Louisville Postgame Notes

March 8, 2014

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No. 11/9 Louisville 81, No. 19 Connecticut 48
March 8, 2014
KFC Yum! Center

LOUISVILLE TEAM NOTES

Saturday's game was the 16th all-time meeting between Louisville and Connecticut with the Cardinals holding a 10-6 advantage all-time in a series that dates back to 2000. The Cardinals have won eight of the last nine meetings in the series. Today's win was the largest margin of victory in the series.
The Cardinals won a share of the American Athletic Conference with the win over Connecticut on Saturday to capture its second-straight league title. The Cardinals captured the BIG EAST regular-season title a year ago. Louisville finished this season at 15-3 in the league and tied for the title with Cincinnati. It's the fourth title that head coach Rick Pitino has led his team too in his 12 seasons as head coach.
With tonight's win over Connecticut, the Cardinals have won five straight at home and 16 of their last 18 contests at the KFC Yum! Center.
Louisville improved to 66-9 all-time in the KFC Yum! Center, now in its fourth season in the venue.
With the win over Connecticut, the senior class finished with 116 wins, which is the most by any four-year class in school history. Seniors Russ Smith Stephan Van Treese, Tim Henderson and Luke Hancock have six more wins than the next closest four-year class that finished last year with 110.
The Cardinals finished the 2013-14 regular season with a 16-2 mark at home.
The Cardinals have now won 12 of their last 13 Senior Days with today's victory over Connecticut.
The Cardinals held the Huskies to just 18 first-half points and just 20.0 percent shooting from the field, marking the third time this season an opponent shot 20.0 percent or lower from the field in the first half (Cornell and Cincinnati).
Over the past 10 years (since 2005), Louisville owns a 53-19 in the month of March and is also 20-3 over the last three seasons.
Entering the week as the national leader in scoring margin at +19.5 per game, Louisville's 33-point margin on Thursday marked the 18th time this season they have won by 20 points or more. It was Louisville's eighth win by 30 or more points this season. The 48 points scored by the Huskies were their lowest output of the season, as was their 29.4 shooting percentage.
The Cardinals dished out 20 assists, marking the 17th time this year that they handed out 16 or more helpers in a game.
The Cardinals entered the week ranked 20th in the country in 3-point field goal defense at 30.0 percent and held Connecticut to 3-of-22 today from behind the arc. It marked the third time this season that Louisville held the opposition to less than 15.0 percent shooting from behind the arc.
The Cardinals entered the week ranked third in the nation in steals at 9.9 per game and they finished Saturday's game with 12.
Louisville connected on 10-of-22 from the 3-point line, marking the 12th time that the Cardinals recorded 10 or more 3-pointers in a game this season.

LOUISVILLE PLAYER NOTES

Ending the game with a career-high 13 assists, it marked the 16th time this season that senior Russ Smith recorded five or more assists in a game this year. He has registered five or more helpers in four of his last five games and has 23 in the last three contests. His previous career-high for assists was 11 versus UMKC on Dec. 4, 2013.
Finishing the game 1-of-3 from the free-throw line, Smith moved into a tie for third place on the school's career free throws made list with 448, tying Charlie Tyra (1953-57).
Wayne Blackshear finished with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the floor in the win over the Huskies. It was Blackshear's first double-digit scoring performance since tallying 10 points on Feb. 16 versus Rutgers. He made 3-of-7 3-point field goals, which were his most 3-point field goals made since he connected on three versus USF on Jan. 22.
Senior Stephan Van Treese collected a season-high 13 rebounds in Saturday's win over the Huskies, besting his previous high of eight versus Missouri State (Dec. 17) and USF (Feb. 18). He totaled a career-high 14 rebounds on Jan. 9, 2011.
Finishing with four steals on Saturday, Smith remains in second place in career steals at Louisville with 246. It marked the sixth time this season that he has tallied four or more steals in a game. Smith is eight steals behind career leader Peyton Siva with 254 from 2009-13.
With 20 points and 13 rebounds in the win over Connecticut, Montrezl Harrell recorded his eighth double-double in the last 16 games. He has grabbed double-digit rebounds in 11 games this year. Over the last five games, Harrell is averaging 21.2 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game. He has scored 20 or more points in four of the last five games.
Luke Hancock scored 16 points in the win over Connecticut, going 5-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-7 from behind the arc. It marked the fifth time this season that he connected on four or more trifectas. He is averaging 14.0 points per game in his last three contests.

Players Mentioned

Wayne Blackshear

Luke Hancock

Montrezl Harrell

Tim Henderson

Peyton Siva

Russ Smith

Stephan Treese

University of Louisville Athletics

Louisville Postgame Notes

Players Mentioned

Wayne Blackshear

Luke Hancock

Montrezl Harrell

Tim Henderson

Peyton Siva

Russ Smith

Stephan Treese

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