The 1980 NCAA Championship Team will be honored at halftime
LOUISVILLE, Ky.– Winners of nine straight games, Louisville plays its second straight at home in the KFC Yum! Center as the ACC-leading Cardinals face the Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday. UofL
will honor its 1980 NCAA Championship team at halftime of the game.
Louisville recovered from a 15-point deficit to beat Wake Forest 86-76 on Wednesday as Jordan Nwora led six Cardinals in double figure with 21 points, adding seven rebounds. Dwayne Sutton
added 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season and
10th of his career.
Louisville has four players averaging eight or more points a game. Junior Jordan Nwora leads the team in scoring with 19.3 points per game, while pulling down 7.4 rebounds a game. Steven Enoch is second on the team in scoring and rebounding with 10.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Dwayne Sutton averages 9.1points while leading the team in rebounding with 8.5 per game. Perry leads the team with 71 assists.
The Cavaliers (15-6, 7-4 ACC) have won three straight and four of their last five games, including beating Clemson 51-44 on Feb. 5 in their last game. Virginia limited the Tigers to 32.7 shooting
from the field as Braxton Key led the Cavaliers with 19 points.
Virginia leads the nation in scoring defense (50.4 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (.356) and is third in fewest fouls per game (13.3). Guard Kihei Clark is second in the ACC in minutes played (37.0), second in free throw percentage (.862) and fourth in assists (6.0). Virginia is No. 34 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 56 in the NET rankings, No. 40 in ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) and No. 54 by Ken Pomeroy through Feb. 5.
Louisville trails Virginia, which won the 2019 NCAA Championship, 4-15 in its series and the Cavaliers have won the last nine meetings. Virginia won both matchups last season: 64-52
in Louisville (2-23-19), despite UofL burying 10 three-pointers in the first half and committing a season-low five turnovers in the game; and 73-68 in Charlottesville, Va. (3-9-19), when Jordan Nwora scored 19 points to lead four Cardinals in double figures.
GAME 24
Date: Feb. 8, 2020
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,090) (158-26 in 10th year)
Television: ESPN – Jason Benetti, play-by-play; Dan Dakich, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst.
(Sirius channel 84, XM 84, Internet 84) Also: Compass Media Networks – Gregg Daniels, play-by-play; Kelly Tripucka, analyst.
Series History: UofL trails 4-15 (3-7 in Louisville, 1-7 in Charlottesville, 0-1 neutral)
Last Meeting: Virginia 73, UofL 68 (March 9, 2019 in Charlottesville, Va.)
UL National Ranking: No. 5 USA Today, No. 5 Associated Press
Officials: Bert Smith, John Gaffney, Keith Kimble
Next UofL Game: Feb. 12 at Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Ga., 8:00 p.m. ET (ACC Network)
CARD FILES
- UofL’s current nine-game ACC winning streak is their longest ever ACC winning streak and longest conference win streak since 2007-08.
- Louisville’s 11-1 ACC start is its best in its six years in the conference and its best in any league since the Cardinals won the 1993 Metro Conference title with an 11-1 record. UofL has started with at least a 20-3 overall record through 23 games for the second time in the last 26 years. UofL has 18 straight 20-win seasons on the court.
- Louisville has a 53-16 record in its conference home games over the last eight years (.768). UofL is tied for the fourth-most conference home wins in its six years in the ACC with a 38-13 ACC home record.
- Louisville has made as many as nine three-pointers in a game on 14 occasions this season (nine of the last 13), including a season-high 14-of-28 threes in its last game against Wake Forest. UofL is fifth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.403).
- In its last 10 games, Louisville has made 45.5 percent of its three-pointers (95-of-209).
- UofL is eighth in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.373), 16th in scoring margin (+12.9), 29th in rebound margin (+6.3) and 31st in scoring defense (63.0). UofL is one of three teams in the nation ranked in the top 20 of both defensive efficiency (19th) and offensive efficiency (15th) in KenPom statistical rankings.
- Jordan Nwora’s 445 points this year is the second-most by a UofL player through 23 games
over the last 20 seasons. He is second in the ACC in scoring (19.3 ppg). The preseason ACC Player of the Year, his 21 points vs. Wake Forest was his 12th game this season and 25th in the last two years scoring 20 or more.