Louisville-Samford Postgame Notes

Nov. 15, 2012

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#2/2 Louisville 80, Samford 54
KFC Yum! Center - Nov. 15, 2012

LOUISVILLE TEAM NOTES

Thursday's matchup was Louisville's opening game in the Battle 4 Atlantis, an event that will culminate with three games at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas on Nov. 22-24. The Cardinals will continue the Battle 4 Atlantis against Northern Iowa on Thursday, 22 at 9:30 p.m., ET.
With the win, the Cardinals improved to 37-6 all-time in the KFC Yum! Center.
After holding 23 of its 40 opponents last season to 60 or fewer points, the Cardinals have done it in back-to-back games to open 2012-13 as Manhattan had just 51 points in the opener and Samford had 54 in tonight's game.
Louisville has allowed 60 points or fewer in 20 of its last 29 home games dating back to the 2010-11 season.
The Cardinals finished with a 53-28 advantage in rebounding on Thursday, their largest rebounding advantage since holding a 56-26 edge (+30) against Morgan State on Dec. 30, 1998.
The 28 offensive rebounds for Louisville are the most since they had 30 in the Dec. 30, 1998 win over Morgan State.
UofL had as many offensive rebounds (28) as Samford had total rebounds in Thursday's game.
Chane Behanan (18) and Gorgui Dieng (13) combined to hold a +3 advantage on the glass against the Bulldogs.
Louisville is 118-7 during the last 12 seasons under the guidance of head coach Rick Pitino when scoring 80 or more points (8-0 last season).
The Cardinals are 215-40 when holding its opponent below 70 points during the last 12 seasons under Pitino, including 2-0 this season.
The Cardinals' 29-point halftime lead (42-13) was their largest halftime advantage since Dec. 27, 2010 when they had a 30-point advantage (58-28) against Morgan State.
The 13 points for Samford in the opening 20 minutes are the fewest allowed by Louisville since Arkansas State scored only 12 first half points on Nov. 22, 2011.
Louisville has held each of its first two opponents to less than 20 points. It marks the first time the Cardinals have accomplished that since holding Notre Dame to 19 points in the semifinals of the 2012 BIG EAST Championship and Cincinnati to just 14 points in the title game the following night.
With Thursday's win, Louisville improves to 2-0 for the sixth straight season.
For the second straight game, Louisville had eight players see at least 15 minutes of action in Thursday's win. Only Peyton Siva (29 minutes) and Chane Behanan (28 minutes) played more than 25 minutes in the game.
A total of 12 Cardinals saw game action on Thursday, the highest total of the season.

LOUISVILLE PLAYER NOTES

Sophomore forward Chane Behanan had 12 points and 18 rebounds for his eighth career double-double and the first since he had 14 points and 11 rebounds against Davidson on March 15, 2012.
Behanan's career-high 18 rebounds were the highest rebounding total for a Cardinal since Ellis Myles had 18 against Saint Louis on Feb. 20, 2005.
Junior center Gorgui Dieng finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds for his 13th career double-double and the first since he had 11 points and 13 rebounds against Cincinnati on Feb. 23, 2012.
Dieng also added a career best five assists.
With his four blocked shots on Thursday, Dieng increased his career total to 189, which ranks third on the Cardinals' career list. He is 19 blocked shots behind second-place Charles Jones (1980-84) with 208.
Dieng has blocked a shot in 63 of his 71 career games as a Cardinal.
Making his first start of the season and just the second of his career in Thursday's win, sophomore Wayne Blackshear matched a career-high with 13 points to go with a career-high five rebounds.
With his seven assists on Thursday, senior Peyton Siva moved into sole possession of seventh on the Cardinals' career leaderboard with 466 total assists. Siva is nine behind sixth-place Reece Gaines (1999-2003) at 475.
Siva has handed out five or more assists in 32 of his last 42 games overall.
Junior guard Russ Smith matched a career high with four three-pointers, the second straight game he has reached that total.
With 18 points, Smith led the Cardinals in scoring for the second straight game.
Freshman forward Montrezl Harrell provided another steady performance for the Cardinals scoring eight points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field with three rebounds and a career-best two blocked shots in 15 minutes.

University of Louisville Athletics

Players Mentioned

Chane Behanan

Chane Behanan

Wayne Blackshear

Gorgui Dieng

Gorgui Dieng

Montrezl Harrell

Montrezl Harrell

Peyton Siva

Russ Smith

Russ Smith

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