No. 1 Louisville Hosts Pittsburgh on Friday Night

Friday, December 6

LOUISVILLE, KY

9:00 PM ET

University of Louisville

Pittsburgh

Tickets

Photo by: Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics

December 05, 2019 | Men's Basketball

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Cards and Panthers faceoff on Friday at 9 p.m.

By: Kim Pemberton

GAME 9
Date: Dec. 6, 2019
Time: 9:05 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,090) (151-25 in 10th year)
Television: ACC Network - Mike Monaco, play-by-play; Malcolm Huckaby, analyst.
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 81, XM 81, Internet 81)
Series History: UofL leads 17-6 (10-1 in Louisville, 7-2 in Pittsburgh, 0-3 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 66, Pitt 51 (Jan. 26, 2019 in KFC Yum! Center)
UL National Ranking: No. 1 Associated Press, No. 1 USA Today
Officials: Mike Eades, Ted Valentine, A.J. Desai
Next UofL Game: Dec. 10 vs. Texas Tech, Madison Square Garden, New York, N.Y., Jimmy V Classic, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville plays its second ACC game of the season and first at home as the Cardinals face the Pittsburgh Panthers in their second straight game in the KFC Yum! Center on Friday. In just its third regular season game as the nation's No. 1 team in the AP poll in UofL history, the Cardinals (8-0) beat No. 4/5 Michigan 58-43 in the 16th top-five matchup ever for Louisville.

The Cardinals limited Michigan to 25.9 percent shooting from the field after the Wolverines entered the game second nationally in field goal percentage (.529) while averaging 82.4 points per game.

Louisville has four players averaging double figures through seven games. Junior Jordan Nwora leads the team in scoring with 21.9 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 8.1 rebounds per game. Dwayne Sutton is third on the team in scoring with 10.3 points while averaging a team best 8.8 rebounds per game while Ryan McMahon ranks fourth on the team with 10.1 points per game. Darius Perry leads the team with 42 assists.

The Panthers (7-2), who won their ACC opener at home on Nov. 6 against Florida State (one of the No. 17 Seminoles' two losses of the season), have won their last five, beating Rutgers 71-60 in their last game on Wednesday in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Sophomore guard Trey McGowens, who scored a career-high 33 points against Louisville last season in Pittburgh, leads four Panthers in double figures averaging 12.0 points per game. Pitt beat Northwestern 72-59 on Nov. 27 in the championship game of the Fort Meyers Tip-off. Pitt is adept at getting to the free throw line, ranking 24th in the nation in free throws made and 25th in attempts (140-of-199, .704).

Louisville has a 17-6 series advantage over Pitt, winning 13 of the last 14 matchups. The teams split last year's two meetings: Pitt won 89-86 in overtime in Pittsburgh (1-9-19) as the Panthers shot 52.5 percent from the field; and Louisville won 66-51 in the KFC Yum! Center (1-26-19) with Jordan Nwora scoring 17 points to pace the Cardinals. UofL will play at Pittsburgh next month on Jan. 14.

CARD FILES

UofL has won its first eight games of the season for the first time since the 2014-15 season, when the Cards won their first 11 games.
Louisville has won its first home conference game six of the last seven years, entering Friday's ACC home opener vs. Pitt.
Louisville is seventh in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.350) 18th in field goal percentage (.499) and is ninth in scoring margin (+19.8). Louisville is second in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency by Kenpom.com.
Louisville's No. 1 AP ranking marks only the third time that the Cardinals have been ranked No. 1 and the first since Jan. 14, 2013. The Cards are also No. 1 in the USA Today poll, their fourth time ever at No. 1 in the coaches poll and the first since the final 2012-13 poll on April 8, 2013.
Jordan Nwora totaled 22 points and 12 rebounds against No. 4 Michigan, his sixth occasion scoring over 20 points in his first eight games and his 11th career double-double. His 175 points scored this year is the most by a UofL player through eight games over the last 20 seasons. He is second in the ACC in scoring (21.9 ppg, 18th in the nation). The preseason ACC Player of the Year, Nwora was a preseason All-America selection by AP and many others.