Cardinals Begin ACC Play on Sunday Against Miami

Sunday, January 6

LOUISVILLE, KY

6 p.m.

University of Louisville

MIAMI

Tickets

January 04, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Live Stats Louisville Game Notes Game Program

Louisville will open 2019 ACC Slate at home on Sunday evening

By: Kim Pemberton

GAME 14
Date: Jan. 6, 2019
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,000) (139-22 in 9th year)
Television: ESPNU - Anish Shroff, play-by-play; Cory Alexander, analyst.
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (XM channel 391, Internet 965)
Series History: Louisville leads 10-4 (5-0 in Louisville, 4-4 in Coral Gables, 1-0 neutral)
Last Meeting: Miami 78, UofL 75 (OT) (Jan. 24, 2018 in Coral Gables, Fla.)
Officials: Jamie Luckie, John Gaffney, A.J. Desai
Next UofL Game: Jan. 9 at Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa., 8 p.m. ET (Raycom/WAVE-TV in Louisville)

Louisville, ranked 26th in the NCAA Men's Basketball NET ratings through games of Dec. 30, opens ACC action and plays its fifth straight at home in the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals open the new year against the Miami Hurricanes on Sunday.

Louisville lost for the first time in four games as the Cardinals fell 71-58 to intrastate rival Kentucky on Dec. 29. Christen Cunningham scored a season-high 20 points and handed out four assists to lead the Cardinals, who shot a season-low 36.4 percent from the field.

The Cardinals are very balanced on the offensive end, with four players averaging over eight points. Sophomore Jordan Nwora leads the Cardinals in in scoring and rebounding with 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Christen Cunningham is second on the team in scoring with 9.6 points. Dwayne Sutton ranks third on the team in scoring with 9.1 points along with 5.9 rebounds per game. Steven Enoch rounds out the top scorers with 8.8 points per game.

Miami (8-5), has won its last three of their last four games, including beating Campbell 73-62 on Dec. 29. The Hurricanes will play a home game against NC State on Jan. 3 in their first ACC game of the season before facing the Cardinals. Louisville will be the last ACC team to open its conference schedule this year.

Five Hurricane players are averaging over 12 points a game, led by Lykes (16.6 ppg, 10th in the ACC; 3.9 apg, 10th in the ACC). Junior guard DJ Vasiljevic leads the ACC in three-pointers per game (3.0, 35-of-81, .426). Senior center Ebuka Izundu leads the ACC and is sixth in the nation in field goal percentage (.693). Miami ranks 13th in the nation in fewest fouls per game (14.8), 53rd in blocked shots per game (4.7) and is 70th in turnover margin (+2.8). Miami is No. 66 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 57 in ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI), No. 92 in the NET rankings and No. 56 by Ken Pomeroy through Dec. 30.

Louisville has a 10-4 series advantage over Miami, winning six of the last eight matchups. Louisville fell 78-75 in overtime at Miami in last year's meeting (1-24-18) as Quentin Snider led the Cardinals with 18 points and three assists. UofL has a 5-0 advantage in games played in Louisville.

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Louisville has won its conference opening game in eight of the last 10 seasons and five of the last six. Louisville has won its first home conference game five of its last six years.
Louisville has won seven of its last eight games in its first game of a new calendar year.
Louisville has made 43 more free throws (274-of-357, .768) than its opponents have attempted (162-of-231). Louisville is fourth in the nation in free throw attempts per field goal attempts (357/716, 49.9 percent) and leads the nation with 26.8 percent of its points coming from free throws. UofL is 16th in the nation in free throw percentage.
In his last six games, Jordan Nwora has averaged 19.2 points, 9.7 rebounds and shot 52.5 percent from the field, including making 17-of-33 three-pointers (.515). He has scored in double digits in 12 of 13 games this season – including 20 or more in six games -- while averaging 17.8 points per game (seventh in the ACC).
Louisville has a 42-12 record in its conference home games over the last six years (.778). Louisville is tied for the fourth-most conference home wins in its four years in the ACC with 27. UofL has a 27-9 ACC home record in four years.
Louisville's 2019 signing class is ranked second in the nation by ESPN.com, fifth by Rivals.com and fifth by 247sports.com.
Louisville achieved a collective 3.352 grade point average for the 2018 fall semester, with 11 of 14 student-athletes earning a 3.0 or better GPA (20 of the last 21 semesters with at least a 3.0 team GPA). Uof L has produced a league best 25 All-ACC Academic selections over its four years in the ACC.