Louisville-Pittsburgh Postgame Notes

Feb. 26, 2012

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Louisville vs.Pittsburgh Postgame Notes
February 26, 2012
KFC Yum! Center

TEAM

Louisville increased its winning streak over Pittsburgh to three games with a win Sunday. The Cardinals own a 7-5 series advantage and have won the last two meetings at the KFC Yum Center. Six of the last eight meetings have been decided by six points or less.
At halftime, the University of Louisville honored the uniform of former Cardinal great, DeJuan Wheat (1993-97), who ranks second all-time at Louisville in scoring with 2,183 points. He tallied a career-best 607 points during the 1996-97 season, which stands ninth all-time on the school's single-season scoring list.
Louisville head coach Rick Pitino raised his record to 6-5 in his career against Pittsburgh, all coming as head coach of the Cardinals.
With the win over Pittsburgh on Sunday, the Cardinals have 34 victories in their last 42 games during the month of February over the last six years.
The Cardinals scored 24 points off 19 Pittsburgh turnovers, and have scored 138 points off 96 opposing turnovers over the last seven games.
The Cardinals own a 35-5 record in the KFC Yum! Center in two seasons in the new facility, including a 16-3 mark this season.
Entering the game ranked seventh in the nation and second in the BIG EAST Conference with 9.2 steals per game, the Cardinals finished with 13 steals in the win over Pittsburgh. It was the highest total since recording 13 thefts in a win over DePaul on Jan. 14.
Louisville has allowed 60 points or fewer in 17 of its last 26 home games dating back to last season.
Defensively, Louisville held Pittsburgh to just 1-of-8 from behind the arc, which tied a season low for 3-point field goals in a game. The Panthers were 1-of-14 in a loss at Notre Dame on Dec. 27, 2011.
U of L improved to 206-37 when holding its opponent below 70 points over the past 11 seasons under coach Rick Pitino, including 18-4 this season.
Louisville finished the first half with more turnovers (11) than made field goals (six).
The six made field goals in the first half for the Cardinals (on 17 attempts) were their fewest in any half since making just 6-for-23 from the field in the second half of a 55-37 win at Rutgers on Feb. 22, 2011. It was U of L's fewest first half field goals since making 7-of-20 shots in a 52-51 loss to Syracuse on Feb. 12, 2012.
The 24 points in the first 20 minutes were the third lowest first half scoring total of the season for Louisville behind only the 22 against Syracuse on Feb. 13 and 22 against Arkansas State on Nov. 22.
The Cardinals committed just three turnovers in the second half after turning the ball over 11 times in the first half.

PLAYER
Sophomore guard Russ Smith led the Cardinals in scoring for the eighth time this season, finishing with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the field. It marked the 16th time in the last 21 games that he has scored in double-digits. He has averaged 14.3 ppg over the the last 20 games.
Smith led the Cardinals with four steals, marking the ninth time this season that he has registered three or more steals in a game. He leads the Cardinals with 36 steals, which ranks third in the BIG EAST Conference entering today's game.
With three blocked shots on Sunday, sophomore center Gorgui Dieng moved into to third place on Louisville's single season blocked shots list with 94. He is four swats behind the second best total of 98 by Pervis Ellison in 1988-89. Ellison also ranks first (102 in 1987-88) on the single season list.
Junior point guard Peyton Siva led the Cardinals with five assists, marking the 23rd time in his last 33 games that he has handed out five or more assists in a game. His 388 career assists are five short of the top 10 at U of L.
After going 0-for-11 from the field and 0-for-7 from behind the arc in the loss to Cincinnati on Thursday, senior forward Kyle Kuricresponded by going 5-for-8 from the floor and 4-for-7 from 3-point range. He finished with 17 points and four rebounds after scoring just four points in the loss to the Bearcats.

University of Louisville Athletics

Players Mentioned

Gorgui Dieng

Kyle Kuric

Peyton Siva

Russ Smith

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