Cardinals Travel to Pitt on Wednesday

GAME 15
Date: Jan. 9, 2019
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Site: Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pa. (12,508)
Television: Raycom (WAVE-TV in Louisville; other stations: https://uofl.me/2Trfddp) - Tim
Brando, play-by-play; Dan Bonner, analyst.
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (XM channel 388, Internet 979)
Series History: Louisville leads 16-5 (9-1 in Louisville, 7-1 in Pittsburgh, 0-3 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 94, Pittsburgh 60 (Feb. 11, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Officials: Brian Dorsey, Don Daily, Kipp Kissinger
Next UofL Game: Jan. 12 at North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C., Noon ET (ESPN)

Louisville, ranked 27th in the NCAA Men's Basketball NET ratings through games of Jan. 6, will play its first ACC road game of the season as the Cardinals travel to Pittsburgh, Pa. to face the Pittsburgh Panthers on Wednesday.

Louisville won for the fourth time in its last five games as the Cardinals won their ACC opener 90-73 over Miami in the KFC Yum! Center on Jan. 6. UofL erased a 15-point first-half deficit as Jordan Nwora scored 18 of his 20 points in the first period. Malik Williams produced his second double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds and Ryan McMahon added 12 points and a career-high nine assists.

The Cardinals are very balanced on the offensive end, with five players averaging over eight points. Sophomore Jordan Nwora leads the Cardinals in in scoring and rebounding with 17.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Christen Cunningham is second on the team in scoring with 9.7 points. Dwayne Sutton ranks third on the team in scoring with 9.4 points along with 6.0 rebounds per game. Steven Enoch averages 8.6 points per game while Ryan McMahon is averaging 8.1 points per game.

Pitt (10-4, 0-1 ACC) has won three of its last four games, but fell 85-60 to North Carolina on Saturday in its ACC opener as the Panthers shot 30.6 percent from the field. Freshman guard Trey McGowans led Pitt with 17 points and four steals.

Pitt ranks among the national leaders in field goal percentage defense (.378, 11th in the nation), three-point field goal defense (.286, 19th) and scoring defense (63.9, 33rd). The Panthers have already surpassed their win total from a year ago (8). Pittsburgh is No. 88 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 102 in ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI), No. 89 in the NET rankings and No. 90 by Ken Pomeroy through Jan. 6.

Louisville has a 16-5 series advantage over Pittsburgh and the Cardinals have won the last 12 matchups. It is UofL's second-longest current winning streak against an ACC opponent, as the Cardinals have won their last 14 against Virginia Tech. UofL prevailed in both matchups last season, winning 77-51 in Louisville (1-2-18) as Quentin Snider led UofL with 19 points; and 94-60 at Pitt when the Cardinals shot a season-high 63 percent from the field, including 10-of-19 three-pointers (.526).

CARD FILES

Louisville has won its first conference road game in nine of the last 11 seasons entering Wednesday's game at Pittsburgh.
Louisville has made 34 more free throws (285-of-372, .766) than its opponents haveattempted (177-of-251). Louisville is third in the nation in free throw attempts per field goal attempts (372/785, 47.4 percent) and is third in the nation with 25.7 percent of its points coming from free throws. UofL is 15th in the nation in free throw percentage.
In his last seven games, Jordan Nwora has averaged 19.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and shot 52.1 percent from the field, including making 20-of-39 three-pointers (.513). He has scored in double digits in 13 of 14 games this season – including 20 or more in seven games -- while averaging 17.9 points per game (sixth in the ACC).
UofL has scored over 80 points in eight of its 14 games (79.4 ppg) and the Cardinals are 27^th in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency by Ken Pomeroy. UofL's 90 points vs. Miami was its second-highest total of the season.
Louisville committed a season-low seven turnovers against Miami, all in the first half. UofL has had 10 or fewer turnovers in seven games.
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.

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Players Mentioned

Christen Cunningham

Steven Enoch

Ryan McMahon

Jordan Nwora

Quentin Snider

Dwayne Sutton

Malik Williams

University of Louisville Athletics