Men's Basketball Travels to Grand Canyon

GAME 8
Date: Dec. 3, 2016
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Site: Grand Canyon University Arena, Phoenix, Ariz. (7,000)
Television: GCU TV (WAVE-TV in Louisville) Barry Buetel, play-by-play; Scott Williams, analyst; Kate Longworth, reporter. Available online at this link: http://gcutv.gcu.edu/player/0yQGrR43X_c/yt
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) - Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 113, XM 194, Internet 956)
Only Previous Meeting: UofL 111, GCU 63 (Dec. 5, 2015 at KFC Yum! Center)
UofL National Ranking: 14th USA Today, 14th Associated Press
Officials: Darron George, Mark Schnur, Vladimir Voyard-Tadal
Next UofL Game: Dec. 7 vs. Southern Illinois, KFC Yum! Center, 7 p.m.

Louisville plays its first true road game of the season when the Cardinals visit the Grand Canyon Antelopes in Phoenix, Ariz. on Saturday. Louisville won 71-64 over No. 15/16 Purdue on Wednesday in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge as the Cardinals limited the Boilermakers to 19 points and 25 percent shooting in the first half. Two front line players had near double-doubles for UofL in Ray Spalding (11 points, 9 rebounds) and Mangok Mathiang (11 points, 8 rebounds).

Two Cardinals are averaging double figures after the first three games of the season. Sophomore Donovan Mitchell leads Louisville in scoring with 12.3 points per game while Quentin Snider is second on the team with 10.7 points. Jaylen Johnson leads the team on the boards with 8.6 rebounds per game while also averaging 9.9 points per game. Snider leads the team with 24 assists on the year.

As a team, the Cardinals are shooting 41.9 percent from the field and 31.9 percent from behind the arc. UofL is averaging 45.4 rebounds per game while holding opponents to just 36.7 rebounds a game.

Grand Canyon (3-3) has won three of its last four games, but fell 76-64 to Southern Illinois Edwardsville on Nov. 28 in its last game as DeWayne Russell led the Antelopes with 26 points and three steals. Sophomore forward Keonta Vernon came off the bench with a double-double performance of 16 points and 14 rebounds vs. SIUE. Louisville is the third game of a five-game homestand for the Antelopes.

Coached by former NBA All-Star Dan Majerle in his fourth year at Grand Canyon, the Antelopes return four starters from its team which finished with a school-record win total (27-7 record) and participated in the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament. Grand Canyon is picked to finish second behind New Mexico State in the Western Athletic Conference. The Antelopes fell 96-61 at ACC member Duke on Nov. 11 in its opener. GCU is No. 186 in the Sagarin Ratings, 147 in the RPI and No. 182 in Ken Pomeroy's ratings through Nov 30.

Louisville won the first meeting between the two schools 111-63 last season at the KFC Yum! Center (12-5-15) as Damion Lee scored 24 points to lead the Cardinals, which shot 54.3 percent from the field. Saturday's game is the second of a three-game series, with Grand Canyon making another visit to Louisville in 2017.

CARD FILE:

Louisville has a 26-4 record during the month of December over the last four years, winning 14 of its last 17 in that month.
On its last visit to Phoenix, Ariz., Louisville advanced to the 2012 NCAA Final Four by defeating #5 Michigan State and #25 Florida in the NCAA West Regional.
UofL Coach Rick Pitino won his 750th career collegiate victory when the Cardinals beat Wichita State on Nov. 24. He needs three wins for his 400th victory at Louisville. He is one of five active coaches with at least 750 victories.
Donovan Mitchell leads the ACC and is 11^th in the nation in steals (2.7 per game). His seven steals against Old Dominion matched the fourth-most ever at UofL. His 19 steals in six games is just six less than he had his entire freshman year.
Louisville's 152 victories over the last six years are the fifth-most wins in the nation in that stretch. The Cards are one of just three teams to win at least 30 games in three of the last five seasons (30-10 in 2011-12, 35-5 in '12-13, 31-6 in '13-14).
Louisville is one of just four schools which have won 20 or more games in each of the last 14 seasons (also Kansas, Duke and Gonzaga).
UofL is seventh in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.348) and sixth in scoring defense (57.7 ppg) and 18th in three-point percentage defense (.272).
Anas Mahmoud's six blocked shots vs. Wichita St. tied for the 20th most by an individual at UofL and the most by a UofL player in 67 games. He is third in the ACC in blocks (2.1). As a team, UofL's 43 rejections ranks 11th in the nation in blocked shots.

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Players Mentioned

Jaylen Johnson

Damion Lee

Anas Mahmoud

Mangok Mathiang

Donovan Mitchell

Quentin Snider

Ray Spalding

University of Louisville Athletics