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The Beak Basketball Breakdown: The Bearcats Part 2

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You can bet that when Louisville and Cincinnati play each other on the field, basketball court or wherever that it’s going to be a battle. If you add to that natural competition two highly ranked teams, playing for a conference title then you have something really special. This is the Cardinals oldest rival and the game on Saturday will be the 99th meeting in the UofL and UC series. It dates back to Metro Conference, Missouri Valley , Conference USA, Big East and now AAC. Louisville leads this series with our old foes from the north 55 to 43, but lost a heart breaker to the Bearcats back on January 30th 66-69. Cincinnati improved to 24-3 overall and 13-1 in the AAC on Wednesday with a win over UCF, and are ranked 7th by AP and 9th in the USA Today poll. Our Cardinals have won 9 out of the last 10 and five straight heading into the game on Saturday at 12PM on CBS.

Coach Mick Cronin has one of his most physical and athletic teams coming into the game on Saturday. Cincinnati is among the national leaders in five key defensive statistics including scoring defense (57.7, fifth nationally), turnover margin (+3.7, 13th), scoring margin (11.7, 25th), field goal percentage defense (38.7, 27th) and blocked shots (5.7, 25th). It will be an experienced and established UC team lead by Sean Kilpatrick (20.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.6 apg), and a great supporting cast of characters including Titus Rubles (7.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.1 apg), Shaquille Thomas (7.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.1 apg), Jermaine Sanders (5.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.0 apg), Troy Caupain (5.7 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 2.4 apg), and Justin Jackson (11.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.7 apg). These guys can all protect the rim and rebound.

Kilpatrick is their do it all guy and their go to. He was named to the Naismith Trophy Midseason Top 30 list, leads the American in scoring and three-pointers made (2.8 per game).
Titus Rubles is ranked eighth in the American in rebounding since the start of league action. He has pulled down at least six rebounds in 10 of UC’s last 14 contests.
Justin Jackson entered the week ranked eighth in the nation in total blocks (81). He is listed among the league’s Top 10 in five categories: blocks (first at 3.1), offensive rebounds (second at 3.2), field-goal shooting (fifth at 57.0 percent), rebounds (t-fourth at 7.0) and steals (seventh at 1.7). He’s the key to a Cincinnati defense only allowing opponents to 57.4 points a game.

UC comes into Saturdays game averaging 69.7 points-per-game, while shooting 43.3% from the floor and 34.4% from 3-point range. The Bearcats are converting 71.5% of their attempts from the free-throw line. Defensively, UC is allowing 57.4 points-per-game as the opposition is shooting 39.3% from the floor. The Bearcats are out-rebounding their opponents 973-851 with a rebounding margin of +4.5 averaging 36 boards-per-contest.

:UC
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME 69.7, 226th OVERALL -REBOUNDS PER GAME 36, 127th OVERALL -ASSISTS PER GAME 13, 154th OVERALL -FIELD GOAL PCT
.433, 238th OVERALL
Compared to
:UofL
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME 83, 11th OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME 38, 47th OVERALL -ASSISTS PER GAME 15.5, 30th OVERALL -FIELD GOAL PCT .480, 21st OVERALL

UC
Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #21
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
– 91 ranks 5th
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
– 108.6 ranks 102nd
Compared to
UofL
Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #3
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
– 92 ranks 8th
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
– 116.7 ranks 11th

UC is off to their best start in coach Cronin’s eight-year tenure. He is a guy that embodies the leadership, courage and determination of all of his mentors. And he has passed that down to his team. They are relentless on the defensive end of the floor and they dig in to grind on teams for the full 40. This Cardinals team will also be much better the second time around. In the last game there were a lot of mistakes, defensive breakdowns coming off screens, closing out, and defensive rebounding. The Cards still almost managed to get the win regardless.

UC will see a more disciplined defensive team Saturday, a better rebounding team and wiser team. Players like Montrezl and Rozier are emerging into difference makers. Mango and Stephan have produced 23 rebounds and 27 points in that 5 spot over the last two games. Russ has made his mind up to just win games instead of trying to please everyone and Chris Jones has settled into his role on the team. Factor in Luke Hancock back to being “Luke” and I think it spells success on Saturday for the Cards.

I’m not homer enough to think our guys are gonna walk into UC’s gym and get an easy win. It’s going to be a fight and I expect a very close game throughout. But this time when our guys need that last rebound, that last play to close out the game I think they’ll get it done. Folks I’m really looking forward to this one. It will be the game of the regular season. Let’s hope our guys return to Louisville Saturday with a little more facial hair and ranked 1st in the AAC. No Shave Till Dallas.. Go Cards!….

