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Louisville-UNCW Postgame Notes
December 14, 2014 | Men's Basketball
Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery 
| USA Today
LOUISVILLE TEAM NOTES
• Sunday night's game served as the 13th annual Billy Minardi Classic, originated in 2002 to honor the memory of Billy Minardi, brother-in-law of Louisville head coach Rick Pitino who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
• The Cardinals improved to 16-1 all-time in the Billy Minardi Classic and have won 12 of the 13 championships.
• Sunday's win was the 350th victory for Pitino at Louisville, where nearly half of the collegiate wins during his Hall of Fame career have come (350-117).
• Louisville extended its home winning streak against non-conference foes to 34 games dating back to December 2010. The Cardinals are 7-0 this season and were 9-0 in 2013-14, 7-0 in 2012-13 and 11-0 in 2011-12 in non-conference home games.
• The Cardinals improved to 29-5 in the month of December over the last four years, including a 17-1 mark the last three seasons.
• The 9-0 start for the Cardinals in 2014-15 continues their best opening stretch to a season since starting the 2011-12 season with an 11-0 mark.
• In the first ever matchup between Louisville and UNC Wilmington, the Cardinals have now won 10 straight games against first-time opponents.
• UNC Wilmington is coached by former Louisville assistant Kevin Keatts, who is in his first season with the Seahawks after helping the Cardinals produce a 96-21 record over the last three years (2011-14). Keatts is one of 27 former Pitino assistants or players who have risen to a collegiate head coaching position. Pitino has a collective 38-10 record in games against his former assistants.
• Louisville has led at the half in each of its nine games this season, including a 32-24 advantage on Sunday night. The Cardinals have a 69-1 record the last three seasons (29-0 in 2012-13 and 31-1 in 2013-14) when leading at halftime.
• The Cardinals are 280-42 when holding its opponent below 70 points over the past 14 years under Pitino (8-0 this year, 27-1 last year, 32-1 in 2012-13).
• Louisville produced two runs of 8-0 or better on Sunday -- an 8-0 run over a span of 4:02 in the first half to increase a 19-18 edge to a 27-18 advantage and an 8-0 run over a span of 3:23 in the second half to push a 38-28 lead to 46-28. Overall, the Cardinals have created 25 runs of 8-0 or better this season through the first nine games.
• The Cardinals have won eight of their nine games this season by at least 11 points with only the nine-point victory over Ohio State (64-55) serving as single-digit margin.
• Louisville finished with a 44-35 advantage on the glass to improve to 8-0 this season when outrebounding its opponent.
• Louisville made just 1-of-13 attempts from three-point range on Sunday for the fewest three-pointers in a game since March 15, 2012 against Davidson (1-of-5).
• The 7.7 percent shooting from three-point range against UNCW is the lowest for the Cardinals since finishing 1-of-14 (7.1 percent) against Cincinnati on Feb. 23, 2012.
• The Cardinals finished with seven assists on Sunday night, their second lowest total of the season (six against Cleveland State).
LOUISVILLE PLAYER NOTES
• Junior Montrezl Harrell scored 19 points and pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds to earn his 17th career double-double, including his fifth straight this season, and was named as the Most Valuable Player of the 2014 Billy Minardi Classic.
• The 17 rebounds for Harrell were the most for a Louisville player since Gorgui Dieng had 17 rebounds against St. John's on Feb. 14, 2013 (72-58 win at KFC Yum! Center).
• Harrell finished the night 9-for-17 from the field while matching his career-high for attempts (also had 17 field goal attempts against Memphis on March 1, 2014.
• Harrell has led the Cardinals in scoring in five of nine games this season and has scored in double figures in an ACC-leading 21 straight games, including 13 games with 15 points or more.
• Sophomore Terry Rozier joined Harrell with 19 points connecting on 8-of-17 shots from the field. The 17 field goals attempts match a career-high equaling the total he had in Tuesday's victory against Indiana.
• Rozier has scored in double-figures in each of the last four games and in eight of nine games this season.
• Senior Wayne Blackshear added 10 points to finish in double-figures in scoring for the seventh time in nine games this season.
• Blackshear connected for the only three-pointer of the night for the Cardinals and has made at least one three-point basket in each of Louisville's first nine games this season.
• Blackshear also pulled down eight rebounds on Sunday, one shy of his career-high mark of nine set earlier this season against Jacksonville State.
• Senior Chris Jones chipped in with 10 points, the eighth time in nine games he has reached double figures.
