Louisville-IUPUI Postgame Notes

Dec. 7, 2011

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TEAM

UofL won for the second time in as many meetings with IUPUI, also taking a Dec. 21, 2004, matchup in Freedom Hall (80-60).

Louisville has now begun the season 8-0 in consecutive years, a first in school history. Louisville had also never started 7-0 in back-to-back years and hadn't been 6-0 in consecutive seasons since 1954-55 and '55-'56.

The Cards are one of four teams nationally to start 8-0 both this year and last - the others are Ohio State (24-0 start last season, 8-0 this year), Syracuse (24-0, 9-0), and UNLV (9-0, 8-0). Of the four, Ohio State, Syracuse, and Louisville are still undefeated this season (UNLV lost its ninth game of the year against Wichita State on Sunday).

Louisville's last longer winning streak to begin a season came in 1996-97 (10-0). The Cardinal record for wins to open a campaign is 13, accomplished in three different seasons (1960-61, 1966-67, and 1974-75).

UofL also stretched its home win streak to 16 games dating back to a New Year's Eve loss to Kentucky last year. The 16-game home win streak is the first for Louisville since a 16-game string from March 1, 2003-Jan. 28, 2004. With a win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday, the Cards will have their first 17-game home-court streak since the 1987-88 and '88-'89 seasons (17 from Feb. 1, 1988-Jan. 22, 1989).

The Cardinals have now won 16 or more consecutive home games 12 different times in school history. The program-record streak is 26, achieved twice.

Longest home win streaks, Louisville history
26 - 1.4.79-12.13.80; 12.19.55-12.20.57
25 - 1.23.68-12.6.69
24 - 1.19.74-12.9.76
22 - 12.8.82-1.25.84
21 - 12.6.76-12.28.77
20 - 1.29.66-12.1.67
19 - 1.17.81-1.16.82; 2.27.52-12.29.53
17 - 2.1.88-1.22.89
16 - 1.5.11-Present; 3.1.03-1.28.04

Louisville's active streak is the 12th-longest in Division I. Utah State (33), Alabama (24), Wisconsin (23), and Arizona (22) all have had lengthy home streaks snapped already this season.

Longest active home-court winning streaks, Division I (through Wednesday's games)
1. 40 - Duke
2. 39 - Kentucky
3. 30 - Ohio State
4. 24 - Notre Dame
5. 23 - Purdue
5. 23 - Temple
7. 21 - North Carolina
8. 20 - Belmont
9. 19 - Harvard
10. 18 - George Mason
11. 17 - Bucknell
12. 16 - Louisville

IUPUI's 35 first-half points were the most for any Cardinal opponent in a half this season. Louisville had not allowed more in the first half at home since West Virginia led 37-26 at the break on Jan. 26 of last year.

Louisville bounced back nicely from the first half, outscoring the Jaguars by 25 (50-25) in the second. That margin was UofL's largest in a half since the Morgan State game last year (58-28 in the opening period).

UofL has now allowed 60 points or less in nine of its last 10 home games dating back to last season. Opponents are averaging just 58.5 points in 28 all-time games at the KFC Yum! Center, at which the Cards are 26-2.

Louisville's 90 points were its most since that Morgan State game as well (104-74), as was its .556 field-goal percentage (35-for-63).

The Cards scored 90+ points and allowed 60 or fewer for the fifth time in the last seven seasons, last accomplishing the feat against FIU last year (92-55 on Dec. 1). All five games have come in Louisville.

Scored 90+ points, allowed 60 or less, since 2005-06
12.7.08 - Louisville 91, Ohio 56 (H)
12.16.09 - Louisville 94, Oral Roberts 57 (H)
12.19.09 - Louisville 102, Western Kentucky 57 (H)
12.1.10 - Louisville 92, FIU 55 (H)
12.7.11 - Louisville 90, IUPUI 60 (H)

The Jaguars outscored Louisville 21-0 on 3-point field goals in the first half. The Cards had not yielded more threes in a half since Dec. 5, 2009, when Charlotte went 8-for-16 from long range in the first half of an 87-65 win over UofL at Freedom Hall. IUPUI would go just 2-for-10 from distance in the second half, however.

