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Louisville-College of Charleston Postgame Notes
December 20, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2011
Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
TEAM
- Louisville has now won both of its all-time meetings with the College of Charleston, also emerging victorious on Dec. 21, 2005, in the final game of the Billy Minardi Classic at Freedom Hall (78-63). Head coach Rick Pitino is 4-0 in his career against CofC, with the first two matchups coming with Boston U. (87-65 on Dec. 22, 1979) and Kentucky (92-65 on Nov. 30, 1996), respectively.
- UofL has now won 11 straight games to open a season for the first time since the 1974-75 squad began 13-0, tying the school record for best season start. The 1960-61 and '66-'67 teams also ran off 13 consecutive wins to open the year.
Best season starts, Louisville history
1. 13-0 - 1974-75
1. 13-0 - 1966-67
1. 13-0 - 1960-61
4. 11-0 - 2011-12
5. 10-0 - 1996-97
- Louisville began 8-0 last season, making the Cards one of two schools nationally who started 8-0 or better in 2010-11 and have yet to lose this year. The other is Syracuse, who was 18-0 before its first loss last season and has won 12 straight this year after beating Bucknell 80-61 on Tuesday.
- The 11-game win streak is the Cardinals' longest overall since a 13-gamer from Feb. 15-March 27, 2009, one ending with a loss to Michigan State in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
- UofL is one of six unbeatens nationally through Tuesday's games. Along with Syracuse, Baylor (10-0), Indiana (11-0), Missouri (11-0), and Murray State (12-0) are also without a loss this year. Marquette was the latest undefeated team to fall, doing so 67-59 to LSU on Monday night.
- The Cardinal victory also extended Louisville's home win streak to 19 games dating back to a 78-63 loss to Kentucky on Dec. 31, 2010. That streak is Louisville's longest since winning 22 consecutive home contests from Dec. 8, 1982-Jan. 25, 1984, and ranks as the eighth longest in UofL history.
Longest home win streaks, Louisville history
1. 26 - 1.4.79-12.13.80
1. 26 - 12.19.55-12.20.57
3. 25 - 1.23.68-12.6.69
4. 24 - 1.19.74-12.9.76
5. 22 - 12.8.82-1.25.84
6. 21 - 12.6.76-12.28.77
7. 20 - 1.29.66-12.1.67
8. 19 - 1.5.11-Present
8. 19 - 1.17.81-1.16.82
8. 19 - 2.27.52-12.29.53
- Louisville's streak is tied for the ninth longest in the nation through Tuesday's games, bested only by Notre Dame (27) among BIG EAST teams.
Active home win streaks, Division I (through Tuesday's games)
1. 41 - Duke
1. 41 - Kentucky
3. 32 - Ohio State
4. 27 - Notre Dame
5. 25 - Purdue
6. 24 - Temple
7. 23 - North Carolina
8. 21 - Belmont
9. 19 - Harvard
9. 19 - Louisville
11. 18 - Bucknell
11. 18 - George Mason
- The win for Louisville snapped a six-game win streak for the College of Charleston, whose 9-1 start was the fourth-best in school history (in terms of most games played before second loss). The Cards had not ended a longer win streak for an opponent since Dec. 11 of last season, when they took down a 9-0 UNLV squad at the KFC Yum! Center.
- The Cards scored on their first five possessions on the game - including three on 3-pointers - before a Peyton Siva turnover with 15:21 left in the first half. The end of the half, however, would see UofL go scoreless on seven straight possessions during a 10-0 CofC run (covering 4:21) that gave the Cougars a 35-31 lead.
- Louisville found itself down at the half (37-33) for just the second time this season (also against Vanderbilt). The four-point deficit was the largest for UofL at the break since the BIG EAST Championship finale last year (38-32 to Connecticut) and its largest at home since Jan. 26, 2011, against West Virginia (37-26).
