Men's Basketball Travels to No. 2 Virginia on Wednesday

GAME 22
Date: Jan. 31, 2018
Time: 7:01 p.m.
Site: John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, Va. (14,623)
Television: ESPN2 - Karl Ravech, play-by-play; Dick Vitale, analyst.
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 81, XM 81, Internet 81)
Series History: UofL trails 4-10 (3-5 in Louisville, 1-5 in Charlottesville)
Last Meeting: Virginia 71, UofL 55 (Feb. 6, 2017 at Charlottesville, Va.)
UofL National Ranking: unranked (receiving votes in the AP and USA Today polls)
Officials: Roger Ayers, Ron Groover, Michael Roberts
Next UofL Game: Feb. 3 vs. Florida State, KFC Yum! Center, 4 p.m. ET (ACC Network/ WHAS-TV in Louisville)

The top two teams in the ACC standings will square off on Wednesday when Louisville plays on the road at Charlottesville, Va. to face the ACC-leading Virginia Cavaliers to close out the month of January. Louisville (16-5, 6-2 ACC) moved into second place in the ACC as the Cardinals beat Wake Forest 96-77 on Saturday in the KFC Yum! Center, winning for the fifth time in its last six games. Quentin Snider and V.J. King scored 15 points each to lead the Cardinals, who shot 50.7 percent from the field and gained 42 points from its bench.

Deng Adel leads the Cardinals in scoring with 15.6 points per game. Snider ranks second on the team, averaging 13.1 points per game while dishing out a team best 85 assists. Ray Spalding leads the team on the boards with 9.3 rebounds per game and ranks third on the team in scoring with 11.0 points per game. Ryan McMahon leads the team from behind the arc, shooting 37.5 percent on the year.

Ranked second in the nation by both AP and USA Today, Virginia (20-1, 9-0 ACC) has won a dozen straight, including a 65-63 victory at No. 4 Duke on Jan. 27 in its last game. Kyle Guy led four Cavaliers in double figures in that game with 17 points.

Virginia features the nation's most staunch defense according to Ken Pomeroy, leading the nation in scoring defense (52.1) and is third in field goal percentage defense (.370), sixth in turnover margin (+5.4) and fifth in three-point field goal percentage defense (.291). Virginia is No. 3 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 2 by Ken Pomeroy, and No. 1 in the RPI through Jan. 28.

Louisville has a 4-10 series record against Virginia and the Cavaliers have won the last four straight. Virginia prevailed in both matchups last season, winning 61-53 in Louisville (12-28-16) in the ACC opener and 71-55 in Charlottesville (2-6-17).

CARDINAL NOTES

Louisville has collected nine or more steals in six conference games, including a season-high 12 against Wake Forest that led to a season-best 28 points off turnovers. Seven different Cardinals had a steal, led by Darius Perry's three. UofL leads the ACC in steals in league games (8.3).
Louisville is second in the nation in blocked shots (7.3 bpg) and ranks seventh in field goal percentage defense (.389) and 11th in 3-point defense (.305). Center Anas Mahmoud is third in the nation in blocked shots (3.41) and Ray Spalding is 13th in offensive rebounds (2.15).
Louisville is one of four teams in the nation with at least eight different players that have made 10 or more three-pointers this season. Five Cardinals combined to make 10 threes vs. Wake Forest (10-of-25, .400). UofL is 11-0 when it makes eight or more threes.
Louisville has a 30-18 record in its conference road games over the last six years (.625). UofL has the fifth-most conference road wins in its four years in the ACC with 16.
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 has a 29-10 record during the month of January over the last five years (.744).
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 No. 2 Virginia on Wednesday

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Players Mentioned

Deng Adel

V.J. King

Anas Mahmoud

Ryan McMahon

Darius Perry

Quentin Snider

Ray Spalding

University of Louisville Athletics