Louisville basketball faces critical challenge at Pittsburgh
Louisville basketball travels to Pittsburgh to try to go 2-0 against a second conference foe. We have the keys to the game, match-ups to watch, keys to victory, and more.
Chris Mack and Louisville basketball are looking to continue their winning ways amid two weeks of road games against conference opponents.
Up next for the Cards is a trip Pittsburgh, where the Cards will face a Panthers squad that challenged them but could not hang in December in the KFC Yum! Center.
A month older, the two squads are facing familiar opponents but very different storylines.
Let’s take a look at the keys to the game, and where the Cards can look to take advantage of the Panthers.
Gameday Central:
Who: No. 11 Louisville Cardinals (13-3) (4-1) vs. Pittsburgh Panthers (11-5) (2-3)
Where: Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA
When: Tuesday, January 14th at 7:00 PM EST
How to watch: ACC Network
How to listen: 790 WKRD
Spread check: Louisville -5 (Courtesy of the Action Network)
Last matchup: December 7, 2019 – Louisville 64, Pittsburgh 46
Current streaks: Louisville W2, Pittsburgh L1
Current ACC standings: Louisville – 3rd, Pittsburgh – 12th
Current KenPom rankings: Louisville – 9th, Pittsburgh – 75th
Key Storylines:
Louisville
The Cardinals are in desperate need of a momentum-building game after a month surrounded with questions.
Louisville has become accustomed to getting out to strong starts and they’ve proven that they are locked in down the stretch in key moments; It’s the 10-15 minute stretches of game time in the middle that are worrisome.
Whether it is depth, lack of focus, lack of experience based on lineup changes, or something else, Louisville just cannot hang on to leads in the middle of games, or even falls behind (like at Kentucky or against FSU) and cannot claw its way back in.
Whatever the case, a win is crucial against a middle-tier conference foe that they have already beaten once this season- Especially with Duke on the horizon.
Pittsburgh
Once upon a time this season, Pitt traveled to the KFC Yum! Center to face a No. 1 ranked Louisville team and put up a solid fight against the Cards with excellent guard play and a solid shooting night.
However, even in a game where the Panthers played well and cut the deficit to 5 in the second half, the Cardinals still cruised to an 18-point victory.
Pitt boasts wins over UNC and Florida State, but they also dropped games to Miami (who Louisville has beaten twice) and Wake Forest.
The Panthers need this win badly in order to boost their tournament resume.