- The 37 CofC points in the first snapped a streak in which the Cards had allowed 35 or fewer first-half points in 11 straight contests dating back to last season. The last team to reach the mark against UofL before halftime had been UConn (38) in the 2011 BIG EAST title game.
- Louisville would bear down, however, and allow the Cougars just 25 points in the second period. UofL has permitted its opponent 25 or fewer points in the second half each of the last three times it has trailed at the break at home. That stretch began with the West Virginia game last year (just 17 Mountaineer points in the second) and also includes this year's Vanderbilt contest (24 points).
- The Cougars hit 12 of 23 3-point tries in the game, tied for the most treys for a Cardinal opponent since Jan. 19, 2008, when Seton Hall went 13-for-28 from long range in a 92-82 Pirate victory. Louisville has given up six or more threes in five straight games, with opponents shooting .417 from behind the arc over that span. All five opponents have connected at a clip of at least .375.
- Seven of CofC's 3s came in the first half on 13 attempts. Louisville has not allowed more 3s in a half since Dec. 5, 2009, when Charlotte went 8-for-16 in the first stanza of an 87-65 win over the Cards at Freedom Hall.
- After Tuesday's contest, Pitino said, "When you give up 12 3s, you don't normally win." While that would appear to be the case, the history shows otherwise for Louisville. The Cards are actually 14-9 (.609) all-time when giving up 12 or more 3-pointers, including 9-4 (.692) during the Pitino era. UofL hasn't lost such a game since the aforementioned Seton Hall contest, winning its last three.
- CofC's .522 3-point percentage in the game was the highest for a Louisville foe since Villanova was 8-for-13 (.515) on Jan. 12 of last year. The last to shoot that high a percentage with 20 or more attempts was also Villanova, on Jan. 30, 2006 (14-for-26, .538).
- Louisville battled back from an eight-point deficit (48-40) with under 15 minutes to play in the victory, the 11th time in the last two seasons the Cards have come back to win after trailing by seven or more. Eight of those 11 contests have taken place at the KFC Yum! Center.
Wins after trailing by seven or more, last two seasons
18 down (47-65) - 1.15.11 vs. Marquette (H) - W, 71-70
16 (30-46) - 3.11.11 vs. Notre Dame (N) - W, 83-77 (OT)
12 (26-38) - 1.26.11 vs. West Virginia (H) - W, 55-54
9 (34-43) - 12.2.11 vs. Vanderbilt (H) - W, 62-60 (OT)
9 (2-11) - 3.10.11 vs. Marquette (N) - W, 81-56
9 (23-32) - 2.5.11 vs. DePaul (H) - W, 61-57
9 (43-52) - 1.29.11 vs. Connecticut (A) - W, 79-78 (2OT)
9 (36-45) - 12.11.10 vs. UNLV (H) - W, 77-69
8 (40-48) - 12.20.11 vs. College of Charleston (H) - W, 69-62
7 (9-16) - 3.2.11 vs. Providence (H) - W, 87-60
7 (19-26) - 2.12.11 vs. Syracuse (H) - W, 73-69
- UofL collected 15 steals in the contest, having one player each with five (Russ Smith), four (Peyton Siva), three (Kyle Kuric), two (Chane Behanan), and one (Chris Smith). That steal total was Louisville's largest since last year's Chattanooga game (19 on Nov. 22). The Cards had 13 thefts on Saturday against Memphis, making it back-to-back games with 13+ steals for Louisville for the first time since Dec. 20-23, 1999 (19 against Tennessee State, 13 versus North Carolina). Louisville last had three straight 13-steal games during the 1996-97 campaign (13 each against Memphis, Houston, and South Florida from Feb. 9-17).
- Louisville's current per-game steal average of 9.5 would be the second best in school history, behind only the 1994-95 team's 10.2 average. Over the last six games, that mark has been even better (11.2).
