Cards Face Intrastate Rival Kentucky on Saturday

Saturday, December 26

LOUISVILLE, KY

1:00 PM

University of Louisville

Kentucky

December 24, 2020 | Men's Basketball

Louisville notes vs Kentucky Kentucky Notes vs Louisville Digital Game Program Chris Mack Press Conference Carlik Jones Press Conference

Game Information
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,090) (166-26 in 11th year)
Television: ESPN - Dan Shulman, play-by-play; Dick Vitale, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 136, XM 193, Internet 955)
Series History: Louisville trails 16-37 (9-13 in Louisville, 5-20 in Lexington, 2-4 neutral)
Last Meeting: Kentucky 78, UofL 70 (OT) (Dec. 28, 2019 in Lexington, Ky.)
UofL National Ranking: unranked; receiving votes in USA Today & Associated Press polls
Next UofL Game: Jan. 2 at Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Mass., Noon ET (RSN)

Louisville will play its final scheduled non-conference game of the season and final game in 2020 as the Cardinals face intrastate rival Kentucky on Saturday at 1:01 p.m. ET in the KFC Yum! Center.

In its first ACC game of the season, Louisville (5-1, 1-0 ACC) won 64-54 at Pittsburgh in its last game on Dec. 22 as David Johnson (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Samuell Williamson (14 points, 12 rebounds) each produced their first career double-double while pulling down career-high rebounding totals. The duo helped the Cardinals win the rebounding battle 45-26 over a shorthanded Pitt squad that had won five straight, but UofL committed 17 turnovers in the game.

The Wildcats (1-5) have dropped five of their six games this season, falling 75-63 against North Carolina in their last game on Dec. 19 in the CBS Sports Classic. Three of the Wildcats' losses were to ACC foes, losing 64-63 to Notre Dame, 79-62 to Georgia Tech and North Carolina.

Kentucky is among the nation's top teams in blocked shots (30th in the nation, 5.0 per game) and three-point field goal percentage defense (33rd, .271). Kentucky is No. 56 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 62 in ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI), and No. 50 by Ken Pomeroy through Dec. 22. Brandon Boston, Jr. is the Wildcats' top scorer, averaging 14.5 points per game, while Isaiah Jackson is the top rebounder, averaging 8.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots.

Louisville trails the all-time series against Kentucky 16-37 and UK has won 11 of the last 13. The Wildcats hold a 28-12 advantage since the series resumed in 1983. The No. 19-ranked Wildcats won last year's matchup 78-70 in overtime in Lexington (12-28-19) as Steven Enoch led the Cardinals with 18 points and Dwayne Sutton added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The two teams have met in NCAA Tournament competition on six occasions, with Louisville winning twice. UofL won 80-68 in overtime in the 1983 Mideast Regional championship in Knoxville, Tenn. in a game labeled as the first "Dream Game." The two teams had not met in regular season play for 62 years before the current series was renewed in 1983; the rivals have met all 38 seasons since.

This is the first time since the 2007-08 season that both teams enter Saturday's game unranked. The Cardinals won that matchup and went on to reach the 2008 NCAA East Region final that year.

Toy Collection Dec. 26

New toys will be collected and subsequently donated to Norton Children's Hospital and Home of the Innocents prior to the Cardinals' Dec. 26 men's basketball game against Kentucky. New toys for any age or gender will be collected at the front entrances of the KFC Yum! Center.

The collection is associated with UofL Athletics' CardsCARE program and Kyle's Korner for Kids, the community outreach established in 2011 by former Cards' forward Kyle Kuric while a UofL student. Kuric, who has been playing professional basketball for eight seasons and is currently with FC Barcelona in Spain, helped the Cardinals reach the 2012 Final Four (later vacated) as a senior.

Notes

Louisville has won 85 of its last 89 non-conference games at home in the KFC Yum! Center, spanning the last 11 seasons.
Louisville has started with at least a 5-1 record through six games for the 11th time in the last 13 years. The Cardinals have won at least six of its first seven games on nine occasions over the last 13 years entering Saturday's game.
Sophomore guard Josh Nickelberry made his season debut at Pitt after missing the first five games due to a knee injury. He made a three-pointer in his 10 minutes of action.
Louisville limited Pitt to a season-low 54 points, marking the 11th time the Cardinals have held an ACC opponent under 60 points in Coach Chris Mack's third season (UofL is 10-1 in those games). UofL is fourth in the ACC in scoring defense, allowing 61.8 points per game (40th in the nation).
ACC assists leader Carlik Jones is the only player in the ACC to rank among the top 20 in each of scoring (10th in the ACC, 16.0 ppg), rebounding (16th, 6.4 rpg) and assists (1st, 5.6 apg). Last season at Radford, the graduate transfer was the only player in the nation to average at least 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, and was one of just 16 players in Division I men's basketball to do so since the 1996-97 season.
Carlik Jones needs three assists for 500 in his career (28 at Louisville, 469 at Radford). He matched his season-high of seven assists at Pitt.
Louisville achieved a collective 3.10 grade point average for the 2020 fall semester, with 13 of its 17 student-athletes earning a 3.0 or better GPA. The Cardinals have attained a collective 3.0 GPA for 23 of the last 25 semesters. A league-high matching five Cardinals were named to the 2020 All-ACC Academic Team and UofL has produced an ACC-best 36 selections over its six years in the league.
Louisville has a 47-12 record in the month of December over the last eight years.
UofL has an 8-3 record all-time in games played on Dec. 26, winning 3 of the last 4 on that date.
UofL Coach Chris Mack's next victory will be his 50th at Louisville (49-22 record).
Louisville held a 45-26 rebounding advantage over Pitt on Dec. 22, including grabbing a season-high 15 offensive rebounds. It was the largest margin for the Cardinals in a conference game since also finishing plus-19 in a win over Notre Dame on March 3, 2019. The Cardinals' +8.3 rebounding margin is tied for second-best in the ACC (52nd in the nation).
Louisville's 48.7 field goal percentage is fourth in the ACC (51st in the nation). Louisville has shot 50 percent or better in six of 12 halves this season.