No. 2 Louisville hosts No. 15 Syracuse on Thursday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 2 Louisville women's basketball (21-1, 8-1) looks to extend its seven-game winning streak when it hosts No. 15 Syracuse (17-4, 6-2) on Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET.

Following a 78-69 win over No. 2 Connecticut and a 76-44 win at Clemson last week, Louisville moved up to No. 2 in the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls for the second time this season. It equals their highest ranking in program history in both polls.

Asia Durr moved into second place all-time on Louisville's scoring list with 12 points at Clemson.

The senior from Douglasville, Ga., continues to rack up accolades as she was named espnW Player of the Week on Monday after scoring 24 points in the win over UConn and was named to the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 on Tuesday night.

Dana Evans continues to be a spark off the bench as she averaged 17.5 points, while shooting 8-15 from 3-point range and dishing out 4.5 assists per game last week. She had 15 points on 3-5 shooting from deep and five assists at Clemson after finishing with 20 points, four assists, three rebounds and zero turnovers, while knocking down a career-high five 3-pointers (5-10), in the win over UConn.

After starting the first two games, Evans has come off the bench in 18 of the last 20. She is second on the team with 10.5 points and is averaging a team-high 3.8 assists, which ranks 12th in ACC. She is 26-61 (.426) from deep, which ranks sixth in the league. She has 84 assists and 43 turnovers and ranks fifth in ACC with 2.0 assist-to-TO ratio.

In nine ACC games, she is averaging 10.0 points, while shooting 17-33 (.515) from deep.

Jazmine Jones tied a career-high with 17 points and knocked down a career-high three 3-pointers (3-3) in the win at Clemson. She was 3-10 from 3-pt range this season and 5-22 for her career prior to knocking down three trifectas on Saturday.

Arica Carter (3-5), Evans (3-5) and Jones (3-3) all had three 3-pointers at Clemson. It marked the first time that three players have had 3-plus 3-pointers since Feb. 15, 2018 at Boston College - Carter (3-4), Durr (3-4), Shook (3-5).

Kylee Shook had a career-high 15 rebounds in the win at Clemson. It marked the first time that a UofL player has had 15-plus rebounds since Myisha Hines-Allen had 16 vs. Pitt on Feb. 25, 2018.

Louisville held Clemson to zero field goals and just five points in the third quarter, which marked the lowest scoring output in a quarter for an opponent this season. After holding Clemson to 44 points for the game, UofL has held opponents below 50 points in six of seven games.

UofL's scoring defense has improved from 64.3 to 59.3 points per game and moved from 182 to 68 nationally in the last seven games.

ABOUT THE ORANGE

Syracuse enters the game with a 17-4 record and they are 6-2 in ACC play. They opened league play with wins in their first four games before losing two straight at Georgia Tech (L, 65-55) and vs. Miami (L, 84-71). They rebounded by winning their last two games at Duke (W, 64-55) and vs. Virginia (W, 72-68).

The Orange rank third in the league and 22nd in the country with 78.1 points per game. They lead the league and rank 14th in the nation with 9.5 3-pt field goals made per game. They rank second in the ACC with 18.0 assists per game and 4.7 blocks per game, and third with 9.8 steals per game.

They are led by junior Tiana Mangakahia, who made the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 list. The Brisbane, Australia native leads the league and ranks second in the country with 8.1 assists per game. She also leads the team with 15.9 points per game and ranks third with 5.3 rebounds. She averages 2.2 steals, which ranks fourth in the league. She leads the league and ranks 15th in the country with an 89 free throw percentage.

Senior Miranda Drummond (11.1) and freshman Maeva Djaldi-Tabdi (10.1) also average double figures. Djaldi-Tabdi is shooting 58 percent from the floor, which ranks eighth in the league. Drummond ranks fifth in the ACC with 2.7 3-pt field goals made per game and the Orange have four players that have made more than 31 3-pointers - Drummond (53-155), Gabrielle Cooper (42-120), Digna Strautmane (33-97) and Mangakahia (31-89).

Series History - UofL is 10-6 all-time against Syracuse. The Cardinals are 6-1 all-time at home and 3-0 at the KFC Yum! Center. Louisville has won four of five since joining their ACC, their lone loss an 80-75 defeat to the Orange in the ACC semifinal game on March 5, 2016. Last season, UofL won 84-77 at Syracuse on Feb. 4, 2018. The Cardinals won 91-76 in the last matchup at the KFC Yum! Center on Dec. 29, 2016.

Date: Thursday, Feb. 7
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Site: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky. (22,000)
Radio: WKRD-790, Nick Curran, play-by-play; Adrienne Johnson, analyst
Video: ACCDN, Don Russell, play-by-play; Sara White, analyst; Cortnee Walton, sideline
Last Meeting: W, 84-77 (Feb. 4, 2018 at Syracuse)
Series History: 10-6 (6-1 Home, 4-4 Away, 0-1 Neutral)
UofL National Ranking: 2nd Associated Press, 2nd USA Today
Promotion: Select Thirsty Thursday ($3 draft beers and Coke products)

For the latest on Louisville women's basketball, visit GoCards.com, follow the team's Twitter account at @UofLWBB or on Facebook at facebook.com/UofLWBB.

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Players Mentioned

Arica Carter

Asia Durr

Dana Evans

Myisha Hines-Allen

Jazmine Jones

Kylee Shook

Cortnee Walton

University of Louisville Athletics