No. 15/14 Louisville Begins ACC Tournament Play on Thursday Night

Thursday, March 12

Greensboro, NC

9:00 PM

University of Louisville

Syracuse

National Anthem before the game against EKU at the KFC Yum! Center on December 14, 2019.

Photo by: Adam Creech | Louisville Athletics

No. 15/14 Louisville Begins ACC Tournament Play on Thursday Night

March 11, 2020 | Men's Basketball

Louisville Game Notes ESPN Watch Link Live Stats

By: Kim Pemberton

GAME 32
ACC Tournament Quarterfinal
Date: March 12, 2020
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Site: Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum (20,200)
Television: ESPN/2 - Sean McDonough, play-byplay; Dan Dakich, analyst; Katie George, reporter.
Radio: WKRD (840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Jody Demling, analyst (Sirus channel 80, XM 80, Internet 80).
SU Series History: UofL leads 19-10 (10-4 in Louisville, 4-6 in Syracuse, 5-0 neutral)
Last Meeting vs. SU: UofL 90, Syracuse 66 (Feb. 19, 2020 at KFC Yum! Center)
VT Series History: UofL leads 35-8 (18-3 in Louisville, 16-3 in Blacksburg, 1-2 neutral)
Last Meeting vs. VT: UofL 68, Virginia Tech 52 (March 1, 2020 at KFC Yum! Center)
UNC Series History: UofL trails 7-15 (5-2 in Louisville, 1-3 in Chapel Hill, 1-10 neutral)
Last Meeting vs. ND: UofL 72, North Carolina 55 (Feb. 22, 2020 at KFC Yum! Center)
UofL National Ranking: No. 14 USA Today, No. 15 Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- Louisville will be participating in its fifth Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Thursday night, awaiting the winner of the North Carolina/Syracuse game.

Last year, the Cardinals beat Notre Dame 75-63 in the second round before falling to North Carolina 83-70 in the quarterfinals played in Charlotte, N.C. The Cardinals have a 2-4 record in the ACC Tournament.

The Cardinals are very balanced on the offensive end, with five players averaging over eight points a game. Jordan Nwora leads the team in scoring with 18.0 points per game, while pulling down 7.7 rebounds a game. Steven Enoch is second on the team in scoring and rebounding with 9.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Dwayne Sutton averages 9.1 points while leading the team in rebounding with 8.2 per game. Fresh Kimble leads the team with 84 assists.

Louisville did not participate in the 2016 event. This is the seventh league in which the Cardinals have appeared in a post-season tournament. Louisville has won three of its last eight league tournament titles in which it has participated and four over the last 10 years it has played (since 2009).

Louisville has won 12 of its last 16 conference tournament games and has a 17-6 record with three championships over its last 10 conference tournaments. In its last league title, the Cardinals claimed the inaugural 2014 American Athletic Conference Championship in Memphis, beating eventual national champion Connecticut 71-61 in the title game (later vacated).

Louisville won the 2009, 2012 and 2013 Big East tournament titles. UofL has a composite 83-45 conference tournament record (2-4 ACC, 3-0 American, 13-5 Big East, 13-8 Conference USA, 32-9 Metro Conference, 18-18 Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, 2-1 Ohio Valley Conference). UofL has won 19 conference tournament titles (1 American, 3 Big East, 2 C-USA, 11 Metro, 2 KIAC; three later vacated).

CARD FILES

Jordan Nwora was honored on the 2020 CoSIDA Academic All-America basketball second team and is on the final national ballot for the John Wooden Award. The preseason ACC Player of the Year, he is the only player to rank among the ACC's top ten in scoring (18.0 ppg, second in the ACC), rebounding (7.7, 8th), free throw percentage (.813, 4th), field goal percentage (.440, 8th) and three-pointers made per game (2.5, 2nd).

In its last time as a No. 3 seed in its conference tournament, the Cardinals won two of three games, falling in the 2011 Big East Tournament championship game.

Louisville's 15-5 ACC record is its most wins in its six years in the conference (12 previous high) and its best in any league since the Cardinals won the 2014 American Athletic Conference title with a 15-3 record. UofL has 18 straight 20-win seasons on the court.

Louisville is 17th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.376). UofL has made as many as nine three-pointers in a game on 18 occasions this season (13 of the last 21 games), including 9-of-25 threes in its last game at Virginia.

In the last six games, David Johnson has 31 assists with 14 turnovers. Among freshmen, Johnson is the ACC assists leader in conference games (3.7). Over the last 15 games, he has averaged 8.9 points, 4.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.

Dwayne Sutton has averaged 10.0 points and 7.6 rebounds over the last seven games -- second on the team in scoring in that stretch -- while shooting 52.1 percent from the field (8-of-21 threes). He is seventh in the ACC in rebounding (8.2).

UofL is 13th in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.389), 24th in rebound margin (+6.3), 26th in scoring margin (+10.4) and 33rd in scoring defense (63.7).