Men's Basketball Hosts Syracuse for a Big Monday Matchup

GAME 24
Date: Feb. 5, 2018
Time: 7:01 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,000) (128-17 in 8th year)
Television: ESPN - Sean McDonough, play-by-play; LaPhonso Ellis, analyst; Allison Williams, reporter.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM; joined in progress on WHAS 840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 81, XM 81, Internet 81)
Series History: UofL leads 18-8 (9-3 in Louisville, 4-5 in Syracuse, 5-0 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 88, Syracuse 68 (Feb. 26, 2017 at KFC Yum! Center)
UofL National Ranking: unranked (receiving votes in the AP and USA Today polls)
Officials: Mike Eades, Michael Stephens, Keith Kimble
Next UofL Game: Feb. 8 vs. Georgia Tech, KFC Yum! Center, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

Louisville will play its second of three straight at home in the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals face the Syracuse Orange on ESPN's Big Monday. Louisville (16-7, 6-4 ACC) lost for the third time in four games in falling 80-76 to Florida State on Saturday. Deng Adel led four Cardinals in double figures with 19 points and eight rebounds, his highest scoring output in seven games.

Deng Adel leads the Cardinals in scoring with 15.7 points per game. Quentin Snider ranks second on the team, averaging 12.9 points per game while dishing out a team best 94 assists. Spalding leads the team on the boards with 9.2 rebounds per game and ranks third on the team in scoring with 11.3 points per game. Ryan McMahon leads the team from behind the arc, shooting 40.3 percent on the year.

Syracuse (15-8, 4-6 ACC), has won three of its last five games, but lost 59-44 to No. 2 Virginia at home on Feb. 3 in its last outing. The Cardinals will wear adidas throwback uniforms on Monday to honor UofL's 1982-83 NCAA Final Four team on their 35th anniversary year, as well as UofL's 1948 NAIB National Championship on their 70th anniversary year.

Syracuse is fourth nationally in field goal percentage defense (.381), ninth in blocked shots (6.0), and seventh in scoring defense (62.7). The Orange are No. 48 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 51 by Ken Pomeroy and No. 47 in the RPI through Feb. 3.

Louisville has an 18-8 series advantage over Syracuse, winning five of the last six matchups. UofL won both meetings last season: 76-72 in overtime at Syracuse (1-10-18) as Ryan McMahon scored seven points in overtime; and 88-68 in Louisville (2-26-17) when Donovan Mitchell scored 25 points and Ray Spalding added a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds. UofL twice beat Syracuse in the championship game of the Big East Tournament (2009, 2013).

CARDINAL NOTES

Louisville is second in the nation in blocked shots (7.0 bpg) and ranks 16th in field goal percentage defense (.397) and 36th in 3-point defense (.315). Center Anas Mahmoud is fifth in the nation in blocked shots (3.26) and Ray Spalding is 17th in offensive rebounds (3.43).
Louisville has held six of its 10 ACC opponents to 40 percent or below shooting from the field. The Cardinals have collected nine or more steals in six conference games.
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. UofL is 11-2 when it makes eight or more threes, which the Cardinals have done in six of their last eight games (9-of-21 vs. Florida St. in its last game).
Louisville has a 41-9 record in its conference home games over the last six years (.820), including an 8-1 record last year. UofL has the third-most conference home wins in its four years in the ACC with 26.
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 57-19 record during the month of February over the last 10 years (.750), winning 23 of its last 32 in that month (5-2 last year).
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 Hosts Syracuse for a Big Monday Matchup

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Players Mentioned

Deng Adel

Anas Mahmoud

Ryan McMahon

Quentin Snider

Ray Spalding

University of Louisville Athletics