Louisville-USF Postgame Notes

Feb. 29, 2012

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Louisville vs. USF Postgame Notes
February 29, 2012
KFC Yum! Center

TEAM

The Cardinals honored a trio of seniors in Jared Swopshire, Kyle Kuric and Chris Smith. The senior class has posted a stellar record of 98-37 heading into the regular season finale at Syracuse.
The loss to USF snapped a string of 13 straight Senior Day victories. Prior to tonight's loss, the Cardinals last Senior Day defeat was Feb. 25, 1998, against Southern Miss.
The Bulls snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Cardinals, winning for the first time since a 73-67 decision on Jan. 31, 2001, in Tampa, Fla. It was USF's first win in Louisville since Feb. 5, 1998 - a 62-60 decision in Freedom Hall.
The 51 points scored by the Cardinals matched their lowest output of the season, a 52-51 loss to second ranked Syracuse on Feb. 13, 2012.
Louisville head coach Rick Pitino dropped his career record to 11-2 all-time against the Bulls, going 11-1 at Louisville and 0-1 while at Boston University in 1981.
Despite the loss to USF, the Cardinals have 34 victories in their last 43 games during the month of February over the last six years.
The Cardinals own a 35-6 record in the KFC Yum! Center in two seasons in the new facility, including a 16-4 mark this season.
Despite posting a 1-2 record in their last three games, the Cardinals have yielded an average of 57.3 points per game. It marked the second time in three games that Louisville held the opposition to less than 60 points in a game. It's also the 17th time in 30 outings, including 18 of its last 27 home games.
U of L dropped to 206-38 when holding its opponent below 70 points over the past 11 seasons under coach Rick Pitino, including 18-5 this season.
The Cardinals were held to nine assists for the three straight games. Over the last three games, Louisville has 27 assists and 42 turnovers.
Heading into the season finale at Syracuse, the Cardinals have won at least 22 games for the 10th straight season under Pitino, who has won 20 or more games on 20 different occasions.
The Cardinals shot 34 percent from the floor in the loss to USF, which marked the third straight loss for the Cardinals when shooting less than 35 percent from the floor.

PLAYER

After going 0-for-8 from the field and 0-for-4 on 3-point field goals, senior Chris Smith responded by scoring 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor and 3-of-5 on 3-point field goal attempts. The 14 points was his highest scoring output since a 20-point outburst versus DePaul on Feb. 18, 2012.
With two blocked shots on Wednesday, sophomore center Gorgui Dieng remained in third place on Louisville's single season blocked shots list with 96. He is two 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 three assists in the loss to USF. His 391 career assists are two short of the top 10 at U of L.
Since going 0-for-11 from the field and 0-for-7 from behind the arc in the loss to Cincinnati on Feb. 23, 2012, senior forward Kyle Kuric responded by going 11-for-21 from the floor and 6-for-15 from 3-point range in his last two home games. He finished with 14 points in the loss to the Bulls tonight.
Freshman forward Chane Behanan led the Cardinals with seven rebounds, marking the 20th time in 30 outings that he has registered seven or more rebounds in a game.

University of Louisville Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Chane Behanan

Gorgui Dieng

Kyle Kuric

Peyton Siva

Chris Smith

Jared Swopshire

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