No. 1 Louisville basketball welcomes in Pittsburgh for Friday night ACC clash

Preventing Pittsburgh from dominating the offensive glass

The Cardinals have had their fair share of struggles with limiting the offensive rebounding by their opponents already this season, and this would not be an ideal time for those struggles to reappear. Pittsburgh is one of the best teams in the entire country in terms of their offensive rebounding ability, as they average 14.2 offensive boards on a nightly basis. That is the 17th best mark amongst all Division I programs.

As we all know, the Cards could be more susceptible to giving up more points if they allow more offensive rebounds. This season, Louisville has been outrebounded on the offensive glass by low-major teams like NC Central and Youngstown State. The Cards surrender about 10.7 offensive rebounds per game, and that is the 246th best mark in the country.

Not allowing Pittsburgh to consistently get to the free-throw line

It seems like the officiating crews in recent Louisville games have been really stingy and whistled the Cardinals for cheap ticky-tack foul calls. The Cards are committing an average of 16.5 personal fouls per game, and opponents have been able to get into the bonus relatively early in the second half of games in recent weeks. Once again, Louisville wants to avoid this against Pittsburgh. The Panthers are drawing the seventh most fouls in the nation, being fouled an average of 21 fouls per game.

Pittsburgh has proven to be respectable when given the opportunity at free throws as well, connecting on 70 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe. The Panthers have attempted 200 free throws as a team, and that puts them with the 24th most attempts in the country. They’ve drained 140 of those attempts, which is the 25th most made free-throws in the nation. The Cards will want to force Pittsburgh to score from the field and not allow them to get easy points from the charity stripe.

Having an efficient night on the offensive end

We all expected Louisville’s offense to come down to earth after their scorching hot start to the season, but I’m not sure many people expected the offense to struggle as much as they have in the last few games. Sometimes it looks like the Cards just can’t buy a bucket, and they’ve gone through their fair share of scoreless droughts. In their last three games, Louisville has shot 41.9 percent, 44.2 percent, and 36.7 percent from the field, respectively.

They’ve also shot under 36 percent from beyond the arc in all three of those games. Pittsburgh has been better on the defensive end of the floor than the offensive side this season, so Louisville will not have the easiest matchup to score against. I think Coach Mack is going to stress better shot selection and being patient to find quality looks. If the Cards can put up 50/40 splits from the field and from three, I’d give them a solid shot at staying undefeated.

Predictions:

Tristan Beckmann: Louisville 78, Pittsburgh 58.

• Ryan McMahon knocks down four three-pointers.
• Jordan Nwora leads the team in scoring.
• Cards force 15 turnovers.

Jacob Lane: Louisville 76, Pittsburgh 68

• Louisville starts slow but finishes strong
• Dwayne Sutton leads the team in scoring
• Cards limit Trey McGowens and Xavier Johnson to less than 35 points combined