Men's Basketball Travels to Kentucky for a Friday Afternoon Tip

GAME 13
Date: Dec. 29, 2017
Time: 1:06 p.m.
Site: Rupp Arena (23,500), Lexington, Ky.
Television: CBS (WLKY-TV in Louisville) Spero Dedes, play-by-play; Bill Raftery, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 83, XM 83, Internet 83)
Series History: UofL trails 16-34 (9-12 in Louisville, 5-18 in Lexington, 2-4 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 73, Kentucky 70 (Dec. 21, 2016 at KFC Yum! Center)
UofL National Ranking: unranked (receiving votes in the USA Today & AP polls)
Next UofL Game: Jan. 2 vs. Pittsburgh, KFC Yum! Center, 9:05 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Louisville will play its final non-conference game of the regular season as the Cardinals face intrastate rival Kentucky in Lexington, Ky. on Friday. Louisville won its sixth straight in beating Grand Canyon 74-56 on Dec. 23 in the KFC Yum! Center as Ray Spalding totaled a career-high 21 points and 16 rebounds while also contributing three assists and two blocked shots. It was Spalding's fifth double-double this season and seventh of his career. GCU, which had won four of its last five games entering the contest, was forced into 19 turnovers -- its third-highest of the season -- and scored a season-low point total.

Deng Adel leads the Cardinals in scoring with 15.6 points per game. Quentin Snider ranks second on the team, averaging 12.3 points per game while dishing out a team best 47 assists. Spalding leads the team on the boards with 9.6 rebounds per game and ranks third on the team in scoring with 10.8 points per game. Freshman Jordan Nwora leads the team from behind the arc, shooting 45.5 percent on the year.

Kentucky (9-2), ranked 16th in the AP and 15th in the USA Today polls, has won seven of its last eight games, falling 83-75 to UCLA in New Orleans in its last game on Dec. 23 as Hamidou Diallo led UK with 18 points. The Wildcats' only other loss this season came to Kansas 65-61 on Nov. 14.

Kentucky is 18th in the nation in blocked shots (6.0 per game), 32nd in field goal percentage (.495), and 44th in rebound margin (+6.7). Kentucky is No. 34 in the RPI, No. 21 in the Sagaring Ratings and No. 18 by Ken Pomeroy through Dec. 23. Kevin Knox is the Wildcats' top scorer (15.7 ppg.).

Louisville trails the all-time series against Kentucky 16-34. UK has won eight of the last 10. The Wildcats hold a 25-12 advantage since the series resumed in 1983. Louisville's last win in the series in Lexington was an 89-75 UofL victory on Jan. 5, 2008.

The 10th-ranked Cardinals won last year's matchup 73-70 over the No. 6 Wildcats in the KFC Yum! Center (12-21-16) as Quentin Snider totaled 22 points, six rebounds and five assists to earn game MVP honors. On the Cardinals' last visit to Lexington, Kentucky won 75-73 (12/26/15) as Damion Lee's (27 points in the game) three-point attempt at the buzzer fell short.

CARDINAL NOTES

Louisville is second in the nation in blocked shots (8.4 bpg) and ranks 13th in field goal percentage defense (.376) and 39th in scoring defense (64.6 ppg).
In winning its last six games, UofL has shot a combined 47 percent from the field, including 38.7 percent from the three-point line (53-of-137), and blocked an average of 9.5 shots.
Quentin Snider has averaged a team-high 16.0 points, made 12-of-22 three-pointers and handed out 23 assists over the last six games. The Most Outstanding Player of the Gotham Classic, Snider needs 69 points to become the Cardinals' 68th career 1,000-point scorer.
Tri-captain Anas Mahmoud matched a career-high with nine blocked shots vs. Albany to games ago, adding nine points and seven rebounds. He moved up to ninth in career blocked shots at UofL (166) and is second in the nation in blocks (4.3). He also blocked a career-high nine shots vs. Siena with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
Louisville has a 37-6 record during the month of December over the last six years.
Louisville is one of just four schools which have won 20 or more games in each of the last 15 seasons (also Kansas, Duke and Gonzaga).
Louisville achieved a collective 3.083 grade-point average for the 2017 fall semester, with nine of 14 current student-athletes earning a 3.0 or better GPA (19th consecutive semester with at least a team 3.0 GPA). UofL is one of only two schools in the nation to have perfect men's basketball multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores each of the past four years. A league-high six Cardinals were named to the 2017 All-ACC Academic Team.

Men's Basketball Travels to Kentucky for a Friday Afternoon Tip

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Players Mentioned

Deng Adel

Anas Mahmoud

Jordan Nwora

Quentin Snider

Ray Spalding

University of Louisville Athletics