Louisville Plays at Syracuse on Wednesday Night

GAME 27
Date: Feb. 20, 2019
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Site: Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Television: ESPN - Mike Couzens, play-by-play; Jordan Cornette, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM; joined in progress on WHAS, 840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Jody Demling, analyst (Sirius channel 135, XM 194, Internet 956)
Series History: Louisville leads 18-9 (9-4 in Louisville, 4-5 in Syracuse, 5-0 neutral)
Last Meeting: Syracuse 78, UofL 73 (Feb. 8, 2018 in KFC Yum! Center)
UL National Ranking: 18th Associated Press, 22nd USA Today
Officials: Roger Ayers, Bert Smith, A.J. Desai
Next UofL Game: Feb. 23 vs. Virginia, KFC Yum! Center, Noon ET (Raycom/WHAS)

Louisville, ranked 18th by AP and 22nd in the USA Today poll and tied for fourth the ACC standings, takes to the road -- where it will play three of its last five regular season games -- as the Cardinals visit Syracuse in Syracuse, N.Y. on Wednesday.

Louisville won for the eighth time in its last 11 games as the Cardinals prevailed 56-55 over Clemson in the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday in its last outing. Christen Cunningham totaled 18 points, five assists and two steals for the Cardinals. Louisville limited the Tigers to 38.6 percent field goal shooting, forced 19 turnovers and held their seventh opponent this season under 60 points.

The Cardinals (18-8, 9-4 ACC) 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 17.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Dwayne Sutton ranks second on the team in scoring with 10.9 points along with 6.7 rebounds per game. Christen Cunningham is third on the team in scoring with 10.5 points and leads the team with 125 assists on the year. Steven Enoch averages 9.2 points per game along with 5.1 rebounds per game.

Syracuse (17-8, 8-4 ACC) has won three of its last five games, but fell 73-58 at NC State in its last game on Feb. 13 despite 21 points from Frank Howard. The Orange have been off for a week prior to facing UofL.

Syracuse is 20th in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.397), 21st in blocked shots per game (4.9), 24th in scoring defense (64.3) and 21st in turnover margin (+3.6). Tyus Battle, the top scorer for the Orange (17.4 ppg.), has produced double-digit scoring efforts in 15 of his last 17 games. Syracuse is No. 44 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 37 in ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI), No. 48 in the NET rankings and No. 37 by Ken Pomeroy through Feb.17.

Louisville has an 18-9 series advantage over Syracuse, winning five of the last seven matchups. Syracuse won last year's meeting in Louisville 78-73 as Ray Spalding led the Cardinals with 18 points and nine rebounds. UofL twice beat Syracuse in the championship game of the Big East Tournament (2009, 2013).

CARD FILES

Jordan Nwora is the second-most improved scorer in the nation with his 17.5 scoring average (fifth in the ACC) up 10.8 ppg from his 5.7 average last year. He has scored 20 or more points on 11 occasions this season, including his sixth double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds against Duke on Feb. 12.
Christen Cunningham leads the ACC in assists in conference only games (6.7). He has handed out 72 assists in his last 10 games, including a season-best 12 assists vs. Duke two games ago, the most for a Cardinal in five years. He led UofL with 18 points vs. Clemson.
In his last six games, Dwayne Sutton has averaged 14.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and shot 55.8 percent from the field (14-of-30 threes, .467). He has scored in double digits in 13 of the last 17 games.
Centers Malik Williams (8.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and Steven Enoch (9.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg) have combined to average 18.4 points and 11.1 rebounds in ACC games.
Louisville has allowed 55 or fewer points in four of its last nine games, including its last game vs. Clemson. The Cardinals have limited an opponent to under 40 percent accuracy for a half on 24 occasions this season. UofL is 15^th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency.
UofL has scored 80 or more points in 13 games (77.4 ppg) and the Cardinals are 20^th in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency by Kenpom. UofL is third in the ACC in scoring offense for conference games (76.2 ppg).
Louisville's 2019 signing class is ranked second in the nation by ESPN.com, fifth by Rivals.com and fifth by 247sports.com.

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Players Mentioned

Christen Cunningham

Steven Enoch

Jordan Nwora

Ray Spalding

Dwayne Sutton

Malik Williams

University of Louisville Athletics