Men's Basketball Hosts Duke on Saturday Afternoon

GAME 18
Date: Jan. 14, 2017
Time: 12:04 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,000) (108-15 in 7th year)
Television: ESPN - Dan Shulman, play-byplay; Jay Bilas, analyst; Maria Taylor, reporter.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) - Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst. (Sirius channel 84, XM 84, Internet 84)
Also: Compass Media Networks – Gregg Daniels, play-by-play; Mike Wozniak, color.
Series History: UofL trails 5-7 (2-2 in Louisville, 1-2 in Durham, 2-3 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 71, Duke 64 (Feb. 20, 2016 at KFC Yum! Center)
UofL National Ranking: 15th USA Today, 14th Associated Press
Officials: Mike Eades, Ed Corbett, Pat Driscoll
Next UofL Game: Jan. 19 vs. Clemson, KFC Yum! Center, noon ET (ESPN)

Louisville will play its second of three straight at home in the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals face the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday. Louisville won for the ninth time in its last 11 games in beating Pittsburgh 85-80 on Wednesday as Quentin Snider led the Cardinals with 22 points and five assists and Donovan Mitchell added 15 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. UofL had a 45-30 rebounding advantage and led by as many as 26 points early in the second half.

Mitchell leads three Cardinals who are averaging double figures. Mitchell is averaging 13.5 points per game and 5.1 rebounds. Snider ranks second on the team in scoring with 12 points per game along with a team leading 66 assists. Deng Adel rounds out the top scorers with 10.6 points per game. Jaylen Johnson leads the Cardinals on the boards with 6.7 rebounds per game.

As a team, the Cardinals are shooting 43.6 percent from the field and 34 percent from behind the arc. UofL is averaging 41.8 rebounds per game while holding opponents to 35.4 rebounds a game.

Duke (14-3, 2-2 ACC), ranked seventh by both AP and USA Today, has won 12 of its last 14 games, but lost 88-72 at Florida State on Jan. 10 in its last game. The Blue Devils had won 10 straight before falling at Virginia Tech on Dec. 31 in their only other ACC loss.

Duke is seventh in the nation in scoring margin (+18.6), 18th in scoring offense (84.5 ppg), 10th in three-point field goal defense (.291), 15th in three-point field goal percentage defense (.291), 29th in free throws made (306), 36th in rebounding margin (+6.1) and 29th in field goal percentage (.483). Duke has won its home ACC games against Georgia Tech and Boston College while falling at Virginia Tech and Florida State. The Blue Devils had won 10 straight before falling at Virginia Tech on Dec. 31.

Assistant coach Jeff Capel is serving as acting head coach while Mike Krzyzewski recovers from lower back surgery. Capel was the head coach at Oklahoma when the Cardinals beat the Sooners 78-48 in the 2008 NCAA Tournament second round in Birmingham, Ala. (3-23-08). UofL went on to reach the NCAA Elite Eight that season. Duke is No. 13 in the RPI, No. 6 in the Sagarin Ratings and No. 9 by Ken Pomeroy through Jan. 11.

Duke has a 7-5 series edge over Louisville and the teams split last year's two meetings: Duke won 72-65 in Durham when Donovan Mitchell led UofL with 17 points off the bench (2-8-16); and the Cardinals prevailed 71-64 in Louisville (2-20-16) as Damion Lee scored 24 points and Chinanu Onuaku added 10 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots for the Cardinals.

CARD FILE

Louisville posted a collective 3.18 grade point average for the recently completed 2016 fall semester, with 10 men's basketball student-athletes achieving a 3.0 or better GPA.
Louisville is second in the nation in blocked shots (6.8 bpg). UofL had 12 blocks at Ga. Tech.
Louisville has won at least 14 of its first 17 games for the fifth straight season. The Cards' best start in that stretch was 16-1 during UofL's 2012-13 NCAA Championship year.
Donovan Mitchell is tied for the ACC lead and is 18th in the nation in steals (2.2 per game). He had five steals at Notre Dame, the second-most of his career. His 38 steals in 17 games is 13 more than he had his entire freshman year.
Louisville has a 35-16 record during the month of January over the last seven years, including a 19-7 record in the last four years.
Louisville has a 30-8 record in its conference home games over the last five years (.789), including an 8-1 record last season in ACC games in the KFC Yum! Center.
UofL Coach Rick Pitino, who has a 405-137 record in his 16th season at Louisville, won his 400th victory with the Cardinals on Dec. 10. He won his 750th career collegiate victory when the Cards beat Wichita State on Nov. 24. He is one of five active coaches with at least 750 victories.
Louisville's 160 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).

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Players Mentioned

Deng Adel

Jaylen Johnson

Damion Lee

Donovan Mitchell

Chinanu Onuaku

Quentin Snider

University of Louisville Athletics