remains home for the second of eight straight games. U of L won its fifth game in six tries as the Cardinals beat Stetson 80-48 in Freedom Hall on Wednesday as seniors Edgar Sosa and Jerry Smith both surpassed 1,000 career points. Samardo Samuels is pouring in a team-high 16.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. Sosa is adding 14.0 points and 3.67 assists, while Smith is chipping in with 9.7 points.
Charlotte (5-1) is off to its best start since 2000-01, when it started 6-1. The 49ers won 80-68 over East Carolina in Charlotte on Wednesday as Dijuan Harris totaled a team-high 17 points and six assists. Junior forward Shamari Spears is the reigning Atlantic 10 co-Player of the Week. He averaged 27 points and five rebounds while shooting 22-of-28 from the field in a pair of victories in the DICK's Sporting Goods NIT season tipoff. The A-10 scoring leader with a 24.3 scoring average, Spears has scored 20 or more points in each of his four games this season. Charlotte is no. 110 in the early Sagarin Ratings through games of Dec. 3.
Louisville has a 16-15 series edge over Charlotte and has won four of the last five games. In the last meeting, ninth-ranked U of L beat the 18th ranked 49ers 94-82 in Freedom Hall on March 3, 2005.
GAME FACTS - Louisville (5-1) vs. Charlotte (5-1)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 5
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Site: Crum Court / Freedom Hall (18,865), Louisville, Ky. (UofL 673-137 all-time in Freedom Hall)
TV: ESPNU will televise the game with Mike Gleason (play-by-play) and Mark Gottfried (analyst)
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) with Paul Rogers (play-by-play) and Bob Valvano (analyst)
SIRIUS: SIRIUS Satellite Radio Ch. 121
Series History: U of L leads 16-15 all-time (10-5 in Louisville, 6-7 in Charlotte, 0-3 neutral)
National Ranking: U of L is ranked 18th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll and 20th in the Associated Press Poll this week; Charlotte is unranked.
Officials: John Cahill, Pat Driscoll, Earl Walton
Next U of L Game: Dec. 12 vs. Western Carolina, 4:07 p.m. ET (WHAS-TV)
