Men's Basketball Hosts Pittsburgh Thursday Night

Thursday, January 14

LOUISVILLE, KY

9:00 PM ET

University of Louisville

PITTSBURGH

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January 13, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Cardinals and Panthers square off in a Top 25 matchup at the KFC Yum! Center

By: Kim Pemberton

GAME 17
Date: Jan. 14, 2016
Time: 9:05 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,000) (92-13 in 6th yr.)
Television: ESPN Karl Ravech, play-by-play; Seth Greenberg, analyst.
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 81, XM 81)
Series History: UofL leads 10-5 (6-1 in Louisville, 4-1 in Pittsburgh 0-3 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 69, Pitt 56 (Feb. 11, 2015 in KFC Yum! Center)
UofL National Ranking: 20th USA Today, 21th Associated Press
Officials: Bryan Kersey, Michael Roberts, John Gaffney
Next UofL Game: Jan. 20 vs. Florida State, KFC Yum! Center, 9 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Louisville will play its first of two games this season against the Pittsburgh Panthers as the Cardinals play their first of two straight in the KFC Yum! Center on Thursday. Louisville dropped its last game 66-62 at Clemson on Jan. 10 while Chinanu Onuaku produced his third straight double-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.

The Cardinals are led by three players averaging double figures, Damion Lee leads the trio of top scorers with 16.6 points per game. Trey Lewis ranks second on the team in scoring with 13.4 per game. Quentin Snider also leads the team in assists with 3.8 per game while averaging 9.9 points. Chinanu Onuaku leads the team in rebounding with 8.7 per game while averaging 10.1 points per game.

As a team, the Cardinals are shooting 49.7 percent from the field while holding opponents to 36.1 percent shooting. Louisville leads the nation in scoring margin, defeating opponents by an average of 23.1 points per game. The Cards are also averaging 42.8 rebounds and 13.7 assists per game.

Pitt (14-1, 3-0), ranked No. 17 in the USA Today coaches poll and No. 20 by AP, won its 10th straight with an 86-82 victory at Notre Dame in their first ACC road game on Jan. 9 as Michael Young led the Panthers with 25 points.

Young, a junior forward leads Pitt in scoring (17.5 ppg, fourth in the ACC), rebounding (6.8 rpg, 14th ACC) and field goal percentage (.597, 3rd ACC). Senior guard James Robinson (10.5 ppg) is second in the ACC in assists (5.4) and fourth in free throw percentage (.857). Pitt, which leads the nation in free throw percentage (.793) and ranks fifth nationally in scoring margin (+19.9) and second in assist/turnover ratio (1.86), is 20^th in the ratings percentage index (RPI) and 18th in the Sagarin Ratings through Jan. 10.

Louisville has a 10-5 advantage in its series with Pittsburgh, winning the last six matchups. The Cardinals won both meetings last season: Louisville won 80-68 over the Panthers in Pitt's Peterson Events Center (where UofL has a 4-1 record) as UofL shot a season-best 65.2 percent from the field (1-25-15); and the Cardinals won 69-56 in the KFC Yum! Center as Montrezl Harrell led the Cardinals with 28 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots (2-11-15). Three of the last nine games have been decided in overtime. Three UofL losses to Pitt came in Big East Conference Tournaments in its first three years in the league.

CARD FILE:

Louisville's academic peformance in the recently completed 2015 fall semester was impressive, with 13 of 15 men's basketball student-athletes achieving a 3.0 or better grade point average. The Cardinals posted a collective 3.36 GPA for the 2015 Fall Semester, just short of the team record of 3.47 achieved in 2013.
Chinanu Onuaku's next rebound will be the 300th of in his career. He has averaged 10.9 rebounds over the last seven games, grabbing double-digit boards in five of those games. He has made 72.2 percent of his field goals in the last 5 games.
Trey Lewis needs nine points for 1,300 career points. Damion Lee passed 1,800 points for his career against Clemson.
Louisville's 136 victories over the last five years are the second-most wins in the nation in that stretch. Louisville and Wichita State are the only schools in the nation to win 30 games in three of the last four seasons.
UofL leads the nation in scoring margin (+23.1), is second in rebounding margin (+13.3), third in scoring defense (58.8), and third in field goal percentage defense (.361).
Louisville is 12th in the nation in field goal percentage (.497). UofL has shot above 50 percent in 10 of its 16 games. The Cards shot 50 percent or above on eight occasions all last season. UofL is 24th nationally in scoring (81.9 ppg).
UofL has a 29-14 record during the month of January over the last five years, including a 13-5 record in the last three years.