Cardinals will face the Hilltoppers at 5:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon
LOUISVILLE – November 27, 2019 – GoCards.com
Louisville will play its first neutral site game of the season when the Cardinals face instrastate foe Western Kentucky on Friday. Louisville won its 55th straight home game in the month of November when the Cardinals beat Akron 82-76 on Sunday as Dwayne Sutton grabbed 14 rebounds and scored 10 points for his seventh career double-double and second this season.
Louisville claimed its 30th regular season tournament championship, winning the Global Sports
Shootout title by sweeping the five-team, round-robin event. The favorite to win the Conference USA Championship this year, the Hilltoppers (6-1) beat Fordham 69-64 in their last game on Nov. 25 in their third game of the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.
Louisville has four players averaging double figures through five games. Junior Jordan Nwora leads the team in scoring with 21.3 points per game, while pulling down 7.3 rebounds a game. Ryan McMahon is second on the team in scoring with 12.3 points per game and connecting on 57.1 percent from behind the arc. Steven Enoch is averaging 11.7 points per game while Dwayne Sutton is also averaging 10.5 points. Enoch and Sutton lead the team on the boards with 8.7 rebounds per game. Darius Perry leads the team with 38 assists.
The Hilltoppers (6-1) beat Fordham 69-64 in their last game on Nov. 25 in their third game of the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, falling only to Bowling Green this season. The preseason favorite to win the Conference USA title, Western Kentucky posted a 20-14 record last season.
Five Hilltoppers are averaging scoring in double figures, led by sophomore center Charles Bassey (15.7 ppg, 9.7 rpg.). Louisville (.530, fifth in the nation) and Western Kentucky (.528, eighth in the nation) are in the top ten nationally in field goal percentage.
Louisville has a 40-39 edge in the series which dates back to 1926, winning the last seven matchups. Louisville won the last meeting 78-56 in the KFC Yum! Center on Dec. 19, 2015 as Quentin Snider scored a game-high 16 points.
CARD FILES
- UofL has won its first six games of the season for the first time since the 2014-15 season, when the Cardinals won their first 11 games.
- Louisville is fifth in the nation in field goal percentage (.555) and is ninth in the nation in three-point percentage (.440, leads the ACC). Louisville is second in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency by Kenpom.com.
- Louisville’s No. 2 AP ranking is the highest the Cardinals have been ranked since they were No. 2 on March 18, 2013 in the final poll of the season.
- Jordan Nwora scored a season-high 28 points with nine rebounds vs. USC Upstate, his fourth occasion scoring over 20 points in his first six games. His 128 points scored this season is the most by a Louisville player through six games over the last 18 seasons. He is third in the ACC in scoring (21.3 ppg). The preseason ACC Player of the Year, Nwora was a preseason All-America selection by AP and many others.
- Louisville has a 49-6 record during the month of November over the last nine years, winning 29 of its last 33 games in that month.
- In neutral site games (as in Nashville Friday), UofL has a 39-14 record over the last six years (.736).
- Louisville’s victory over Akron was its 150th in the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals have a 150- 25 record in 10 years in the spectacular arena.
- Darius Perry is third in the ACC in assists (6.3 apg, 24th in the nation), more than four times his average assists from last season. He is second in the ACC in assist/turnover ratio (3.80).
- Dwayne Sutton’s 29 rebounds in the last two games is the most in two games for a Cardinal since Chinanu Onuaku had as many in two games in Jan. 3 & 7, 2016.
GAME 7
Date: Nov. 29, 2019
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Site: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn. (19,395)
Television: CBSSN on Facebook – Chris Hassel, play-by-play; Bob Wenzel, analyst,
Ashley Holder, reporter.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 105, XM 193, Internet 955)
Series History: UofL leads 40-39 (28-18 in Louisville, 9-16 in Bowling Green, 3-5 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 78, Western Kentucky 56 (Dec. 19, 2015 at KFC Yum! Center)
UL National Ranking: No. 2 Associated Press, No. 2 USA Today
Officials: Mike Stephens, A.J. Desai, Tony Henderson
Next UofL Game: Dec. 3 vs. Michigan, KFC Yum! Center, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
