Men's Basketball Hosts Clemson Thursday Night at the KFC Yum! Center

GAME 19
Date: Jan. 19, 2017
Time: 9:05 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,000) (109-15 in 7th year)
Television: ESPN - Jason Benetti, play-by-play; Dan Dakich, analyst.
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) - Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst. (Sirius channel 84, XM 84, Internet 84)
Series History: UofL leads 4-1 (3-0 in Louisville, 1-1 at Clemson)
Last Meeting: Clemson 66, UofL 62 (Jan. 10, 2016 at Greenville, S.C.)
UofL National Ranking: 11th USA Today, 12th Associated Press
Officials: James Luckie, Michael Roberts, Jeffrey Anderson
Next UofL Game: Jan. 21 at Florida State, Tallahassee, Fla., 2 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Louisville will play its third straight in the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals face the Clemson Tigers on Thursday. Louisville won for the 10th time in its last 12 games in winning 78-69 over Duke on Saturday as UofL center Anas Mahmoud set career-highs with 17 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. UofL shot 58.6 percent from the field in the second half, handed out as many as 16 assists in the game for the fourth time this year and forced Duke into a season-high 18 turnovers. The game is the first in a tight turnaround for the Cardinals, with UofL playing at Florida State about 39 hours after completion of Thursday's game.

Sophomore Donovan Mitchell leads three Cardinals who are averaging double figures. Mitchell is averaging 13.6 points per game and 5.1 rebounds. Quentin Snider, who is out with an injury for two to three weeks, ranks second on the team in scoring with 12.1 points per game along with a team leading 72 assists. Deng Adel rounds out the top scorers with 10.4 points per game. Jaylen Johnson leads the Cardinals on the boards with 6.5 rebounds per game.

As a team, the Cardinals are shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 34.2 percent from behind the arc. UofL is averaging 41.2 rebounds per game while holding opponents to 35.2 rebounds a game.

Clemson (11-6, 1-4 ACC) had won nine straight before dropping its last four games, including a 77-73 loss at home to Virginia on Jan. 14 in its last outing. Graduate forward Jaron Blossomgame led Clemson with 22 points and six rebounds in the loss.

The Tigers are second in the nation in fewest fouls (248), 13th in turnover margin (+4.6), 17th in fewest turnovers per game (10.8) and 30th in steals per game (8.3). Blossomgame (18.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg this season) is only the seventh player in Clemson history with at least 1,400 points and 700 rebounds in a career. Blossomgame is 13th on the
Clemson career scoring list. Senior guard Avry Holmes (11.3 ppg, 36-of-92 three-pointers, .391) reached the 1,000 career points scoring mark earlier this season. The Tigers have won three of their five road games this season. Clemson is No. 43 in the RPI, No. 32 in the Sagarin Ratings and No. 28 by Ken Pomeroy through games of Jan. 15.

Louisville has a 4-1 series advantage over Clemson, but the Cardinals fell 66-62 in last year's meeting in Greenville, S.C. as Chinanu Onuaku led UofL with 14 points and 10 rebounds (1-10-16).

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 fourth in the nation in blocked shots (6.6 bpg). UofL had 12 blocks at Ga. Tech.
Louisville has won at least 15 of its first 18 games for the fifth straight season. The Cards' best start in that stretch was 16-2 during UofL's 2012-13 NCAA Championship year.
Over the last five games, Donovan Mitchell has averaged 19.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and made 16-of-37 three-pointers (.432). Mitchell is second in the ACC and is 24^th in the nation in steals (2.2 per game).
Louisville has a 36-16 record during the month of January over the last seven years, including a 20-7 record in the last four years.
Louisville has a 31-8 record in its conference home games over the last five years (.795), including an 8-1 record last season in ACC games in the KFC Yum! Center.
UofL Coach Rick Pitino, who has a 406-137 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 161 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).

Men's Basketball Hosts Clemson Thursday Night at the KFC Yum! Center

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Players Mentioned

Deng Adel

Jaylen Johnson

Anas Mahmoud

Donovan Mitchell

Chinanu Onuaku

Quentin Snider

University of Louisville Athletics