Cardinals Face Duke Saturday in the KFC Yum! Center

Game Information
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,090) (168-27 in 11th year)
Television: ESPN - Dan Shulman, play-by-play; Jay Bilas, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 137, XM 193, Internet 955) Also: Westwood One - Ryan Radtke, play-by-play; Will Perdue, analyst.
Pregame Show: Information on the Cardinals' 3:30 p.m. pregame show can be found here.
Series History: UofL trails 7-10 (3-3 in Louisville, 2-3 in Durham, 2-4 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 79, Duke 73 (Jan. 18, 2020 at Durham, N.C.)
UofL National Ranking: unranked; first among those receiving votes in USA Today & AP polls

Louisville (9-3, 4-2 ACC) will play its second straight at home in the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals face the Duke Blue Devils on Saturday.

Louisville dropped its second straight on Monday after a five-game win streak as the Cardinals fell 78-65 to Florida State. Carlik Jones led UofL with 17 points, three assists and two steals in the Cardinals' first home loss in seven games. FSU shot 50 percent from the field for the game, the second-highest by a UofL opponent this season, including connecting on 9-of-21 three-pointers.

Louisville has started with a 9-3 record or better for each of the last 11 years. The Cardinals have opened with a 4-2 or better conference record for the ninth time in the last 11 years, with the two exceptions being its 2012 Final Four (2-4) and 2013 National Championship (3-3) seasons (later vacated). Louisville and Virginia are the only teams with three ACC road wins this season.

Duke (5-4, 3-2 ACC) has won three of its last five games, but dropped its last two: a 74-67 loss at Virginia Tech on Jan. 12, and 79-73 at Pitt on Jan. 19 in its last game. Jalen Johnson led the Blue Devils with 24 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, four blocked shots and two steals at Pitt.

Duke forward Matthew Hurt is second in the ACC in scoring (18.9) and third in rebounding (8.2). Senior guard Jared Goldwire leads the ACC in steals (2.6) and ranks third in assists/turnovers ratio (2.43) and sixth in assists (3.8). Duke is No. 28 by KenPom, No. 34 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 48 in ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI), No. 90 in the NET rankings and No. 155 in the RPI through Jan. 19.

Louisville trails 7-10 in its series against Duke, with the teams splitting the last six matchups. In last year's meeting in Durham, Louisville prevailed 79-73 at then-No. 3/3 Duke in just the fifth victory against a top-three opponent on the road in UofL history (1-18-20). David Johnson led the Cardinals with a season-high 19 points, seven assists and three steals. It marked the 250th career coaching victory for UofL's Coach Chris Mack.

Carlik Jones is the only player in the ACC to rank among the top five in scoring (17.9 ppg, 3rd in the ACC) and assists (4.7 apg/3rd). Jones has 94 career double-figure scoring efforts, including the last 34 consecutive games (all 11 this year). His season-high 25 points at Miami with seven assists and three steals marked the 29th game of his collegiate career with 20 or more points (three in the last five games). He has collected 11 steals in the last four games.

Jae'Lyn Withers has made 71.8 percent of his shots over his last six games (28-of-39). He has produced double-doubles in two of his last four games. He is the Cardinals' rebounding leader and ranks second among ACC freshman (7.3 rpg, ninth in the ACC), averaging 10.3 points while shooting a team-best 61.7 percent from the field.

David Johnson, who is averaging 13.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists (sixth in the ACC), has cut his turnovers significantly recently, with 17 assists and just nine turnovers in his last five games after totaling 29 assists and 29 turnovers in his first seven games.

Notes

Louisville has won the rebounding battle in seven games this year, including four ACC games. The Cardinals tied a much taller Florida State team 35-35 in its last outing, and Miami is the only ACC team to beat UofL on the boards. Louisville produced double-digit rebounding margins in its first two ACC games vs. Pitt and Boston College. UofL's +6.0 rebounding advantage in conference games is second in the ACC and its +5.2 margin on the season is third in the ACC. The Cardinals grabbed 13 offensive rebounds against FSU, their second-highest total this season (15 at Pittsburgh), and turned those into 15 second chance points. Louisville has faced three of the nation's five tallest teams in the KenPom statistics this season, winning two of those three matchups (beat 3 Seton Hall and 5 Kentucky, lost to 2 Florida State).
The Cardinals earned their second national title as they prevailed 72-69 over Duke in the 1986 NCAA Championship game behind Final Four Most Outstanding Player Pervis Ellison's 25 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots (3/31/86). Louisville beat the Blue Devils 85-63 in the 2013 Midwest Region championship in Indianapolis, Ind. en route to the Cardinals' third NCAA title (3-31-13; later vacated).
UofL assistant coach Dino Gaudio had a 2-2 record against Duke in the three seasons when he was the head coach at Wake Forest (2007-10).
UofL guard Josh Nickelberry and Duke forward Joey Baker were teammates for two seasons at Trinity Christian High School before Nickelberry moved to Northwood Temple Academy for his final two prep years. Nickelberry also played AAU ball with Duke's Wendell Moore.
Duke Director of Operations and Player Development Nolan Smith's father Derek Smith was a member of Louisville's 1980 NCAA Championship team and is seventh in career scoring with 1,826 points before a nine-year NBA career. Derek, who passed away on Aug. 9, 1996, is one of 20 Honored Jersey recipients for the Cardinals and is a member of the UofL Hall of Fame.
Carlik Jones needs 51 points for 1,800 in his career (197 at UofL, 1,552 at Radford).
Louisville has been successful with only two upperclassman among its 11 active scholarship players. Graduate transfers Carlik Jones and Charles Minlend -- who played a minute at Wake Forest in his first game of the season after recovering from a knee injury -- joins nine Cardinals who are freshmen or sophomores in that group. Louisville ranks 338th in the nation in experience in KenPom anaytics.
Carlik Jones' 37.3 minutes ranks 18th in the nation. He has played a full 40 minutes twice this season and has six games of 38 or more minutes.
UofL has made 78.4 percent of its free throws in the final five minutes of its games (58-of-74). The Cardinals are sixth in the ACC in free throw percentage for the season (.737, 78th in the nation). Louisville has shot 80 percent or better from the free throw line on three occasions this season, including 83.3 percent (15-for-18) at Miami two games ago.
After a three-game stretch in which the Cardinals made 21-of-49 three-pointers (.428), Louisville followed those two games with making just 7-of-36 threes in its last two games (.194). The Cardinals are ranks 38th nationally in offensive efficiency in KenPom analytics. Louisville's 47.0 field goal percentage is third in the ACC (69th in the nation). Louisville has shot 50 percent or better in seven halves this season, including 53.1 percent in the second half at Miami. After scoring just 21 points in the first half at Miami, the Cardinals scored a season-best 51 points in the second half, but conversely gave up a season-high 45 points in the half.

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Players Mentioned

David Johnson

Carlik Jones

Charles Minlend

Josh Nickelberry

Jae'Lyn Withers

University of Louisville Athletics