- The Cards forced Cougar point guard Andrew Lawrence into eight turnovers in the contest, three higher than his previous career high of five. Lawrence entered the week 20th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.85, including a mark of 3.75 (45 assists, 12 TO) since Nov. 19. As a team, CofC totaled 22 turnovers, its most since committing 23 against Western Carolina on Jan. 20, 2011.
- Louisville won despite going just 7-for-16 (.438) from the stripe, tied for its lowest percentage in a game since the team went 3-for-8 (.375) against DePaul on Feb. 15, 2009.
PLAYER
- Senior Kyle Kuric scored in double figures for the fifth straight game, finishing with 17 points. Kuric has gone 30-for-56 (.536) from the field over that span, making at least half of his shots in all five contests.
- The driving force behind Kuric's high field-goal percentage over that time has been his shooting from inside the arc. After a 5-for-6 day on Tuesday, Kuric is 22-for-29 (.759) on two-point shots over the last five games.
- Kuric notched three steals in the contest, his eighth straight game with at least one. He now has four different three-steal games this year.
- Kuric's eight rebounds were a season best.
- Freshman Chane Behanan corralled eight boards on Tuesday, the 10th time in 11 career games he has recorded at least six.
- Sophomore Gorgui Dieng finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds on Tuesday for his fourth consecutive double-double, the first Cardinal to accomplish the feat since Ellis Myles from Dec. 22, 2004-Jan. 2, 2005 (also four straight). The last to record double-doubles in five straight contests was Luke Whitehead from March 8-21, 2003 (after he had zero double-doubles over his first 26 games that year).
- Dieng has five double-doubles this season and six for his career.
- Dieng has had 12+ rebounds in all four games, making him the first Cardinal to put together such a streak since Rodney McCray from Feb. 2-9, 1983. In that stretch, McCray had 12 boards at Cincinnati before notching 14 against Lamar, 14 against Florida State, and 12 against Tulane at Freedom Hall. No other Cardinal has had a four-game stretch (or longer) of 12-rebound games since at least the 1971-72 season.
- Dieng has had at least six offensive boards in all four games, ending Tuesday's contest with seven; no other Cardinal has had such a streak in at least 11 years. He is putting up an average of 4.8 offensive rebounds per game for the season, including 6.1 over his past seven outings.
- Dieng scored in double figures in the first half (10 points) for the fourth straight game. He is averaging 11.0 points and 8.8 rebounds in the first 20 minutes over that span and 15.0 points and 12.5 boards total.
- Dieng followed up his six-block afternoon against Memphis with a five-block night against the Cougars, his seventh career game with five or more blocks (and third this year). It is the second time the center has had back-to-back five-block outings, making him the first player in Louisville history to accomplish the feat on two separate occasions. Rodney McCray, Pervis Ellison, Clifford Rozier, and Felton Spencer are the only other Cardinals to record consecutive five-block games even once, with Ellison the only to stuff 5+ shots in three straight contests.
Back-to-back five-block games, Louisville history
8-7-6 - Pervis Ellison at Western Kentucky (12.8.88), vs. Dayton (12.10.88), vs. Oklahoma State (12.17.88)
6-5 - Rodney McCray at Virginia Tech (2.11.80), at West Virginia (2.14.80)
6-5 - Felton Spencer vs. New Mexico (12.16.89), vs. Austin Peay (12.18.89)
5-5 - Clifford Rozier vs. Eastern Kentucky (12.11.93), at Wyoming (12.18.93)
5-5 - Gorgui Dieng vs. Seton Hall (1.5.11), at South Florida (1.9.11)
6-5 - Gorgui Dieng vs. Memphis (12.17.11), vs. College of Charleston (12.20.11)
- It is also the second time Dieng has totaled 11 blocks in a two-game span, also doing so against Drexel (four) and Gardner-Webb (seven) last year. The last Louisville player with more over two games was Kendall Dartez, who had 12 from Dec. 7-10, 2003 (nine against Holy Cross, three against Seton Hall).
