.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
Louisville-Kentucky Postgame Notes
December 31, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
TEAM
- Louisville (#22/20) and Kentucky (#11/12) both entered the Battle of the Bluegrass ranked for the first time since the Dec. 17, 2005, meeting, in which #22 Kentucky defeated #4 Louisville, 73-61.
- The two teams played on New Year's Eve for the third time in the history of the series, which Kentucky now leads 28-14. U of L has dropped two of the three Dec. 31 matchups, all of which have come at home.
Louisville-Kentucky New Year's Eve games
12.31.88 - Louisville 97, Kentucky 75
12.31.96 - Kentucky 74, Louisville 54
12.31.10 - Kentucky 78, Louisville 63
- Cardinal head coach Rick Pitino falls to 4-6 against his former team.
- Louisville falls to 17-10 versus ranked teams over the past four seasons, losing for the first time in four games against top-25 foes (last defeat came to #10 Georgetown on Feb. 23 of last season).
- Kentucky became the first Louisville opponent this season to finish the game with as many or more turnovers than assists (14 assists, 13 turnovers). Louisville entered the game as one of three teams in the nation to force its opponents into more turnovers than assists in every game this season (along with Kansas State and Cincinnati).
Consecutive opponents with more turnovers than assists, Division I (active, as of end of Kentucky game)
1. 17 - Kansas State
2. 13 - Cincinnati
- Until the loss to Kentucky, Louisville was the only school in the nation to force its opponents into at least two more turnovers than assists in every game this year. Washington had also been on the list until Dec. 29, but USC finished with 10 assists and 10 turnovers in the Pac-10 opener for both teams (UW pulled out the win, 73-67).
Assists, turnovers for 2010-11 Louisville opponents
10-17 - Butler (11.16)
11-17 - Jackson State (11.20)
9-25 - Chattanooga (11.22)
8-19 - Marshall (11.27)
6-22 - FIU (12.1)
14-16 - South Alabama (12.4)
5-16 - San Francisco (12.8)
11-18 - UNLV (12.11)
11-22 - Drexel (12.14)
7-13 - Gardner-Webb (12.18)
15-17 - Western Kentucky (12.22)
13-26 - Morgan State (12.27)
14-13 - Kentucky (12.31)
- The Wildcats became just the second U of L opponent this season to turn the ball over fewer than 16 times.
- The Cardinals had not had more than four of their shots blocked in a game this season coming in, yet Kentucky swatted seven Louisville shots in the first half alone--U of L had not had more shots rejected in an entire game since USF had 10 blocks against the Cards on Jan. 7, 2009. But the Wildcats blocked no shots in the game's final 27:02.
- The 11-point halftime deficit was the largest for Louisville since the Cards trailed by 15 (47-32) at the break against Charlotte on Dec. 5 of last season. It was also Kentucky's largest halftime lead in the series since Dec. 17, 2005 (39-24).
- The Cardinals have not faced a larger halftime deficit at home in the series since at least the 1921-22 season. Louisville also trailed by 11 (39-28) on Dec. 29, 1990, in a 93-85 loss.
- The loss was Louisville's largest at home to Kentucky since the last time the two squads tangled on New Year's Eve (74-54 on Dec. 31, 1996).
- Louisville made fewer than 50.0 percent of its shots from the floor for the first time in four games and fewer than 50.0 of its threes for the first time in three games.
- U of L also made fewer than 11 threes for the first time in four games. The three-game streak with 11+ threes tied the school record set by the 2005-06 team (12 threes against Villanova on Jan. 30, 13 versus Notre Dame on Feb. 4, and 11 against Cincinnati on Feb. 6).
- A Louisville-record crowd of 22,803 showed up to watch the 42nd game of the storied rivalry.
PLAYER
- Senior Preston Knowles (six threes) extended his streak of consecutive games with a three to 16 on Friday, the longest streak by a Cardinal since since Terrence Williams hit one in 19 straight games from Nov. 23, 2007-Feb. 2, 2008. Only Notre Dame's Ben Hansbrough (17 straight) has a longer active streak among BIG EAST players.