The 19 threes the Cards have yielded over the past two games are the most over a two-game span since Western Kentucky and Louisiana-Lafayette combined for 22 in back-to-back games from Dec. 19-23, 2009.

The Cardinals outscored the Jaguars 18-0 in fast-break points for the game.

PLAYER

Sophomore Gorgui Dieng put together arguably the best performance of his career, scoring a career-high 18 points, pulling down 12 rebounds, and going a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor. The double-double was the third of Dieng's career, with his others coming against Ohio this season (10 points, 16 rebounds) and against UConn last year (13 points, 12 rebounds on Feb. 18).

Dieng became the first Louisville player to hit 8+ shots in a game without a miss since Erik Brown was 8-for-8 at Southern Miss on Jan. 29, 2003 (a game in which he was 5-for-5 from deep). No Cardinal has taken more shots in a perfect night from the field since Feb. 18, 1999, when Marques Maybin was 10-for-10 at Tulane.

Dieng's 12 boards give him 44 over his last four games, or 11.0 per contest. The last Cardinal with more in a four-game span was Samardo Samuels, who had 45 from Dec. 16-27, 2009.

Dieng and freshman Chane Behanan each blocked a shot in the game, which they have both done in all eight games this season. Each is the first Cardinal to block a shot in the season's first eight games since Francisco Garcia had 11 straight games with a stuff to open the 2002-03 campaign.

Dieng and Behanan are the first pair of Cardinals to each block a shot in the first eight games since Pervis Ellison and Billy Thompson in 1985-86 (first 13 contests).

Nationally, Dieng and Behanan are one of three pairs of teammates who have each had a block in every game this season. The others are Quincy Acy and Cory Jefferson of Baylor and Alandise Harris and TaShawn Thomas of Houston.

Behanan himself is one of five freshmen in the country with at least one block in all of his team's games. Along with Houston's Thomas, Anthony Davis of Kentucky, Kendall Gray of Delaware State, and Hunter Mickelson of Arkansas have also never had a game without a block.

Sophomore Russ Smith's two-steal game was his fifth this season and the seventh of his career. He has recorded at least one steal in every game this year, totaling 26 in 240 career minutes (average of 4.3 per 40 minutes).

Smith set a career high for points, finishing with 12.

In his first game action since Feb. 27 of last season, junior Rakeem Buckles made his presence felt early, grabbing four rebounds in his first four minutes on the floor.

With a Louisville career-high-tying 19 points on the evening, senior Chris Smith went over 1,000 points for his career (596 at Manhattan, 415 at Louisville). Smith last had more points in a game on Dec. 22, 2008, against Long Island (20).

Smith missed his second free throw attempt on Wednesday, snapping a streak of 13 consecutive makes from the stripe. Smith is connecting at a .840 clip this season, markedly better than his .625, .728, and .682 percentages during his first three seasons, respectively.

Smith's four assists and no turnovers on the night give him 24 and five, respectively, for the season. Over his last five games, Smith has 16 assists and only one turnover.

Smith's four-point play with 10:15 left in the second half was the first in arena history.

Junior Peyton Siva's three-steal game was the 15th of his career.

Siva made six of his seven free throws, giving him 25 makes in his last 28 tries from the stripe (.893).

Siva also notched his 10th five-assist game in his last 12 contests dating back to last year, ending the game with eight. The guard is averaging 6.3 assists per game over that stretch.

Freshman Angel Nunez hit all three of his shots in a career-best seven-point night.

Behanan (four rebounds) finished with fewer than six rebounds for the first time in his career.

Louisville forced IUPUI senior Alex Young, the active career scoring leader in the nation (1,801 points coming in), into a season high in turnovers (four) just 10 minutes into the game. Young committed the four turnovers in a span of 3:28, all coming by virtue of UofL steals (two by Russ Smith, one each by Chris Smith and Siva).

Young's eight total turnovers tied for the most he's ever had in his 109-game career. He also had eight against Oral Roberts on March 8, 2010. Young fouled out with 5:04 left in the game, finishing with nine points.

University of Louisville Athletics

Players Mentioned

Chane Behanan

Rakeem Buckles

Gorgui Dieng

Angel Nunez

Angel Nunez

Samardo Samuels

Peyton Siva

Peyton Siva

Chris Smith

Russ Smith

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