Cardinals Host No. 2 Duke Tuesday Night

GAME 25
Date: Feb. 12, 2019
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,000) (143-23 in 9th year)
Television: ESPN - Rece Davis, play-by-play; Jimmy Dykes, analyst; Brooke Weisbrod, reporter.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirus channel 78, XM 194, Internet 956). Also: Compass Media Networks – Wayne Larrivee, play-by-play; Doug Gottlieb, analyst.
Series History: Louisville trails 6-9 (3-2 in Louisville, 1-3 in Durham, 2-4 neutral)
Last Meeting: Duke 82, UofL 56 (Feb. 21, 2018 in Durham, N.C.)
UL National Ranking: 16th Associated Press, 17th USA Today
Officials: Doug Shows, Jamie Luckie, Jeff Clark
Next UofL Game: Feb. 16 vs. Clemson, KFC Yum! Center, Noon ET (ESPN/ESPN2/U)

Louisville, ranked 16th by AP and 20th in the USA Today poll, plays its fourth straight Top 25 foe as the Cardinals face No. 2/2 Duke in the first of two straight in the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday.

Louisville fell for just the second time in its last nine games as the Cardinals lost 80-75 in overtime at No. 22/24 Florida State on Saturday. Christen Cunningham led the Cards with 20 points, six assists and a career-high seven rebounds. UofL made 12 threes, shot 48.1 percent from the field and outrebounded FSU, but committed a season-high 23 turnovers, leading to 32 FSU points.

The Cardinals (17-7, 8-3 ACC) are very balanced on the offensive end, with six players averaging over eight points. Sophomore Jordan Nwora leads the Cardinals in in scoring and rebounding with 17.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Dwayne Sutton ranks second on the team in scoring with 11.0 points along with 7.0 rebounds per game. Christen Cunningham is third on the team in scoring with 10.7 points and leads the team with 108 assists on the year. Steven Enoch averages 9.2 points per game along with 5.0 rebounds per game while Ryan McMahon is averaging eight points a game.

Duke (21-2, 9-1 ACC) has won its last seven games, including winning 81-71 at No. 3/3 Virginia last
Saturday as RJ Barrett led the Blue Demons with 26 points and seven assists. Duke shot 57.8 percent from the field, including connecting on 13-of-21 three pointers (.619) and the Blue Demons collected 12 steals.

Duke leads the nation in blocked shots per game (7.4), is third in steals (10.5), third in scoring offense (86.8), fifth in offensive rebounds per game (14.1) and ninth in field goal percentage defense (.386). Freshmen R.J. Barrett (23.1 ppg, 7.2 rpg) and Zion Williamson (21.8 ppg, 9.2 rpg) are among the top
20 scorers in the nation. Tre Jones leads the ACC in assists (5.6) and is fourth in the nation in assists-turnovers ratio (4.50).

Louisville trails 6-9 in its series against Duke and has split the last four meetings. Duke won last year's matchup 82-56 in Durham (2-21-18) as Ray Spalding led the Cardinals with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

CARD FILES

In his last four games, Dwayne Sutton has averaged 16.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and shot 63 percent from the field (13-of-24 threes, .542). He has scored in double digits in 12 of the last 15 games, including a career-high 19 vs. North Carolina. He has double-doubles in four of the last 10 games.
Jordan Nwora is the second-most improved scorer in the nation with his 17.6 scoring average (sixth in the ACC) up 11.9 ppg from his 5.7 average last year. He has scored 20 or more points on 10 occasions this season. He had 13 points and five rebounds at Florida State.
Louisville has a 46-13 record in its conference home games over the last six years (.780). UofL has the fourth-most conference home wins in its five years in the ACC with a 31-10 ACC home record.
Louisville's 8-3 record in ACC games matches its best 11-game start in its five years in the ACC, tying the Cardinals' 8-3 start in 2015-16.
Christen Cunningham leads the ACC in assists in conference only games (6.4). He has handed out 55 assists with 15 turnovers in his last eight games.
Louisville has allowed less than 55 points in three of its last seven games. The Cardinals have limited an opponent to under 40 percent accuracy for a half on 21 occasions this season, including holding Florida State to 37.7 percent in the first half of its last game. UofL is 27th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency.
UofL has scored 80 or more points in 13 games (78.6 ppg) and the Cardinals are 15^th in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency by Kenpom. UofL is third in the ACC in scoring offense for conference games (78.7 ppg).

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Players Mentioned

Christen Cunningham

Steven Enoch

Ryan McMahon

Jordan Nwora

Ray Spalding

Dwayne Sutton

University of Louisville Athletics