No. 3 Louisville Travels to No. 19 Kentucky on Saturday

GAME 13
Date: Dec. 28, 2019
Time: 3:50 p.m.
Site: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky. (20,545),
Television: CBS - Brad Nessler, play-by-play; Bill Raftery, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst.
(Sirius channel 206, XM 193, Internet 955) Also: Westwood One - John Sadak,
play-by-play; Will Perdue, analyst.
Series History: UofL trails 16-36 (9-13 in Louisville, 5-19 in Lexington, 2-4 neutral)
Last Meeting: Kentucky 71, UofL 58 (Dec. 29, 2019 in KFC Yum! Center)
UL National Ranking: No. 3 Associated Press, No. 4 USA Today
Next UofL Game: Jan. 4 vs. Florida State, KFC Yum! Center, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN or ESPN2)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisville will play its final non-conference game of the season as the Cardinals face intrastate rival the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday, Dec. 28.

Louisville (11-1, 2-0 ACC) beat Miami (Ohio) 70-46 in its last game on Dec. 18 in the KFC Yum! Center, marking 161 consecutive games the Cardinals have won when holding an opponent under 50 points. Jordan Nwora scored 20 points to lead the Cardinals in scoring, his eighth game this year with 20 or more. Dwayne Sutton matched his career-high with 15 rebounds and three blocked shots, adding eight points. UofL limited Miami to 27.3 percent accuracy from the field, including 18.2 percent from three-point range.

Louisville has four players averaging over nine points a game. Junior Jordan Nwora leads the team in scoring with 21.2 points per game, while pulling down 7.5 rebounds a game. Steven Enoch is second on the team in scoring and rebounding with 11.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Ryan McMahon ranks third on the team with 9.8 points per game while connecting on 46.3 percent from behind the arc. Dwayne Sutton leads the team in rebounding with 8.7 per game while averaging 9.0 points. Darius Perry leads the team with 55 assists.

The Wildcats (8-3), ranked No. 19 in both the AP and USA Today polls, have won six of their last eight games, but dropped their last two played in Las Vegas, 69-66 to Utah on Dec. 18 and 71-65 to Ohio State on Dec. 21. A 67-64 home loss to Evansville on Nov. 12 is the only other blemish on the Wildcats' record.

Kentucky is among the nation's top 40 statistically in free throw percentage (13th, .785), field goal percentage defense (38th, .385), rebound margin (33rd, +7.2), scoring defense (31st, 61.2) and assists-turnover ratio (37th, 1.24). Kentucky is No. 26 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 25 in ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI), No. 74 in the NET rankings and No. 16 by Ken Pomeroy through Dec. 22. Four players are averaging over 11 points a game for UK, led by sophomore guard Ashton Hagans (13.9 ppg, 7.3 apg, 2.1 steals per game).

Louisville trails the all-time series against Kentucky 16-36 and UK has won 10 of the last 12. The Wildcats hold a 27-12 advantage since the series resumed in 1983. Kentucky holds a 19-5 advantage in games played in Lexington. The No. 16-ranked Wildcats won last year's matchup 71-58 in Louisville (12-29-18) as Christen Cunningham led the Cardinals with 20 points and four assists.

CARD FILES

Louisville has started with at least a 11-1 record through 12 games for the eighth time in the last 10 years. UofL has won at least 12 of its first 13 games on three occasions over the last nine years entering its Dec. 28 game at Kentucky.
Jordan Nwora needs 10 points to become Louisville's 69th career 1,000-point scorer. His 234 points scored this year is the most by a UofL player through 12 games over the last 20 seasons. He leads the ACC in scoring (21.2 ppg, 18th in the nation). The preseason ACC Player of the Year, Nwora was a preseason All-America selection by AP and many others. His 20 points vs. Miami (Ohio) was his eighth game this year with 20 or more points.
UofL is third in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.350), 24th in field goal percentage (.485) and eighth in scoring margin (+18.3). UofL is second in the nation in defensive efficiency and 11th in offensive efficiency in KenPom rankings.
Louisville's last five opponents have combined to shoot 29-of-135 (.214) from three-point range. UofL is 31st nationally in 3-pt. FG defense (.267).
Dwayne Sutton, who is fifth in the ACC in rebounding (8.7 rpg), matched his career-high with 15 rebounds and three blocks vs. Miami (Ohio), adding eight points. He reached 1,000 career points at two different schools with 11 vs. Eastern Kentucky (582 UofL, 408 at UNC Asheville).
Darius Perry totaled eight points and five assists vs. Miami (Ohio), his fifth game this year with five or more assists. He is ninth in the ACC in assists (4.6 per game).
Louisville has a 46-10 record in the month of December over the last seven years (.821).

University of Louisville Athletics

No. 3 Louisville Travels to No. 19 Kentucky on Saturday

Players Mentioned

Christen Cunningham

Steven Enoch

Ryan McMahon

Jordan Nwora

Darius Perry

Dwayne Sutton

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