- Just three days after dazzling fans with seven steals in a win over Memphis, sophomore Russ Smith dazzled again on Tuesday, finishing with five thefts, including four in the final 12 minutes - during which the Cards outscored the Cougars 20-10. Those two performances make Smith just the seventh player in Louisville history to record back-to-back five-steal games, with Terrence Williams the last to accomplish the feat (in 2008-09) and Tick Rogers the only to do it twice. No Cardinal has ever had three straight.
Back-to-back five-steal games, Louisville history
5-5 - Rick Wilson at West Texas State (1.22.76), vs. Dayton (1.28.76)
5-5 - Darrell Griffith vs. Kansas State (1.5.80), vs. Saint Louis (1.8.80)
5-5 - Labradford Smith vs. Prairie View (12.15.90), at Western Kentucky (12.17.90)
6-6 - Tick Rogers vs. Jackson State (11.23.94), vs. BYU (11.25.94)
10-5 - Tick Rogers vs. Western Carolina (12.5.94), vs. Eastern Kentucky (12.10.94)
6-6 - Alvin Sims vs. Georgia Tech (1.11.97), vs. Houston (1.15.97)
5-5 - Terrence Williams vs. UNLV (12.31.08), vs. Kentucky (1.4.09)
7-5 - Russ Smith vs. Memphis (12.17.11), vs. College of Charleston (12.20.11)
- Smith's 12 steals over those two games mark the third-highest two-game steal total in Cardinal history, surpassed only by Rogers (15 from Dec. 5-10, 1994) and Darrell Griffith (13 from Dec. 5-8, 1979).
Steals over a two-game span, Louisville history
1. 15 (10-5) - Tick Rogers - 12.5.94-12.10.94
2. 13 (9-4) - Darrell Griffith - 12.5.79-12.8.79
3. 12 (7-5) - Russ Smith - 12.17.11-12.20.11
3. 12 (6-6) - Alvin Sims - 1.11.97-1.15.97
3. 12 (6-6) - Tick Rogers - 11.23.94-11.25.94
- Smith is the first BIG EAST player with 12 steals in two games since UConn's Jerome Dyson had 13 from Jan. 5-8, 2008 (four against Notre Dame, nine versus St. John's). Seton Hall's Paul Gause also had 13 in two games that season, getting eight against James Madison (Dec. 22) and then five against NC State five days later.
- Smith now has a steal in all 10 of his games this season, including seven with multiple thefts. No Cardinal has had more multi-steal games through 10 games played since 2004-05, when Francisco Garcia had eight through 10.
- The guard now has 38 steals in 293 career minutes, or 5.19 per 40 minutes of playing time. For the 2011-12 season, Smith is averaging 2.5 steals per game, good for second in the BIG EAST behind Seton Hall's Fuquan Edwin (3.4). The Cardinal record for steals per game across one season is 2.6, set by Rogers in 1994-95.
- Smith set a career best with four rebounds in the game.
- Junior Peyton Siva dished out six assists against the Cougars, his seventh straight game with at least five. The last Cardinal with that long of a streak was Terrence Williams, who had seven consecutive five-assist games from Feb. 15-March 7, 2009. If Siva extends it to eight on Friday against Western Kentucky, he would be the first Louisville player to do so since Labradford Smith had 13 five-assist games in succession from Jan. 7-Feb. 15, 1990.
- If Siva's 6.7 assist average this year holds up, it would break the school record held by Smith (6.5 per game in that 1989-90 season).
- Siva also nabbed four steals, his ninth career game with as many. He is averaging 2.5 thefts over the last six games.
CORRECTION
Postgame notes from the Memphis game (Dec. 17) erroneously labeled Russ Smith's seven steals in the contest as the third most in school history. The correct ranking is fourth, as a nine-steal game by Darrell Griffith on Dec. 5, 1979, against Chattanooga was left off the list. That performance and a seven-steal Griffith effort in 1980 (Feb. 24 against Florida State) were discovered after the printing of this year's media guide and hence do not appear on the lists therein.
