Cardinals Face Duke in ACC Tournament Second Round

Game Information
Date/Time: Wednesday, March 10, 6:32 p.m. ET
Site: Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum (20,200)
Television: ACC Network - Dan Shulman, play-by-play; Jay Bilas, analyst; Allison Williams, reporter.
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Jody Demling, analyst (Sirus channel 81, XM 81, Internet 81).
Duke Series History: UofL trails 9-10 (4-3 in Louisville, 3-3 in Durham, 2-4 neutral)
Last Meeting vs. Duke: UofL 80, Duke 73 (OT) (Feb. 27, 2021 at Durham, N.C.)
UofL National Ranking: unranked in both the AP and USA Today polls

Louisville returns to action on Wednesday as the Cardinals face Duke in the second round of the the 2021 ACC Tournament at 6:30 p.m. ET.

The Cardinals, who have won three of their last five games, dropped their season finale 68-50 to No. 20 Virgina in the KFC Yum! Center as David Johnson led the Cardinals with 14 points. The Cavaliers won the regular season ACC title with the victory.

Louisville (13-6, 8-5 ACC) enters the ACC Tournament as the number seven seed. The Cardinals will be participating in its fifth Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament this week, entering with a 2-4 record in four previous appearances. Last year, the tournament was canceled before No. 3 seeded UofL played a game. The complete 2021 bracket is available here.

This is the second time the Cardinals have been a No. 7 seed in the ACC Tournament. In its last time as a No. 7 seed in 2019, the Cardinals beat Notre Dame in the Second Round before falling to North Carolina in the quarterfinals.

Duke (12-11, 10-9 ACC), the No. 10 seed in the ACC Tournament, reached the second round by defeating Boston College 86-51 on Tuesday. The Blue Devils made 15-of-32 three-point goals in the game and were led by guard DJ Steward's 17 points.

Louisville trails 9-10 in its series against Duke, with the Cardinals winning five of the last eight matchups. UofL won both matchups this season, beating Duke 70-65 in Louisville (1-23-21) as Carlik Jones led the Cardinals with 24 points and five assists; and Louisville won 80-73 in overtime in Durham (2-27-21) as Jones scored 25 for UofL and Samuell Williamson added 14 points and 12 rebounds. Louisville became the first team, other than North Carolina, to sweep a two-game regular season series from Duke since Maryland in 2007 and only the second overall in the last 12 years.

All-ACC guard Carlik Jones is the only player in the ACC to rank among the top five in scoring (17.0 ppg, 5th in the ACC), assists (4.6 apg, 3rd), assists/turnovers ratio (2.16, 3rd) and free throw percentage (.826, 3rd). Jones has 100 career double-figure scoring efforts, including 40 of his last 41 games (17 of his 18 at Louisville). He is the first person in UofL history to reach double figures in his first 17 games at Louisville.

Samuell Williamson has averaged 11.8 points and 11.3 rebounds over the last six games, grabbing double-digit boards in five of the last six. He leads the Cardinals in rebounding (8.1 rpg) and ranks fourth in the ACC.

Notes

The ACC Tournament was in Greensboro for the Cardinals' first appearance in the event in 2015, UofL's first year in the conference. The No. 4 seeded Cardinals fell to North Carolina 70-60 in that tournament before moving on to reach the 2015 NCAA East Region championship game that year. UofL was a No. 3 seed and did not play a game in the canceled 2020 event.
Louisville has won at least eight conference games for the last 15 consecutive seasons.
Louisville is assured of finishing with its 73rd winning season over the last 76 seasons.
Louisville leads the ACC and ranks 29th in the nation in three-point field goal defense (.301). UofL has held 12 of its 19 opponents below 30 percent accuracy from three-point range, including five of the last six. UofL limited ACC three-point leader Virginia to 3-of-15 threes in its last game.
David Johnson is the only player in the ACC among the top 25 in both rebounding and assists, averaging 12.6 points, 3.3 assists (11th in the ACC) and 5.5 rebounds (25th). He has nearly doubled his scoring and rebounding averages from a year ago and has buried six times his number of three-pointers from last season (team leading 30-of-79 threes this year, .380).
Jae'Lyn Withers has averaged 13.3 points and 9.3 rebounds over the last three games. He produced his third double-double of the season with 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds against Notre Dame. He totaled 16 points and nine rebounds at Duke, his ninth game this season with nine or more rebounds.
Carlik Jones and David Johnson have combined to score 41 percent of the Cardinals' points in ACC games, while Jae'Lyn Withers and Samuell Williamson have collectively pulled down 44 percent of UofL's rebounding total in conference games.
Louisville is 12-0 when shooting better from the field than its opponent, 11-1 when outrebounding its opponent, 10-1 when scoring 70 or more points, 10-2 when allowing less than 70 points, 12-1 when leading at halftime, and 12-0 when leading with 5:00 remaining in a game.
David Johnson needs three points for 400 in his career
Louisville is No. 37 in the RPI, No. 39 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 52 by KenPom, No. 51 in the NCAA NET and No. 59 in ESPN's College BPI through March 7.

University of Louisville Athletics

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David Johnson

Carlik Jones

Samuell Williamson

Jae'Lyn Withers

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