Montrezl New Dunk King

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I’ve been writing about how Montrezl Harrell was close to breaking the single season dunk record for a couple of days now. Well last light it happened in a flash as Montrezl slammed number 60 home on a play early in the first half. He would have three more monster dunks on the evening to add to the record that now stands at 63. Montrezl passed both Chane Behanan and Pervis Ellison who are now at number 2 with 60.

Legendary Louisville radio play-by-play Paul Rodgers with the call

Montrezl also continues to move up the list for dunks in a career. He now has 107 career dunks and has passes Rodney McCray at number 6 all-time. As the season winds down it is very possible that he could end up at number 3 all-time in career dunks a position now held by Alvin Sims with 123.

It’s really special that Montrezl has had this many dunks with such limited playing time as a freshman. If he wasn’t a player who will more than likely take his game to the next level next season there’s no doubt he’d shatter all the dunk records. Even if he doesn’t hold the career record he will go down as probably one of the best Dunkers in Louisville’s history. Glad I got to be witness.

Montrezl talks about his record breaking night:

Coach Pitino talks briefly about “Dunk Hungry” Montrezl Harrell:

Cards Take The Bull By The Horns

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The Cardinals didn’t miss a beat tonight and had their 5th blowout win in a row beating USF 80-54. Losing to the Cardinals in this fashion is something that the Bulls have gotten used to over the years. Louisville closes out this series with a 29-4 series advantage, and winning 15 of the last 16 match ups. The Cards who have won 11 of their last 13 games will take their hot streak on the road to play rival Cincinnati.

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It was another very good outing for the Cardinals who seemed poised and ready for their stretch run coming up. 4 guys were in double figures tonight with Russ Smith leading the way with 19 points. Pitino on Russ: “I’m hoping some people/scouts take note of what a dynamic player he is.” He really has transformed himself into an all around player and reemphasized tonight that he wanted to do whatever it takes for his team to win. With his 19 points tonight he passed Wes Unseld for 10th all-time in scoring with 1697 points.
Another guy who continues to look better every time he plays is Luke Hancock. He was second in scoring tonight with 16 points. He is the backbone of the Cardinal offense and good things happen when the offense goes through him.
Montrezl Harrell is now the single season dunk record holder with 62 after slamming home three monster dunks tonight in his 14 point effort.
And my guy Terry Rozier continues to be amazing. Coach Pitino said tonight night that he would put Rozier right with the other elite freshman in college basketball this season. “I think Tyler Ennis is having as good a year as any guard in the country, and I think Terry Rozier is in his class.” He would score 13 points tonight.
And Mango and VanTreese continue to have solid production from that 5 spot. They have now put together some very good outings. Tonight they had 11 points and 14 rebounds. That’s the kind of numbers we need from that position to truly compete with some of the bigger teams. Pitino said about Mango tonight “He played very well tonight. He bailed us out of some tough spots. Very happy w him.”

Again tonight from a statistical standpoint the Cardinals were great. They had shot over 50% from the field in 4 straight games and 6 out of their last 8, overall. Tonight they shot just under that at 48%. They shot 53% from the field in the first half. Rebounding has gotten much better and they win that battle again tonight 36-30 against a good rebounding team. The Cards had 14 assist tonight on 34 made baskets, had 2 blocked shots and 10 steals. Louisville came into this game generating an average of 21.9 points per game off turnovers. Tonight they forced 20 turnovers and scored 20 points off them. Bench scoring continues to be very good tonight out scoring USF bench 29-12.

Now the rubber will meet the road in the Cardinals basketball season. Four of the Cardinals final 5 games are against NCAA teams. At Cincinnati, at Memphis, at SMU, vs. UConn. It will be during this stretch that we will get some kind of idea of whether or not our guys can make another run at this thing. Coach Pitino said tonight “We’re about to go play in some tough, hostile places. That’ll get us ready for tournament time.” Let’s hope the wins keep piling up and the facial hair keeps growing on. No Shave Till Dallas! Go Cards!