Consecutive games making a three-pointer, BIG EAST players (active, through Friday's afternoon games)
1. 17 - Ben Hansbrough, Notre Dame (1-1-4-3-4-5-6-1-1-1-1-4-5-1-2-1-1)
2. 16 - Preston Knowles, Louisville (1-1-1-1-2-3-2-4-1-2-2-2-6-3-6-6)
3. 15 - Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh (4-2-5-4-2-3-4-2-4-4-3-3-3-1-3)
4. 12 - Kemba Walker, Connecticut (1-1-4-1-4-3-2-2-3-2-2-3)
5. 10 - Duke Mondy, Providence (1-4-3-1-1-2-2-2-2-1)
- Hansbrough, Knowles, Gibbs, and Walker are the only four BIG EAST players to make at least one three in every game this season.
- Not since Larry O'Bannon in 2004-05 (a three in season's first 21 games) has a Louisville player connected on a three in each of the first 13 games of the season.
- Knowles has drained multiple threes in seven straight games and 11 of the past 12. The seven-game streak is also the second longest in the league, trailing only the eight-game streak of national scoring leader Kemba Walker.
- Knowles has also hit three or more treys in four straight games, making him the first Cardinal to put together such a streak since Taquan Dean hit 3+ in eight consecutive games from Feb. 25-March 28, 2006.
- His 21 threes over the last four games tie Taquan Dean for the most in Louisville history over a four-game span. Dean also made 21 from Dec. 4-13, 2005 (six against Arkansas State, seven against Richmond, and four each against Akron and Chicago State).
- Knowles became just the third player in school history (four total occasions) to hit 6+ threes in consecutive games, joining Dean and Reece Gaines. No Cardinal has ever hit six or more threes in three straight contests.
Consecutive games with 6+ threes, Louisville history
1. 2 - Preston Knowles - 12.27.10-Present (6-6)
1. 2 - Taquan Dean - 12.4.05-12.5.05 (6-7)
1. 2 - Reece Gaines - 2.1.02-2.5.02 (7-6)
1. 2 - Reece Gaines - 12.8.01-12.12.01 (6-6)
- The four steals for Knowles tied a career high, a mark he has now achieved seven times and twice this season.
- Knowles' 22 points in the game give him 92 points in his last four contests, or 23.0 points per game. His 53 points over the past two games give him another total last surpassed by Dean; the last Cardinal with more points in back-to-back games was Taquan (54) from Dec. 4-5, 2005 (24 against Arkansas State and 30 versus Richmond).
- Sophomore Peyton Siva recorded two steals against Kentucky and has at least one steal in every game this season. Siva is one of three BIG EAST players to notch at least one theft in every game this season (Jeremiah Kelly of DePaul and Vander Blue of Marquette are the others).
Consecutive games with a steal, BIG EAST players (active, after Friday's afternoon games)
1. 13 - Vander Blue, Marquette (4-2-1-1-2-2-1-1-3-1-1-3-2)
1. 13 - Peyton Siva, Louisville (1-2-1-2-2-3-4-1-4-1-2-5-2)
3. 12 - Jeremiah Kelly, DePaul (4-2-3-1-1-3-1-2-2-3-2-1)
4. 11 - Fuquan Edwin, Seton Hall (2-2-1-1-2-1-3-3-1-2-3)
- Junior Terrence Jennings's two-block game was the 37th multi-block effort of his career. The forward is two blocks from tying Earl Clark (124 blocks from 2006-09) for 10th on the Louisville career blocks list.
- With three more turnover-free minutes on Friday, freshman Elisha Justice extended his personal stretch of consecutive minutes played without a turnover to 70. Justice's last turnover came on Dec. 1 against FIU; he still has never committed more than one turnover in a college game.
- Junior Chris Smith continued his torrid shooting on Friday, making 6-of-8 shots from the floor (including his only three-pointer) and finishing with 15 points. Over the past three games, Smith has made 75.0 percent of his shots from both the floor (18-of-24) and from three (3-of-4) while averaging 14.3 points.
