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Louisville-FIU Postgame Notes
December 01, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery 
TEAM
- The Cardinals improve to 5-0 for the second time in the last 14 seasons, also winning their first five games in 2005-06 (6-0 start). Louisville last had a season-opening win streak of longer than six games in 1996-97, when that year's team began 10-0. The school record for victories to open a season is 13, achieved in three different seasons (1960-61, 1966-67, 1974-75).
- Louisville improves to 77-44 all-time against current members of the Sun Belt Conference. The Cards will play two other SBC teams this year in South Alabama (home on Dec. 4) and Western Kentucky (away on Dec. 22).
- FIU was the first of two first-time opponents for Louisville this year, as the Cards have also never faced Gardner-Webb (home on Dec. 18).
- The Cards improve to 101-7 in the Rick Pitino era when scoring 80 or more points and 82-6 when shooting 50.0 percent or better from the floor.
- The Cardinals have now reached the 80-point mark in four of the season's first five games, the first time they have done that since 2004-05. Louisville last had five 80-point outings in the season's first six contests in 2002-03.
- Louisville is in the midst of a school record-tying streak of 10 consecutive home games. The longest stretches of home games in Cardinal history:
Most consecutive home games, Louisville history
1. 10 - 11.16.10-12.18.10
1. 10 - 12.8.06-12.30.06
3. 8 - 12.2.09-12.30.09
3. 8 - 12.1.01-12.26.01
3. 8 - 12.6.75-1.3.76
3. 8 - 12.3.66-12.23.66
3. 8 - 2.22.61-12.6.61
8. 7 - 12.14.04-1.2.05
8. 7 - 12.16.78-1.8.79
8. 7 - 12.10.59-12.29.59
8. 7 - 2.16.46-12.7.46
- U of L's 10 made three-pointers in the game extend its streak of consecutive games with 5+ threes made to 25. The streak is the fifth-longest active one in the nation, bested only by VMI (77), Northern Colorado (36), Chattanooga (32), and Weber State (29), while Canisius and Eastern Kentucky are tied with the Cards at 25. St. Mary's (44) and Ole Miss (40) had 40+-game streaks snapped earlier this season.
- The Cards notched 10 or more steals for the fifth straight game, the longest streak by a Louisville team since the 1995-96 team collected double-digit thefts in seven straight contests. It is also the longest streak to open a season for the Cardinals since at least the 1985-86 campaign.
Consecutive games with 10+ steals, since 1986-87
1. 7 - 11.26.95-12.16.95 (11-14-14-16-11-11-10)
2. 5 - 11.16.10-Present (11-10-19-11-12)
2. 5 - 3.4.09-3.14.09 (12-11-16-12-15)
2. 5 - 1.11.92-1.25.92 (10-11-10-13-11)
2. 5 - 3.17.90-12.15.90 (11-10-10-13-13)
6. 4 - 1.19.05-1.29.05 (11-11-10-20)
6. 4 - 1.17.04-1.28.04 (14-11-11-13)
6. 4 - 1.11.97-1.23.97 (15-11-10-12)
- Louisville's current steal average of 12.6 per game would shatter the school's season record if it holds up. The club record is 10.2 (1994-95).
- U of L is currently second in the nation in steals per game, trailing only the Oregon State Beavers (14.2). After another monster individual effort (see notes on Gorgui Dieng below), the Cards are also fourth in Division I in blocks per game (7.8), behind only Florida State (8.6), Northwestern State (8.1) and Wake Forest (8.0).
- U of L notched double-digit blocks in back-to-back games (11 against Marshall and 10 against FIU) for the first time since Dec. 8-10, 1988 (10 each against Western Kentucky and Dayton). The Cards have not had 10+ blocks in three straight contests since at least 1985-86.
- The Cardinals opened the game on a 13-0 run, keeping the Golden Panthers off the board for the first 4:44 of the game. FIU did not sink a field goal until the scoreboard read 13:07 in the first half, beginning the game 0-for-7 from the floor (with eight turnovers during that time).
- Immediately after Jeremy Allen hit FIU's first basket, the Cards went on another run, this one 10-0 over the next 4:14.
- The Golden Panthers' 15 first-half points were the fewest by a U of L foe since Dec. 30, 1998, when Morgan State had 14 first-half points (to Louisville's 46) in the Cards' 95-47 victory.
- The 33-point halftime lead for Louisville was its largest since opening up a 52-15 lead at the break against East Carolina on Jan. 19, 2005.
- Louisville limited FIU to just six assists in the game, the fewest for a Cardinal opponent since South Alabama had five on Nov. 23, 2008 (81-54 U of L victory).
PLAYER
- One game after junior Terrence Jennings had the most blocks (six) by a Cardinal player in almost seven years, freshman Gorgui Dieng bested that mark with seven against FIU, tying for the seventh-most blocks in a game in Louisville history.
Blocks in a game, Louisville history
1. 11 - Samaki Walker - 1.1.95
2. 10 - Charles Jones - 2.22.83
3. 9 - Kendall Dartez - 12.7.03
3. 9 - Pervis Ellison - 2.28.87
5. 8 - Pervis Ellison - 12.8.88
5. 8 - Billy Thompson - 2.10.86
7. 7 - Gorgui Dieng - 12.1.10
7. 7 - Beau Zach Smith - 1.21.96
7. 7 - Beau Zach Smith - 12.6.95
7. 7 - Samaki Walker - 1.19.95
7. 7 - Samaki Walker - 1.7.95
7. 7 - Pervis Ellison - 3.5.88
7. 7 - Pervis Ellison - 11.30.86
7. 7 - Charles Jones - 12.17.83
- Dieng's block total tied for the second-most ever by a U of L freshman, as Walker was a first-year player when he set the school mark in 1994-95.
Blocks in a game by a freshman, Louisville history
1. 11 - Samaki Walker - 1.1.95
2. 7 - Gorgui Dieng - 12.1.10
2. 7 - Samaki Walker - 1.19.95
2. 7 - Samaki Walker - 1.7.95
- Dieng became the second Cardinal in as many games to block six shots in a half, as he collected six of his seven stuffs in the second half after Jennings recorded all six of his blocks in the first stanza on Nov. 27. Even more remarkably, all six of Dieng's second-half rejections came in the game's final 7:13, including five in a span of 4:03.
- The 6-10 freshman also went 6-for-7 from the floor and notched a career-best 15 points in the game. He nearly doubled his point total for the season, having scored 16 points through the Cards' first four games.
- Sophomore Rakeem Buckles surpassed his career best by dishing out three assists in the game.
- After going 26 straight games without a seven-rebound effort, Buckles now has five in his last six games (including last season's finale) after grabbing eight on Wednesday night.
- Freshman Russ Smith returned from injury and made his Louisville debut in the contest, notching four points with a pair of steals in eight minutes of action.
