Know Your Opponent: Louisville

By Bobby Hundley

Louisville (GoCards.com)
Location: Louisville, Ky.
Rankings: No. 13 KenPom, No. 15 AP
NET/SOS: No. 12 NET, No. 6 SOS
Record: 16-5, 7-1 ACC
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): UNC leads 13-6 (UofL 83, UNC 62, Jan. 12, 2019, Smith Center)

KYO: Louisville - Jan. 12

Louisville went from a talented team still finding itself under a new head coach to a legitimate ACC contender in the span of about two hours on Jan. 12 when the Cardinals dismantled UNC 83-62. Since then, Chris Mack's club has jumped 26 spots in the KenPom rankings and 17 spots in the NET rankings over the course of its current six-game winning streak.

Saturday gives UofL the chance to consolidate its road win over the Tar Heels and keep pace with fellow league-leaders Virginia and Duke as the regular season approaches its final month. A win would also provide a key tiebreaker advantage over UNC when it comes to ACC Tournament seeding.

Sophomore Jordan Nwora has continued his push toward bona fide stardom over the last six games, scoring in double figures in each win during the streak. He exploded for 32 points and 10 rebounds against Boston College on Jan. 16 and is now averaging 19.0 points and 6.8 boards per ACC contest.

Steven Enoch had a double-double off the bench in Chapel Hill and can probably go ahead and make room for the ACC Sixth Man of the Year trophy. The redshirt junior who spent two seasons at UConn ranks third in the ACC in 2-point percentage and fifth in defensive rebounding percentage in league play. Classmate Dwayne Sutton, who just missed a triple-double against Carolina, is also among the league's top 10 in both categories.

While the Louisville offense has continued to roll along, the defensive effort has powered this recent good run of form. The Cardinals have held all six opponents under 1.01 points per possession, with four (including UNC) scoring fewer than 0.90 PPP. With the exception of NC State's 12-of-27 (44.4 percent) effort, UofL foes have struggled mightily from deep - only Virginia and Georgia Tech have guarded the 3-point line better than the Cards in the ACC.

The Louisville schedule is loaded down the stretch, with five games (including Saturday) against NET top-10 teams still to come. But with four Quadrant 1 wins already in the bank and nary a bad loss on the résumé, UofL is playing for big-time seeding now, not just a spot in the field of 68.

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