Men's Basketball Opens Season with Minnesota on Friday Night
November 13, 2014 | Men's Basketball
GAME FACTS - Louisville vs. Minnesota
Site: U.S. Air Station Borinquen, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico (about 1,400 seats)
Television: ESPN -- Dan Shulman, play-by-play; Jay Bilas, analyst; Andy Katz, reporter. Pregame/halftime/post show: Kevin Conners, Jay Williams
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play. ESPN Radio: Mark Kestecher, play-by-play; Bob Valvano,analyst. (Sirius/XM channel 91) Series History: UofL trails 2-3 (0-1 in Louisville, 0-1 in Minneapolis, 2-1 neutral)
Last Meeting: Minnesota 70, UofL 64 (Dec. 20, 2008 at Glendale, Ariz. 2008 Stadium Shootout) UofL National Ranking: 9th USA Today, 8th Associated Press
Officials: Terry Wymer, Brian Dorsey, John Gaffney
Next UofL Game: Nov. 17, Jacksonville State at KFC Yum! Center, Global Sports Showcase, 7:05 p.m., (ESPN3)
Game Notes vs. Bellarmine
Louisville will open its 2014-15 and 101st men's basketball season on Friday as the Cardinals face Minnesota in the Armed Forces Classic, played in a hanger at U.S. Air Station Borinquen, a Coast Guard base in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.
UofL has won its two exhibition games, including an 82-57 victory over Bellarmine last Sunday. Four Cardinals scored in double figures to lift the team over the Knights. Montrezl Harrell scored a game-high 17 points, while Wayne Blackshear added 16, and guards Chris Jones and Terry Rozier added 14 and 10, respectively. The Cardinals set the tone for the afternoon with a dominant first half that saw them construct a 29-point lead. Jones led the way for the Cardinals, scoring 14 points in the first frame, including 12 of the Cardinals' first 18. The senior swiped four steals in the half and dished out three assists.
Louisville returns two starters and eight lettermen from its successful 2013-14 squad which reached the NCAA Sweet 16 with a 31-6 record, earned the American Athletic Conference co-championship, won the league tournament title. Additionally, Louisville earned its fourth consecutive conference Team Academic Excellence Award, which recognizes the highest collective grade point average in each league sport. The Cardinals have won a nation-leading 96 games over the last three seasons.
Coached by Richard Pitino, a former UofL assistant and the son of Cardinals' Coach Rick Pitino, Minnesota, which won a school-record 25 games and the 2014 NIT Championship, is picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten by Lindy's Sports. The Golden Gophers return four starters, including its scoring, rebounding and assist leaders who are each seniors: 6-2 guard Andre Hollins (13.6 ppg), 6-11 center Elliott Eliason (6.6 rpg), 5-9 guard DeAndre Mathieu (4.5 apg). Minnesota beat Minnesota Duluth 95-68 in an exhibition game on Nov. 6 as 6-5 junior guard Carlos Morris' 23 points led five Gophers in double figures.
The Golden Gophers have won three of the five previous matchups, including a 70-64 Minnesota win in the last meeting in the 2008 Stadium Shootout at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Louisville's two victories in the series both came in the NCAA Tournament, including the 1982 NCAA Mideast Regional Semifinals and 1994 West Region Second Round.
UofL Coach Rick Pitino's final University of Kentucky squad beat the Gophers 78-69 in the NCAA national semifinals on March 29, 1997. UK finished as national runner-up to Arizona that season. Louisville has a collective 36-37 record against current members of the Big Ten. The Cardinals' last faced a Big Ten opponent when UofL prevailed 82-76 over Michigan in the 2013 NCAA Championship game in Atlanta, Ga. (4/8/13). UofL faces Big Ten members Ohio State on Dec. 2 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, and Indiana on Dec. 9 in the Jimmy V Classic.
CARDINAL NOTES:
• Louisville has won 19 of its last 21 season opening games, including winning its last 10 straight openers.
• Friday's game will mark the 18th time a father-son coaching matchup has occurred in college basketball. Dad has won 15 of the previous 17 matchups.
• Louisville's 96 victories over the last three years are the most wins in the nation in that stretch. Louisville is the only school in the nation with three straight 30 win seasons, including a school-record 35 victories amassed by Louisville's 2012-13 NCAA Championship team (30 in 2011-12, 31 in 2013-14).
• Last season, Louisville reached the NCAA Sweet 16 for the 20th time in school history, tied for the fourth-most in the nation. Louisville, Michigan State and Florida (last four) are the only schools that have reached each of the last three Sweet 16's.
• Louisville Coach Rick Pitino enters this season just five victories short of 700 collegiate coaching wins. He is one of five active collegiate coaches in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, four of which are in the ACC.
• Louisville is one of just eight schools which have won 20 or more games in each of the last 12 seasons. Three others are in the ACC (Duke, Syracuse, Pittsburgh).
