Louisville-Houston Postgame Notes

Jan. 16, 2014

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#14/#18 Louisville 91, Houston 52
KFC Yum! Center - Jan. 16, 2014

LOUISVILLE TEAM NOTES

Thursday's game was the 19th all-time between Louisville and Houston on the basketball court with the Cardinals holding a 14-5 advantage in a series that dates back to 1968.
Louisville improved to 8-0 all-time at home against Houston.
Thursday marked the first time this season Louisville has used the starting lineup of Russ Smith, Terry Rozier, Luke Hancock, Montrezl Harrell and Mangok Mathiang. It is the sixth different starting lineup used by the Cardinals this season and the second straight game with a first-time lineup.
Thursday's first half point total of 57 was the most for Louisville in the opening half of a game since scoring 58 in the 104-74 win against Morgan State on Dec. 27, 2010.
The Cardinals connected for 11 three-pointers in the first half on Thursday, the most in any half since they made 13 triples on 20 attempts in the second half against Hartford (W, 104-69) on Nov. 17, 2007 at Freedom Hall. Louisville also set a school record for three-pointers in a game in that win over Hartford in 2007 making 22 overall on 35 attempts.
Louisville finished a season-high with 15 three-point baskets surpassing the 14 triples they had against UCF on Dec. 31, 2013. Overall, it was the most three-pointers for the Cardinals since they made 17 (on 23 attempts) against Morgan State (W, 104-74) on Dec. 27, 2010.
Louisville was 21-30 for 70.0 percent shooting from the field in the first half on Thursday, the second highest field goal percentage in any half this season trailing only the 71.4 percent (20-for-28) in the opening half against Louisiana-Lafayette (W, 113-74) on Dec. 7, 2013.
The 29-point lead after 20 minutes (57-28) was the Cardinals' second largest halftime lead this season behind only the 39-point advantage (53-14) against Cornell on Nov. 15.
Houston went through a stretch of 11:08 between made field goals in the game spanning the final 8:00 of the first half and the first 3:08 of the second half. During the cold stretch for Houston, Louisville outscored the Cougars 26-8 overall.
Louisville won the battle on the glass 41-37 ending a streak of six straight games in which the Cardinals were outrebounded.
Entering the week ranked third in the nation in turnover margin at +7.0, Louisville hit that number exactly on Thursday (16 turnovers for Houston, nine for Louisville).
Louisville was third nationally in scoring margin entering the week at +19.9 and they surpassed that total on Thursday with the 39-point victory. It was the second largest margin of victory this season (+45 vs. Cornell) and the third time the Cardinals have won a game by 39 points (Hartford, Louisiana-Lafayette).
Ranked 17th in the nation in the scoring offense entering the week at 83.0 points per game, the Cardinals surpassed the 90-point mark for the seventh time this season.
The Cardinals committed just nine turnovers marking the seventh time this season they have finished with fewer than 10 turnovers in a game.

LOUISVILLE PLAYER NOTES

Coming off the bench for the first time this season, junior Wayne Blackshear scored a career-high 23 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field, including 5-of-6 on three-pointers. His previous scoring high was 20 points against Cornell on Nov. 15, 2013.
Thursday's scoring total for Blackshear was more than his previous three games combined (18 total points against Rutgers, Memphis and SMU).
The five three-pointers for Blackshear equaled a career best matching his five triples against Villanova on Jan. 22, 2013.
The five three-point baskets on Thursday for Blackshear also equaled his three-point total from the previous six games combined.
Blackshear also pulled down a season-high seven rebounds (one shy of matching a career high) while playing 29 minutes, his third highest minutes played this season.
Senior Russ Smith scored in double-figures for the 18th straight game this season finishing with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, including 4-of-5 on three-pointers.
With 1,561 career points, Smith stands just four points behind Terrence Williams (2005-09) in 18th place on the Cardinals' career scoring leaderboard with 1,565 points. Smith needs just 23 points to vault into 15th place on the career scoring list at Louisville.
With three steals on Thursday, Smith moved into a tie for fourth on the Cardinals' career steals leaderboard with 220 equaling the total of Tick Rogers (1992-96).
Freshman Terry Rozier dished out a career best eight assists while scoring nine points with four rebounds, two steals and committing only one turnover in 26 minutes played.
Senior Luke Hancock reached double-figures in scoring for the fifth straight game connecting for 10 points.
After a one-game absence from the starting lineup, freshman Mangok Mathiang scored six points and pulled down five rebounds for highest total in each category since the FIU game on Dec. 21 (six points, seven rebounds).

University of Louisville Athletics

Players Mentioned

Wayne Blackshear

Luke Hancock

Montrezl Harrell

Mangok Mathiang

Terry Rozier

Russ Smith

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