Cards are introduced:

Coach Pitino after game:

Wayne Blackshear after game:

Russ Smith after game:

Luke Hancock after game:

Montrezl talks dunks after the game:

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The Beak Basketball Breakdown: The Bulls Part 2

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Our Cardinals will return to the Yum Center court for their third game in the last five days when they play USF on Tuesday night. The game is at 7PM and can be seen on the CBS Sports Network. Louisville has a 28-4 series advantage over USF, winning 14 of the last 15 match ups. This is the second game if the season between these teams. The Cardinals beat the Bulls back in late January 86-46 down in Florida. The Bulls come into this game 3-10 in the AAC and 12-14 overall. The Cards have won 10 of their last 12 games including a 102-54 win against Rutgers on Sunday.

USF isn’t a great team but Stan Heath is a good coach who knows that the strength of his team is the defense and blocking shots on the interior. Heath comes from the forty minutes of hell philosophy learned during his time at Arkansas and defense has been the identity of his teams while at USF. They had a solid defense last year but didn’t have the size down low to finish strong and gave up way too many offensive rebounds. Heath hit the recruiting trail this past summer and got some guys he had hoped would help. And 40.7 percent of USF’s scoring this season has come from three newcomers: Corey Allen Jr., John Egbunu and Chris Perry.

Two of those young guys are leading his front-court this season. Chris Perry (9.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and John Egbunu (7.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg). They are joined in the front-court by the best player on the team Victor Rudd (14.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg).
Perry has a 7-5 wingspan and is a traditional low-post player who likes to play around the basket. He ranks 15th in the conference in rebounding and leads all freshmen in the conference in scoring. Egbunu has speed, leaping ability and a willingness to attack the rim. He ranks 10th in the conference in rebounding, the most of any freshman, 11th in blocked shots, 8th in offensive rebounding . Rudd is a do it all athlete and a great all around player. He is one of three players in the American Conference to rank in the top 10 in scoring and rebounding. 10th in scoring, 9th in rebounding.

They are led in the back-court by three veteran players. Corey Allen Jr. (9.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg), Martino Brock (9.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg) and Javontae Hawkins (4.1ppg, 1.3 rpg).
Allen is a very active guard who knows how to use his hands and plays at a high level on both sided of the ball. He ranks 14th in assists (3.0), 16th in steals (1.4), sixth in minutes played (33.1). Brock is a lengthy guard who also has a knack for taking away the basketball. Allen and Brock combine for about 4 steals per game.
Hawkins is a very good defensive player in his own right and is great at getting his team-mates invoked. He looks to drive a dish.

USF comes into Wednesday’s game averaging 66 points-per-game, while shooting 43.3% from the floor and 25.6% from 3-point range. The Bulls are converting 67.1% of their attempts from the free-throw line. Defensively, USF is allowing 70.5 points-per-game as the opposition is shooting 43.8% from the floor. The Bulls are out-rebounding their opponents 922-919 with a rebounding margin of +0.1 averaging 35.5 boards-per-contest.

USF
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME
66.0
297th
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
35.5
157th
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
12.6
193rd
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.433
235th
OVERALL

Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #194
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
– 104.5 ranks 172nd
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
– 101.9 ranks 222nd

The last time the Bulls beat a ranked team was in Louisville, a 58-51 win over the No. 19 Cardinals on Feb. 29, 2012. And while I don’t think this team is as bad as they appear on paper I don’t think they have even the slightest of chances Tuesday night. Our Cardinals are playing the best basketball of the season right now and this will just be another tune-up for the big showdown in Cincy this weekend. This will be the final regular season conference meeting between these two schools and I can’t say that I’ll miss it. Cards romp and the facial hair continues to grow. Go Cards!

#NoShaveTillDallas

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Luke Hancock’s beard became a symbol of great superstition during the Cards 16 game winning streak and Championship season a year ago. Other players and fans including myself decided to grow out our beards in solidarity with Luke because we started to believe in the power of that magical facial hair.

Coach Pitino Talks about the team growing beards at the 2:41 mark of this video:

Last Friday Coach Pitino and his staff decided to throw caution to the wind and just maybe reclaim some of the mojo that the magical facial hair provided last year. The Coaching staff and the players agreed before Friday nights game against Rutgers that they would not shave again until they lost a game. Call it superstition or just call it a coincidence, but the Cardinals have played the two best and most complete games of the season since deciding not to shave.

Last night Coach Pitino talked about the no shave pledge and throwed out a challenge to the media in attendance during his post game press conference “We are going to have fun, we dont know how long it will last, if you were worth any grain of salt, you would join in.”

