No. 13 Louisvile Travels to Notre Dame

Saturday, February 13

South Bend, Ind.

4:00 PM ET

University of Louisville

Notre Dame

February 12, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Cardinals face the Fighting Irish on Saturday Afternoon

By: Kim Pemberton

GAME 25
Date: Feb. 13, 2016
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Site: Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center, Notre Dame, Ind. (9,149)
Television: ESPN2 - Sean McDonough, play-by-play; Miles Simon, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM; joined in progress on WHAS, 840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Doug Ormay, analyst (Sirius channel 81, XM 81)
Series History: UofL leads 20-13 (12-3 in Louisville, 4-7 at Notre Dame, 4-3 neutral)
Last Meeting: Notre Dame 71, UofL 59 (March 4, 2015 at KFC Yum! Center)
UofL National Ranking: 13^th Associated Press
Officials: Tim Clougherty,
Lamont Simpson, Tim Comer
Next UofL Game: Feb. 17 vs. Syracuse,
KFC Yum! Center, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)

With seven games remaining in its season, Louisville plays its second straight on the road as the Cardinals visit the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday. Louisville lost for just the second time in the last eight games in falling 72-65 at Duke on Feb. 8 as Donovan Mitchell led the Cards with 17 points off the bench, hitting 7-of-11 field goals. UofL had recovered from a 15-point second-half deficit to take the lead, but could not maintain.

The Cardinals are led by two players averaging double figures, Damion Lee leads the duo of top scorers with 16.7 points per game. Trey Lewis ranks second on the team in scoring with 12.3 per game. Chinanu Onuaku leads the team in rebounding with 8.5 per game while averaging 9.8 points per game.
Quentin Snider also leads the team in assists with 3.6 per game while averaging 9.7 points.

As a team, the Cardinals are shooting 48.1 percent from the field while holding opponents to 37.8 percent shooting. Louisville leads the nation in scoring margin, defeating opponents by an average of 18.0 points per game. The Cards are also averaging 40.2 rebounds and 13.4 assists per game.

Notre Dame (17-7, 8-4), which was ranked in the nation's top 25 four weeks earlier this season, won 89-83 at Clemson on Feb. 8 as Zach Auguste led all five starters in double figures with 19 points and eight rebounds.

Through Feb. 8, Notre Dame leads the nation in fewest turnovers per game (9.0), is 14th in field goal percentage (.488) and ninth in assists-to-turnovers ratio (1.57). Auguste is third in the ACC and 22nd nationally in rebounding (10.0) while Demetrius Jackson is the Irish's top scorer (16.2, 12th in the ACC). Notre Dame is 24th in the RPI and 28th in the Sagarin Ratings through Feb. 9.

Louisville has a 20-13 series advantage over Notre Dame. Louisville has won two of the last three meetings, but fell 71-59 to the Irish in Louisville last season as UofL's Montrezl Harrell totaled 23 points and 12 rebounds (3-4-15). The Cardinals have won 15 of the last 21 against the Irish. Eight of the last 16 have been decided in overtime. Louisville was a member of the Big East Conference with Notre Dame for eight seasons (2005-13).

CARD FILE:

Louisville is seeking its 14th straight 20-win season. The Cardinals are one of four schools to have won 20 or more games each of the past 13 seasons.
Louisville's academic performance in the 2015 fall semester was impressive, with 13 of 15 men's basketball student-athletes achieving a 3.0 or better grade point average. The Cardinals posted a collective 3.36 GPA for the 2015 fall semester, just short of the team record of 3.47 achieved in 2013.
Louisville's 142 victories over the last five years are the second-most wins in the nation in that stretch through Feb. 8.
UofL leads the nation in scoring margin (+18.0), is sixth in scoring defense (60.3), seventh in field goal percentage defense (.378), 11th in rebound margin (+9.5) and 10th in offensive rebounds (14.3).
With seven games remaining, Damion Lee needs 78 points to reach 2,000 for his career, including his three seasons at Drexel. Trey Lewis needs 42 points for 1,500 career points, including his time at Penn State and Cleveland State. Lee has scored in double figures in 21 of his 23 games this season while Lewis has 15 double-digit scoring efforts.
Ray Spalding has averaged 7.8 points and 6.3 rebounds over the last four games off the bench, the top scorer among the UofL bigs in that stretch.
Chinanu Onuaku was honored on the CoSIDA Academic All-District team, one of four ACC players with the recognition.