Louisville Faces First Road Test at Kentucky
December 24, 2011 by BofMContributer
Filed under Sports
By: Logan Swenson
On the final day of 2011, undefeated #4 Louisville (12-0) will travel 72 miles east to face rival #3 Kentucky (11-1) at Rupp Arena. This will be the first ever matchup between the inter-state rivals pitting both teams in the top five.
Louisville has traveled away from the KFC Yum! Center just one other time this season, a 68-53 win at Butler.
The road trip is a homecoming for Louisville head coach , who coached Kentucky to 219 wins in eight seasons from 1989-1997 and the 1996 National Championship.
Pitino and Kentucky head coach John Calipari have exchanged hostile comments this season regarding the rivalry. “There’s no other state, none, that’s as connected to their basketball program as this one,” said Calipari. “[That’s] because those other states have other programs. Michigan has Michigan State, California has UCLA, North Carolina has Duke. It’s Kentucky throughout this whole state, and that’s what makes us unique.”
The next day Pitino fired back. “Four things I’ve learned in my 59 years about people,” Pitino told CBSSports.com. “I ignore the jealous, I ignore the malicious, I ignore the ignorant and I ignore the paranoid.”
Louisville has needed three comebacks of eight or more points in the second half this season to remain undefeated. Two have come in the past week against College of Charleston and Western Kentucky. “I admire their grit and the way they fight to win. When you have that common denominator, good things happen” said Pitino of his team after beating College of Charleston, 70-60, last week. “We have not played very well in our past four games.”
has been an emerging star for the Cardinals. The Senegal native has at least 13 points and 12 rebounds in Louisville’s past five games. Defensively, Dieng has been a formidable presence in the paint against non-conference opponents. His 32 blocks this season leads the Big East.
Kentucky excels in a similar department. The Big Blue lead the nation averaging 10.0 blocks per game and freshman leads the SEC and is in the top 5 nationally with 50 blocks, averaging 4.3 per game.
Terrence Jones has been a big reason why UK leads the nation in blocked shots, but his status for the game in unknown. Jones injured his finger in the first half against UT-Chattanooga and has missed the past two games. In last year’s bout against Louisville, Jones contributed 12 points and 8 rebound in a 78-63 win in Louisville.
Both teams have one final tune-up before the battle. On December 28, Louisville will host #16 Georgetown and Kentucky will host Lamar.
The Wildcats lead the series 28-14, and have won the past two meetings.