I’m in and yes I do believe that things like this can be great motivation especially during the grind of a long season. And I challenge all of CardNation to join in and let’s grow our beards out until we cut down those nets again in Dallas. I think this team has another magical run left in them and I can put up with some itchy facial hair to prove it. Let’s go Cardinal fans are you in? #NoShaveTillDallas

Hairy Cards Dominate The Knight

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Tonight marked the end of the Louisville and Rutgers series and the Cardinals sent them out in style by handing them a 48 point loss 102-54. The Cardinals finish this series with a 13-1 advantage. Louisville improves to 21-4, 10-2 in the AAC and have now won 32 straight over unranked teams.

Coach Pitino said after the game “We’ve kept our focus and we’re getting better as a basketball team. I like what I see.” And this game had just about everything you’d want out of a great performance and this team has now put together two great back to back victories. And some may argue that the competition level wasn’t that high, but Temple just beat #23 SMU today on the very same floor they got manhandled by Louisville on Friday night. And this Rutgers team isn’t that great but a 48 point conference win is impressive no matter who you play. Coach Pitino on the teams win “Our guys just nailed their focus…they just focus in on winning the game.” I tweeted out tonight that the mojo right now with this group of guys is really good. Coach Pitino won over this team on that nine day off stretch and he has them playing inspired basketball at the perfect time. Coach Pitino: “In the dog days of February we have to make sure we have fun, it’s a tough month.”

Just how great was this night from a statistical standpoint? The Cardinals shot 56.7% from the field, 53.3% from the three point line, and hit 16 three point shots. 12 guys got their names in the scoring column tonight and were led by Luke Hancock who had a career high 25 points. Pitino said about Luke after the game “Luke is a big catalyst for us like Francisco was for us years ago.” Also with a big night was Terry Rozier who had 16 points and was 4-7 from three. Stephan and Mango have stepped up recently and tonight they combined for 16 points with 9 rebounds from that 5 spot. Pitino said after the game “We’re getting better.” Says he puts Louisville in mix of top-tier teams and credits improvement of Mangok and Stephan. And the guy we are now calling the “Baby faced assassin” David Levtich stole the end of the show with a three point shot and a great assist. The Cards are now 13-0 when he plays. Coach Pitino after the game on Levitch “Eventually he’ll be very good. His offensive skill set really is tremendous.”

The Cards had 23 assist tonight on 34 made baskets, out rebounded them 39-24, had 5 blocked shots and 11 steals. Louisville came into this game generating an average of 21.9 points per game off turnovers. Tonight they had 23 points off turnovers. You can tell a lot about the culture of a basketball program by watching the players on the bench. Great teams have energetic reserves. Tonight the Cards bench had 49 points.

This was a fun one to watch and it really is great when you see a team start to come together. The Cards win and continue to get hairier No Shave Till Texas. Go Cards!

Rick Pitino news conference after 102-54 win over Rutgers:

Luke Hancock after blowout of Rutgers:

Terry Rozier after blowout win over Rutgers:

Russ Smith after 102-54 win over Rutgers:

David Levitch after his career high four points:

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The Beak Basketball Breakdown: Scarlet Knights Part 2

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Our Cardinals have won seven out of their last nine and will be looking for another one Sunday when they return to the Yum Center to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The game is at 6PM and will be broadcast on ESPN2. Sunday evening’s contest marks the 14th meeting between the schools dating back to 1975, with the Cardinals holding a 12-1 advantage in victories. The Cardinals and Scarlet Knights faced each other back on January 4th at the RAC. The Cards won that game 83-76. Rutgers is 4-8 in the AAC and 7th place in the conference. The Cards are 9-2 in the AAC and 2nd place in the conference just one game back from Cincy.

There hasn’t been a college program in the country with more trouble surrounding it during this past year. And the Rutgers basketball program was the top story. I’m sure you’ve see the video of former basketball coach Mike Rice throwing balls at his players. So now new head coach Eddie Jordan has the task of completely turning it around. There were a lot of defections from the Rice turmoil but the cupboard isn’t completely bare.
They do have some proven scorers back this season who are leading Jordan’s hybrid Princeton style offense.

Myles Mack (15.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg), Kadeem Jack (14.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg), J.J. Moore (11.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg), Jerome Seagears (9.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg), Junior Etou (5.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and Wally Judge (7.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg).
Mack is their do everything guy and their leader. He is seventh in AAC in scoring and first in FT% (.888). Jack was named Conference player of the week earlier this season. He’s a very good rebounder and versatile player. He ranks seventh in AAC in rebounding, 12th in scoring. Moore is a transfer from Pitt and has give them a big lift with his scoring ability. He ranks 22nd in the AAC in scoring. Seagears is not as good of a scorer, but really does well on the defensive end of the floor and is great at getting his teammates involved in the game on the offensive end. He Ranks 1st in AAC in assist/t-over ratio (2.5) & 9th in assists (3.7/g). Judge is 11th in AAC in rebounding.

