No. 7 Louisville Hosts No. 18 Florida State on Saturday Afternoon

GAME 14
Date: Jan. 4, 2020
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,090) (154-25 in 10th year)
Television: ESPN2 - Bob Wischusen, play-by-play; Dick Vitale, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst
(Sirius channel 133, XM 194, Internet 956)
Series History: UofL leads 34-12 (17-2 in Louisville, 13-9 in Tallahassee, 4-1 neutral)
Last Meeting: Florida State 80, UofL 75 (OT) (Feb. 9, 2019 in Tallahassee, Fla.)
UL National Ranking: No. 7 Associated Press, No. 8 USA Today
Officials: Jeffery Clark, John Gaffney, Tim Clougherty
Next UofL Game: Jan. 7 vs. Miami (Fla.), KFC Yum! Center, 7:00 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisville returns to ACC action with its first game of 2020 as the Cardinals face the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday.

Louisville (11-2, 2-0 ACC) fell 78-70 in overtime at then-No. 19/19 Kentucky in its last game on Dec. 28 as the Cardinals made just 9-of-20 free throws. UofL fought back from a 12-point second-half deficit to get to overtime, but missed a three-pointer with 21 seconds remaining in overtime that would have given the Cardinals the lead. Steven Enoch led UofL with 18 points while Dwayne Sutton produced his eighth career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Louisville has four players averaging over nine points a game. Junior Jordan Nwora leads the team in scoring with 20.2 points per game, while pulling down 7.2 rebounds a game. Steven Enoch is second on the team in scoring and rebounding with 11.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Ryan McMahon and Sutton both are averaging with 9.4 points per game. McMahon also leads the team, connecting on 46.3 percent from behind the arc. Sutton leads the team in rebounding with 8.8 per game. Darius Perry leads the team with 58 assists.

The Seminoles (12-2, 2-1 ACC), ranked No. 18 by AP and No. 20 in the USA Today poll, have won 12 of their last 13 games after dropping their opening game at Pitt. FSU has won five straight, including a 70-58 victory over Georgia Tech on Dec. 31 in its last game while forcing 20 turnovers and blocking nine shots.

Florida State leads the ACC and is 10th in the nation in turnovers forced per game (18.6), 16th in the nation in steals per game (9.7), 17th in blocked shots (5.6 per game) and 28^th in free throw percentage (.763). Twelve FSU player average playing over nine minutes a game. Florida State is No. 16 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 23 in ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI), No. 24 in the NET rankings and No. 20 by Ken Pomeroy through Dec. 31.

Louisville leads the all-time series against Florida State 34- 12 and the Cardinals have won four of the last seven meetings. The No. 22-ranked Seminoles prevailed 80-75 in overtime in last year's matchup in Tallahassee (2-9-19) as Christen Cunningham led the Cardinals with 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Louisville has won four of seven meetings since joining the ACC.

The teams were fellow members of the Metro Conference from 1976-91.

CARD FILES

Louisville has started with at least an 11-2 record through 13 games for the eighth time in the last 10 years.
Louisville has a 48-15 record in its conference home games over the last seven years (.767). UofL has the fourth-most conference home wins in its six years in the ACC with a 33-12 ACC home record.
Jordan Nwora needs two points to become Louisville's 69th career 1,000-point scorer. His 262 points scored this year is the most by a UofL player through 13 games over the last 20 seasons. He leads the ACC in scoring (20.2 ppg, 31st 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 sixth in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.358), 18th in scoring margin (+16.2) and 19th in scoring defense (59.9). UofL is fifth in the nation in defensive efficiency and 11th in offensive efficiency in KenPom rankings.
Louisville has made as many as nine three-pointers in a game on eight occasions this season, including three of the last five games.
Dwayne Sutton, who is fourth in the ACC in rebounding (8.8 rpg), produced his eighth career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds at Kentucky. He needs nine rebounds for 500 at UofL. He reached 1,000 career points at two different schools with 11 vs. Eastern Kentucky (592 UofL, 408 at UNC Asheville).
Steven Enoch scored 18 points vs. Kentucky, his second-highest total of the year, eighth time in double figures and 25th in the last two seasons.

No. 7 Louisville Hosts No. 18 Florida State on Saturday Afternoon

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Players Mentioned

Christen Cunningham

Steven Enoch

Ryan McMahon

Jordan Nwora

Darius Perry

Dwayne Sutton

University of Louisville Athletics