Louisville Postgame Notes

Feb. 27, 2014

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No. 7/4 Louisville 88, Temple 66
KFC Yum! Center - Feb. 27, 2014

LOUISVILLE TEAM NOTES

Thursday's game was the seventh all-time between Louisville and Temple with the Owls holding a 4-3 advantage all-time in a series that dates back to 1952. Tonight's win is the Cardinals' first victory in Louisville against Temple.
With tonight's win over Temple, the Cardinals have won four straight at home and 15 of their last 17 contests at the KFC Yum! Center.
Louisville improved to 65-9 all-time in the KFC Yum! Center, now in its fourth season in the venue.
The win over Temple moved the Cardinals to 24-4 overall this season, which is tied for the best overall start for head coach Rick Pitino at Louisville. The 2004-05 squad also started the year at 24-4.
Louisville made 17-of-30 shots from the field in the first half on Thursday, good for 56.7 percent. They also hit on 15-of-30 in the second half, marking the 23rd time this season the Cardinals have shot 50 percent or better in a half.
With the win over Temple, the Cardinals moved to 13-2 overall in conference action for the third time under head coach Rick Pitino. Louisville was also 16-2 in the BIG EAST in 2008-09 and 14-2 in Conference USA in 2004-05.
The Cardinals dished out 17 assists, marking the 15th time this year that they handed out 16 or more helpers in a game.
The Cardinals entered the week ranked 13th in the country in 3-point field goal defense at 29.4 percent and held Temple to 4-of-19 tonight from behind the arc.
Entering the week as the national leader in scoring margin at +20.6 per game, Louisville's 22-point margin on Thursday marked the 17th time this season they have won by 20 points or more.
The Cardinals had just nine turnovers on Thursday marking the seventh straight game and the 14th time this season they have finished with nine or fewer turnovers in a game.
Entering the week ranked No. 2 in the nation in turnover margin at +6.8, Louisville was +8 on Thursday night (17 turnovers by Temple and 9 by Louisville).
The Cardinals entered the week ranked third in the nation in steals at 9.6 per game and they finished Thursday's game with 13, which were the most since recording 13 versus USF on Jan. 22.
The Cardinals shot a blistering 53.3 percent from the floor on Thursday night, marking the14th this season that the Cardinals connected on 50.0 percent or better from the field. It was the highest field goal percentage since shooting 55.7 percent in a 102-54 win over Rutgers on Feb. 16.

LOUISVILLE PLAYER NOTES

Finishing with his 24 points on Thursday night, senior Russ Smith moved into eighth place on the Cardinals career scoring leaderboard with 1,731 points overall, surpassing Herbert Crook (1,723 points, 1984-88) and Charlie Tyra (1,728 points, 1953-57). The 24 points are the most for Smith since he tallied 27 versus UCF on Feb. 1. Smith has tallied double-digit points in 27 of 28 games this season and this was his ninth 20-point game of the season.
Smith led the Cardinals in scoring for the 13th time this season.
Finishing with four steals on Thursday, Smith is still in second place in career steals at Louisville with 237. It marked the fifth time this season that he has tallied four or more steals in a game. Smith is 17 steals behind career leader Peyton Siva with 254 from 2009-13.
With 21 points in the win over Temple, sophomore Montrezl Harrell has scored at least 14 points in nine of the last 10 games. He also scored 20 or more points in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. He is averaging 21.5 points per game in his last two contests and is shooting 17-of-28 (60.7 percent) over the last two contests.
With his career-high 19-point effort on Thursday, freshman Terry Rozier scored in double-figures for the fourth-straight game. He bested his previous career-best of 16 points in a win over Rutgers on Feb. 16 It's only the ninth time he has scored in double figures all season. He also connected on a career-best eight field goals, surpassing the six field goals he totaled versus Rutgers on Feb. 16.
Rozier is shooting 57.1 percent (24-of-42) from the floor in the last four games and is scorching the nets for 52.9 percent (9-of-17) from behind the arc over that same span.

University of Louisville Athletics

Players Mentioned

Montrezl Harrell

Terry Rozier

Peyton Siva

Russ Smith

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