Rutgers comes into Sundays game averaging 74.5 points-per-game, while shooting 43.8% from the floor and 34.8% from 3-point range. The Knights are converting 70.5% of their attempts from the free-throw line. Defensively, Rutgers is allowing 76.4 points-per-game as the opposition is shooting 44.1% from the floor. The Knights are getting out-rebounding by their opponents 899-900 with a rebounding margin of 0.0 averaging 36 boards-per-contest.

Rutgers
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME
74.5
93rd
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
36
134th
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
13.2
148th
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.438
221st
OVERALL

Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #180
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-107.3 ranks 233rd
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
-106.1 ranks 144th

Our Cards played one of their most complete games of the season on Friday night. They looked solid in every aspect of the game. They lead the American in scoring (82.3 ppg) and scoring margin (+20.1). Hopefully they are peaking at the right time and this game will just be another one to perfect things. Should not be any problems in this one. Cards win big and the beards keep growing.

Harrell Dunking His Way Into Louisville Record Book

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During the mid 1980’s Cardinal fans were entertained by one of the best to ever lace em up for the Cards in Pervis Ellison. He went hard from tip to the final buzzer and If he got the ball down low he was going to make sure he got two points. He would go for the slam dunk every chance he got. Pervis holds the record for most dunks in a season (59), most dunks in a career (162), and most dunks in a game (7). Darrell Griffith and Alvin Sims were also great at going hard and rocking the rim. Griffith is 2nd and Sims is 3rd all-time in career dunks. Most recently Chane Behanan was a player who liked to try and rip the rim off every chance he got and tied Pervis’s record of slam dunks in a season with 59. He is 5th all-time in career dunks and even got the slam dunk of the year award last season.

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(UofL Sports)

This season we are going to see a new name emerge as the slam dunk king in a single season as Montrezl Harrell is leaving rims bent in every gym across the country. On Friday night against Temple he had six monster dunks. Harrell’s six dunks were one shy of Louisville’s single-game record set by Pervis Ellison in 1988. On Sunday night against Rutgers he tied the single season record of 59 and is on pace to eclipse Ellison’s and Behanan’s season records of 59. If he keeps having nights like he did against Temple on Friday night he will also keep moving up the list for dunks in a career. He has passed Marques Maybin and is now 7th all-time. Harrell should break the single season record on Tuesday night when the Cardinals play USF.

Back in the summer during a basketball game that Harrell was playing in for the U-19 USA team the announcer of the game used “Enthusiasm Personified” to describe Montrezl on a basketball court. Coming into his college career some thought he would be in a little bit of position limbo, but with Pitino’s style of play and his physical growth he has been a nightmare matchup for a small forward and a unique match-up for a bigger guy. He has shown in just the last couple of months that he is developing his game more in the post and also improving his ball skills. With his size coming out of high school he had to become a more skilled player and he is doing just that. The raw materials are there and when he plays he goes hard, real hard (“Enthusiasm Personified”) . Not only is Montrezl going to dunk himself into the Louisville record books there’s a great chance that he dunks our Cards right into the Final Four and to a NBA contract this summer.

In honor of the NBA Dunk contest the guys on SportsCenter decided to grade some of Montrezl’s dunks during the highlight segment of the Temple game. It was good stuff. You can check it out below.

Tonight Was A Hoot For The Cards

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(UofL Sports)

After 9 days without Cardinal basketball it was well worth the wait, and Cardinal fans were treated to a Valentines Day massacre. Louisville improves to 20-4, 9-2 with the 82-58 win over Temple. This gives the Cardinals their 7th road win of the season and they have now won 31 straight against unranked teams. The Louisville basketball program has now won 20 or more games in 12 straight seasons good for the 8th longest active streak and 41 of the last 45 years.

The guys in Vegas came out today with their version of Bracketology and they named Louisville as a one seed. Tonight the Cardinals looked like they may be on their way to making the Vegas guys right again. It was apparent while watching them play tonight that they put in a lot of work on the nine day hiatus. They looked great on offense and the spacing, passing and shooting were on point. 16 assist, only 7 turnovers on 51.6% shooting from the field. They also looked very solid on the defensive end of the floor communicating, coming off screens and closing out. They had 8 steals, 6 blocked shots holding the Owls to 37.3% shooting from the field. It was a very cohesive unit on that court in Philly tonight.

