Louisville-Northern Kentucky Men's Basketball Postgame Notes

Oct. 31, 2010

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The Louisville victory extended the Cardinals' winning streak in exhibition contests to 22 games, dating back to an 87-86 double-overtime loss to the Global Sports All-Stars on Dec. 2, 2000. U of L has emerged victorious in 28 of its last 29 exhibition games and has won its exhibition opener in each of the past 14 seasons.

The Cardinals had 11 players register at least one point against Northern Kentucky, the 22nd consecutive exhibition game in which Louisville has had eight or more scorers. In 17 of those games, the Cardinals had at least 10 players score at least one point, including all 15 who played in U of L's 93-68 victory over Kentucky Wesleyan on Nov. 19, 2006. The last occurrence of less than eight scorers for Louisville coincides with the Cardinals' last exhibition defeat, as six players found the net in U of L's aforementioned loss to the Global Sports All-Stars in 2000.

Louisville improves to 2-0 all-time versus Northern Kentucky (both in exhibition matchups), also defeating the Norse in Highland Heights, Ky., on Nov. 8, 2008. Samardo Samuels led the Cardinals with 29 points on 10-of-11 shooting in that game, as U of L shot 59.6 percent from the floor and 58.3 percent from behind the arc, including marks of 83.3 percent and 64.3 percent, respectively, in the second half (which the Cards closed out on a 39-20 run).

NKU falls to 0-16 against Division I opponents in exhibition games since 2001, facing Cincinnati eight times, Xavier three times, Louisville twice, and Dayton, Kentucky, and Ohio State once each.

The Cardinals improved to 113-7 (including exhibition games) in the Pitino era when scoring 80 or more points. U of L has now reached the 80-point plateau in nine of its past 10 exhibition contests.

Sophomore Rakeem Buckles began right where he left off after dropping 20 points (with nine rebounds) on 10-of-11 shooting against California in just 19 minutes in the NCAA Tournament, scoring eight points in the first 3:41 of Sunday's game. He finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds and made all five of his free throws.

Sophomore Mike Marra nailed three three-pointers in the game, tying for the most by a U of L player in exhibition play since Taquan Dean hit five and Francisco Garcia made four on Nov. 23, 2003, against the Asheville Altitude.

The Cardinals held the Norse to just 25 first-half points, the fewest for a U of L exhibition opponent since Dec. 7, 2004, when Louisville outscored Lindsey Wilson 37-24 in the first stanza of a 78-48 victory. The 21-point halftime lead is the largest for Cardinals in any exhibition game over the last 10 seasons.

The Norse canned 12 three-pointers and shot 42.9 percent from distance in the first meeting between the two squads, but NKU was just 2-for-17 (.118) from behind the arc in the first half of Sunday's game. Tony Rack, who led the GLVC by shooting 52.1 percent from three last year, was 0-for-3. NKU did make four of five to begin the second half, finishing the game 9-for-27 (.333).

Both freshman Gorgui Dieng (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Buckles notched double-doubles, marking the sixth time in the last 12 seasons the Cards have had two players with double-doubles in an exhibition game. The last occurrence came exactly three seasons ago, when Earl Clark (12 points, 12 rebounds) and Terrence Williams (23 points, 11 rebounds) teamed up to accomplish the feat.

Dieng, current junior Jared Swopshire, and former Cardinal Derrick Caracter are the only three U of L players in the last seven seasons to collect double-doubles in their freshman exhibition debuts. Swopshire had 14 points and 11 rebounds on Nov. 1, 2008, against Georgetown College, while Caracter picked up 25 points and 11 rebounds on the same date against the same team two years earlier.

Louisville held a 31-13 rebounding advantage in the first half and a +29 (55-26) margin for the game, the largest differential for U of L in an exhibition game since Dec. 11, 2002, when the Cardinals outrebounded One World 56-23; the 55 rebounds for the Cards were also the most since that game. Louisville is averaging 50.0 rebounds over its past three exhibition contests.

Northern Kentucky had three of its first four shots in the game rejected by the Cardinal defense. Louisville finished with seven blocks in the contest, the most by a Louisville squad in an exhibition game since Oct. 29, 2007. The Cardinals' six first-half three-point goals were also the most since that date.

Sophomore Peyton Siva collected five or more assists for the second time in three career exhibition games--he also had eight in last season's victory over Georgetown College.

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