Cardinals Host Pitt on Wednesday Night

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville men's basketball stays home this week to host Pitt at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday at the KFC Yum! Center. The game will air on the ACC Network.

The Cardinals suffered their seventh straight loss Saturday with an 80-59 defeat against last year's national runner-up, North Carolina. Pitt won 71-60 at Georgia Tech on Saturday to improve to 4-2 on the road this season, including 3-1 in league play.

Louisville is 21-7 all-time against the Panthers, including 12-1 at home. Pitt won the most recent meeting a year ago, but the Cardinals have claimed 17 of the last 19 overall in the series.

Pitt is ranked 18th in the country in Division I experience, according to Ken Pomeroy, while Louisville is ranked 339th.

GAME 19

Pitt (12-6, 5-2 ACC) at Louisville (2-16, 0-7 ACC)
January 18, 2023 | 7 p.m. ET
KFC Yum! Center | Louisville, Ky.

MEDIA INFO

Listen: Cardinal Sports Network (WLCL 93.9 FM & WGTK 970 AM flagship); Streaming (Paul Rogers, pxp | Bob Valvano, analysis)

Watch: ACC Network (Wes Durham, pxp | Dan Bonner, analyst)

Live Stats: Sidearm Stats

PROMOTIONS/TICKETS

Single-Game Tickets

Salute to Service: Honoring veterans and active-duty military personnel with ticket discounts and exclusive recognitions

TOP STORYLINES

• Over the last four games since turning the calendar to 2023, redshirt freshman guard/forward Mike James is averaging 17 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 49% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line. In the first 14 games of the season, James averaged just 6.9 points while shooting 44% overall and 31% from 3-point range.

• Over the last nine games, senior guard El Ellis has averaged 19.9 points, 5.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 2.0 steals. As of Sunday, Ellis was one of 13 players in the nation with at least 315 points and 80 assists this season. After having a positive or even assist-to-turnover ratio just three times in the first nine games of the season, Ellis has been positive or even in seven of the last nine games. Ellis' current 17.7 points per game overall is the ninth-most by a Cardinal in the last 30 seasons.

• El Ellis had 20 total steals in his first 45 games as a Cardinal – including all of last season and the first 13 games of this year – for an average of 0.4 per game. He now has 13 steals in Louisville's last five games, an average of 2.6 per game.

• After averaging 1.7 points and 3.6 rebounds across the first nine games, senior forward Sydney Curry is averaging 9.2 points and 6.9 rebounds over the last nine games while shooting 63% overall. His career-high 19 rebounds against Florida A&M were the most by a Cardinal since Luke Whitehead grabbed 19 boards against Marquette on Jan. 31, 2004.

• Sophomore forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield missed Saturday's game against North Carolina with a foot injury. He leads the team with 6.0 rebounds per game and is averaging 7.5 points per contest.

• After averaging 4.8 points and 3.3 rebounds with two total 3-pointers over the previous four games, redshirt junior forward Jae'Lyn Withers has averaged 10.0 points and 5.3 rebounds with seven 3s over the last four games. Withers came off the bench for the first three games of that stretch but returned to the lineup against North Carolina in place of Huntley-Hatfield.

• One of the Cardinals' strengths as a team has been getting to the free-throw line. Louisville has shot at least 20 free throws in eight of the last nine games and over that span has shot 34 more total free throws than its opponents.

• The Cardinals are in the final game of a 16-game stretch that will see them face 12 teams in the top 90 of the KenPom rankings and 15 teams in the top 190. That stretch began in Maui with Arkansas and concludes Jan. 18 with Pittsburgh. From Maui through the end of the regular season, 19 of Louisville's 28 opponents rank in the top 90 in KenPom, while 27 of them rank in the top 190 and 10 of them rank in the top 50.

HISTORY VS. PITT (UofL leads 21-7)

Last Meeting: Pitt 65, Louisville 53
Jan. 15, 2022 | Pittsburgh, Pa.

Jamarius Burton scored 20 points and John Hugley added 19 and Pittsburgh won for the second time in three games with a 65-53 win over Louisville.

Burton and Hugley each collared eight rebounds and Mouhamadou Gueye and Femi Odukale both scored 10.

El Ellis made 2 of 3 foul shots with 7:37 left before halftime for a 22-17 Louisville lead. Pitt responded by outscoring the Cardinals 11-2 to go up 28-24 and never trailed again. The Cardinals missed 10 of 11 from the floor, including a dunk, heading into the break.

Dre Davis' layup with 14:40 left put Louisville ahead by four, but an 18-6 spurt over the next 7 1/2 minutes gave Pitt is largest lead at 54-38 when Burton hit a jumper. Despite shooting 4 for 18 from 3-point range, the Panthers found better results inside the arc shooting 20 for 37 (54%).

Malik Williams scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Louisville and Ellis and Noah Locke scored 10 apiece.

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Players Mentioned

Sydney Curry

Dre Davis

El Ellis

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield

Mike James

Noah Locke

Malik Williams

Jae'Lyn Withers

University of Louisville Athletics