Montrezl Harrell led all scorers and had a career high 22 points with 10 rebounds. When he plays like he did tonight it really puts this team on another level. Russ Smith scored 15 points and played very poised basketball. Luke Hancock had 11 points. In just his second game back Chris Jones had 9 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. It looks like he is starting to understand what his role on this team is and the break seemed to really benefit him. Wayne Blackshear had 13 points off the bench and was 2 for 3 from the three point line. David Levitch who has become a symbol of greatness for this Cardinal team scored two points tonight. They are 12-0 when he plays.

It really was a hoot to finally get to watch our Cardinals play basketball tonight after the long break and even better that they played so well.
We also found out tonight that the Louisville coaching staff has vowed not to shave again until the Cardinals lose a game. Rick Pitino said he’s never had a beard before and “wants to let this grow out. I didn’t want to lose the first game.” I really believe the magical facial hair helped our Cards go on that run last year, it can’t hurt to try again this year. No shave until Texas Cardinal Fans. Go Cards!

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The Beak Basketball Breakdown: The Owls

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After a 9 day lay off the Cardinals take to the court for a showdown with Temple on Friday at 6pm on ESPN2. The game was postponed due to the winter storm in the Northeast. These teams don’t really have a long history and have only met five times overall. Which makes it seem very odd that this game is featured on ESPN’s rivalry week. Temple leads the all-time series 4-1 and has won the last four meetings. The most recent matchup came on March 19, 2002, as the Owls prevailed 65-62 over the Cardinals in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament in Freedom Hall. The last time Temple and Louisville met in Philadelphia was on Feb. 2, 1997 at the Spectrum, when the unranked Owls upset the 14th-ranked Cardinals, 67-44.

Temple has a history of being a good program and their fans are used to 20+ win seasons and good basketball. Those days seem like a like a long time ago and a team that was once thought to contend for the AAC title is struggling to get wins against anybody in the conference. Things have gone south fast in Philly and that doesn’t look likely to change in the near future. Despite being the only school in Division I to have four players averaging 14 or more points per game, ranking eighth in the country in fewest turnovers and 13th in turnovers per game Temple has dropped its last three contests. They are 6-16 overall, including 1-9 in conference play. This is a team struggling to score points and struggling to find the consistency they once had with their feard match-up zone defense.

The Owls are lead by Dalton Pepper (17.5ppg, 5.2rpg, 2.4apg), Will Cummings (16.4ppg, 3.2rpg, 4.4apg), Quenton DeCosey (15.2ppg, 3.5rpg, 2.2apg), and Anthony Lee (14ppg, 9.2rpg, 0.7apg).
Pepper is 4th in the AAC in scoring, 1st in the AAC in three pointers made and 10th in the AAC in three point percentage. Cummins is 5th in the league in scoring. DeCosey is 9th in the AAC in scoring and has had double figure scoring in 20 of 22 games. Lee leads the conference in rebounding, and has 10 double-doubles on the season. These guys are getting it done but not getting much help from the rest of the team.

Temple comes into Thursdays game averaging 74.6 points-per-game, while shooting 43.4% from the floor and 35% from 3-point range. The Owls are converting 69.1% of their attempts from the free-throw line. Defensively, Houston is allowing 77.8 points-per-game as the opposition is shooting 46.4% from the floor. The Owls are getting out-rebounding by their opponents 787-851 with a rebounding margin of -2.9 averaging 35.8 boards-per-contest.

Temple
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME
74.6
94th
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
35.8
144th
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
13.5
125th
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.434
236th
OVERALL

Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #173
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
– 111.3 ranks 295th
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
– 110.8 ranks 58th

This is the type of team that our Cards have matched up well against this season. They aren’t a big, tall and athletic team but do have some solid players. Coach Pitino has had eight days to prepare for this game but in the AAC this year teams remain winless after a six or more game lay-off. The break did give our guys a chance to work on the defense and give them a chance to get healthy. Wayne Blackshear is back to 100% and will play Thursday night. I can see this being a big game for him. We really have the edge at every position on the court, but the real advantage comes with our bench play.
Temple is pulling out all the tricks for this one including making it their annual white-out game, but unless they’ve developed two or three more scorers over this past week this one isn’t going to be close. Our Cards should have a big night and it will be great to finally be watching them play again. Our wait is almost over Cardinal fans. Go Cards!