Men's Basketball Travels to Wake Forest on Wednesday

GAME 30
Date: March 1, 2017
Time: 9:05 p.m.
Site: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, N.C. (14,665)
Television: Regional Sports Networks/Fox Sports South in Louisville - Wes Durham, play-by-play; Dan Bonner, 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 (1-0 in Louisville, 1-0 in Winston-Salem, 2-1 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 65, Wake Forest 57 (Jan. 3, 2016 at KFC Yum! Center)
UofL National Ranking: seventh USA Today, eighth Associated Press
Officials: Brian Dorsey, Ron Groover, Jeff Clark
Next UofL Game: March 4 vs. Notre Dame, KFC Yum! Center, 2 p.m. ET (CBS)

Louisville plays its final road game of the season and its first in the month of March as the Cardinals visit the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Wednesday. Louisville posted its11th victory in its last 14 games in prevailing 88-68 over Syracuse on Feb. 26 as Donovan Mitchell led the Cardinals with 25 points while connecting on 6-of-10 three-pointers. Ray Spalding added his second career double-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds and two steals.

Mitchell leads three Cardinals who are averaging double figures. He is averaging 16.1 points per game and 4.7 rebounds. Quentin Snider ranks second on the team in scoring with 12.3 points per game along with a team leading 94 assists. Deng Adel rounds out the top scorers with 11.4 points per game. Jaylen Johnson leads the Cardinals on the boards with 6.0 rebounds per game.

As a team, the Cardinals are shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from behind the arc. UofL is averaging 39.7 rebounds per game while holding opponents to 34.2 rebounds a game.

Wake Forest (16-12, 7-9 ACC) has won four of its last seven games, including a 63-59 win over Pittsburgh on Feb. 22 in its last game. The Demon Deacons, which feature the nation's 12th most efficient offense by the KenPom ratings, have had the week off since then.

Wake Forest is 14th nationally in free throw percentage (.770), 24th in scoring offense (81.6 ppg), 31st in assists turnovers ratio (1.33) and 54th in three-point field goal percentage (.380). Sophomore John Collins leads the ACC in field goal percentage (.621, 14th in the nation) and is second in rebounding (9.8 rpg), third in blocked shots (1.6 bpg) and fifth in scoring (19.1 ppg). Collins has the ACC's most improved scoring average, up 11.8 points from his 7.3 average last year.

Louisville has a 4-1 series advantage over Wake Forest, winning the two previous meetings in ACC play. In last year's matchup, Louisville prevailed 65-57 in the KFC Yum! Center (1-3-16) as Donovan Mitchell scored a season-high 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Chinanu Onuaku added 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Cardinals. UofL's 85-76 victory on Jan. 7, 2015 in Winston-Salem, N.C. was the Cardinals' first-ever ACC game. Two meetings have come in NCAA Tournament action, with the teams splitting those two matchups.

CARD FILE

With its win over Virginia Tech on Feb. 18, Louisville won its 1,800th victory in its 103 seasons of collegiate basketball. UofL is 10^th in the nation in all-time victories (1,801-898).
Louisville posted a collective 3.18 grade point average for the recently completed 2016 fall semester, with 11 men's basketball student-athletes achieving a 3.0 or better GPA.
Louisville is 11th in the nation in field goal defense (.391), ninth in blocked shots (5.6 bpg), 14th in three-point field goal percentage defense (.304), 13th in scoring margin (+13.0) and 13^th in offensive rebounds per game (13.4).
Louisville has faced the nation's toughest schedule according to the RPI (through Feb. 26). The Cardinals are fourth in the RPI.
Louisville has won at least 23 of its first 29 games in four of the last five seasons.
In his last 16 games, Donovan Mitchell has averaged 19.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.1 steals and has made 51-of- 116 three-pointers (.440). Mitchell leads the ACC and is 17th in the nation in steals (2.1 per game). He is among the top 30 candidates for the Naismith Trophy for national player of the year.
Louisville has a 32-8 record (.800) in March over the last five years (since 2012). The Cards are 17-8 record in regular season games in March over the last 12 years (since 2005).
Louisville has a 28-15 record in its conference road games over the last five years (.651).
Louisville's 169 victories over the last six years are the fifth-most wins in the nation in that stretch.
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).

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Players Mentioned

Deng Adel

Jaylen Johnson

Donovan Mitchell

Chinanu Onuaku

Quentin Snider

Ray Spalding

University of Louisville Athletics