Men's Basketball Hosts Indiana on Saturday Afternoon

GAME 8
Date: Dec. 9, 2017
Time: 2:05 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,000) (120-16 in 8th year)
Television: ESPN - Dan Shulman, play-by-play; Jay Bilas, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 132, XM 193, Internet 955)
Series History: UofL trails 8-10 (4-3 in Louisville, 1-4 in Bloomington, 3-3 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 77, Indiana 62 (Dec. 31, 2016 at Indianapolis, Ind; Countdown Classic)
UofL National Ranking: unranked (receiving votes in the USA Today & AP polls)
Officials: Ted Valentine, Mike Eades Terry Wymer
Next UofL Game: Dec. 11 vs. Bryant, KFC Yum! Center, 7 p.m. ET (ESPNU) Houzz Gotham Classic

Louisville plays its third of four straight in the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals face the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday (Dec. 9, 2 p.m., ESPN). Louisville used an 18-0 second-half run to beat Siena 86-60 on Wednesday as the Cardinals blocked 15 shots, collected 11 steals and limited the Saints to 31.1 percent shooting from the field. Center Anas Mahmoud came within a blocked shot of what could have been only the fifth triple-double in UofL history with 17 points, 13 rebounds and nine blocks.

Deng Adel leads the Cardinals in scoring with 16.0 points per game. Spalding ranks second on the team with 9.7 points per game. Spalding leads the team on the boards with 9.1 rebounds per game. Quentin Snider leads the team with 26 assists. Freshman Jordan Nwora leads the team from behind the arc, shooting 50 percent on the year.

The Hoosiers (5-4, 1-1 Big Ten) have won four of their last six, including beating Iowa 77-64 on Dec. 4 in their Big Ten home opener as Indiana gathered 11 steals while Iowa committed 18 turnovers. IU dropped its Big Ten opener at Michigan 69-55 on Dec. 2.

Under new head coach Archie Miller, who coached the last six seasons at Dayton, Indiana is No. 80 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 84 by Ken Pomeroy and No. 175 in the RPI through Dec. 6. Indiana ranks 65th nationally in field goal percentage (.481), 42nd in blocked shots per game (5.1) and 57th in fewest turnovers per game (11.9). Morgan is the Hoosiers' leading scorer (13.8 ppg) and rebounder (6.3 ppg). Both teams fell to common opponent Seton Hall (Indiana lost 84-68 on Nov. 15; UofL lost 79-77 on Dec. 3).

Indiana has a 10-8 series advantage over Louisville, but the Cardinals have won the last three matchups. In the last meeting, Louisville prevailed 77-62 over then No. 16 Indiana in the Coundown Classic on New Year's Eve in Indianapolis, Ind. UofL shot 52.9 percent from the field, limited Indiana to 32.2 percent accuracy, and Donovan Mitchell scored 25 points off the bench.

CARDINAL NOTES

Louisville leads the nation in blocked shots (8.4 bpg) and ranks eighth in field goal percentage defense (.366) and 16th in FT% (.785).
Tri-captain Anas Mahmoud blocked a career-high nine shots vs. Siena, approaching a triple-double with 17 points, 13 rebounds and nine blocked shots. He has 144 career blocked shots and needs three swats to reach the top 10 in UofL career blocks. Mahmoud is second in the nation in blocks (4.3).
Louisville has won 59 of its last 61 non-conference games at home in the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals have won 23 of their last 24 home games against non-conference opponents.
Louisville has a 32-6 record during the month of December over the last six years, winning 20 of its last 25 in that month.
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).
Scoring leader Deng Adel (16.0 ppg) has five 20-point scoring efforts in his last 12 games stretching back to the end of last season, including three of seven games this season.

Quentin Snider needs 149 points to become the Cardinals' 68th career 1,000-point scorer. In two exhibition games, a pair of intrasquad scrimmages this season and seven regular season games, Snider has combined to produce 55 assists with 16 turnovers.

UofL's academic performance has been impressive, as Louisville 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.

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Players Mentioned

Deng Adel

Anas Mahmoud

Jordan Nwora

Quentin Snider

University of Louisville Athletics