Our Cardinals are on the road in South Beach tonight to take on the Miami Hurricanes in ACC competition. Louisville is 7-2 in the all-time series against Miami, which dates back to the 1950-51 season. The Cards are 4-2 on the road against the Canes, 2-0 at home and 1-0 at neutral sites. Louisville won the last matchup with Miami, defeating the Canes, 82-59, on Dec. 23, 2006 in Louisville. Louisville is 1-1 vs. Miami when they are ranked, losing when No. 7 in January of 1961, and winning when No. 10 in December of 2005.

The Hurricanes have split their last 10 games and Louisville is the sixth ranked team they’ve played this season. Miami is averaging 69 points a game shooting 44.1% from the field and 36.3% from the three. Sheldon McClellan is leading the way for the Hurricanes averaging 14.5 points and 5.1 rebounds. He is No. 79 in the country in field goal percentage (50.5%). Angel Rodriguez is averaging 13.4 points and 4.5 assists. He is No. 24 in the country in steals per game, No .30 in total steals. Tonye Jekiri is grabbing 10 rebounds a game. He averages 7.2 defensive rebounds per game, which is the 11th-best average in the country. Manu Lecomte is shooting 45.4 percent from the field. The Miami Hurricanes have seven players averaging at least 5.2 points.

Miami has hit at least eight shots from long range in five of the past six games and 14 times this season. In ACC play, Angel rodriguez leads the team with 13 and Davon reed has knocked down 12, closely trailed by omar Sherman, Sheldon McClellan and Manu Lecomte with 10. The Canes have recorded 18 plus points off the bench in 14 of 21 games this season. In ACC play, Miami has averaged 20.8 bench points per game.

Defensively, Miami is allowing 62.7 points and opponents are shooting 42.5% from the field and 32.6% shooting from deep. They have given up 62 or less points in four of their last seven games.

2014-15 Kenpom Rankings
Overall- #61
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
-97.7 ranks 95th
Offense Adjustment Efficiency
-108.0 ranks 59th
-Per Kenpom’s game prediction he has Louisville winning the game 66-62 based on his indexes.

Our Cardinals have won four of their last six games. On the season they are averaging 73.6 points on 43.7% shooting from the field and 30.8% from the three. Terry Rozier is averaging 18.3 points and 2.5 assists while Montrezl Harrell is averaging 15.3 points and 9.2 rebounds. Chris Jones is dishing 3.9 assists and Wayne Blackshear is grabbing 4.8 rebounds.
Defensively, they are allowing 59 points, 37.6% shooting from the field and 29.4% shooting from the three. They have given up 68 or less points in five of their last seven games.

We will see tonight if the Cardinals can build upon their solid outing from this past weekend. Miami has a tendency to play up to their competition and they will be ready for this game. Our guys are going to have to control the boards and our bench will need some production. These are two areas where the Hurricanes have excelled this season. I don’t think they’ll have an answer for Montrezl who I think will carry a lot of momentum into this game. And the play of our backcourt will be too much for them to overcome. Cards should earn another road victory.

The Beak Prediction
Louisville 78 Miami 62