Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

The Cardinals are hitting the road for their first game of the new year.

Louisville Cardinals (8-4, 2-0 ACC) at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (6-5, 0-1 ACC)

- Tipoff: Sunday, January 2nd at 6:00 p.m. EST
- Location: McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, Ga.
- How To Watch: ESPN2
- How To Listen: WHAS 840 AM
- Betting Favorite: Line not yet set.
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 23-14
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 74-58 on Feb. 1, 2021 (KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

• F Samuell Williamson (6-7, 205, Jr.)
• F Dre Davis (6-5, 210, So.)
• C Malik Williams (6-11, 245, Sr.)
• G Noah Locke (6-3, 210, Sr.)
• G Jarrod West (5-11, 185, Gr.).

Wake Forest

• F Jordan Usher (6-7, 213, Sr.)
• F Khalid Moore (6-7, 208, Sr.)
• C Rodney Howard (6-10, 246, Jr.)
• G Michael Devoe (6-5, 197, Jr.)
• G Deivon Smith (6-1, 172, So.)

Main Storylines

Here are the more significant storylines to follow ahead of Louisville's matchup with Georgia Tech: Points of Emphasis: Louisville vs. Georgia Tech

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Yellow Jackets, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape & Prediction: Louisville vs. Georgia Tech

Game Notes

Louisville

• Playing its first game in 11 days after a COVID-related pause and a brief Christmas break, Louisville defeated Wake Forest 73-69 on Wednesday as the Cardinals made 10-of-22 three-pointers and limited the Demon Deacons to 38.1 percent shooting from the field -- the seventh UofL opponent to shoot below 40 percent this year.
• Noah Locke led the Cards with 17 points, connecting on a season-high 5-of-7 three-point goals and scoring 14 of his points in the second half as UofL recovered from a nine-point deficit.
• Louisville’s 33 ACC road wins in its eighth year in the league is the fourth-most in the ACC in that period.
• Malik Williams, a preseason All-ACC second team selection, is averaging 14.2 points per game over his last six. He has grabbed at least eight rebounds in nine of his first 11 games and is third in the ACC in rebounding (9.4 rpg) and 14th in the nation in defensive rebounding (7.2 per game).
• Samuell Williamson made his first start of the season vs. Wake Forest and finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, his fourth double figure scoring effort of the season.
• Mason Faulkner totaled 11 points and five assists vs. Wake Forest, his third consecutive game scoring in double figures. He passed 1,400 points for his collegiate career.
• Jarrod West, third in the nation in career steals among active players with 277, needs 14 points for 1,300 in his career at Marshall and UofL.
• Louisville is No. 23 nationally in adjusted defense in KenPom analytics (second in the ACC behind Duke). The Cardinals rank 13th in the NCAA in defensive rebounding (29.8 rpg) and 33rd in field goal percentage defense (.386).
• Louisville is unbeaten this season when outrebounding its opponent (7-0), shoots better from the field than the opposition (7-0), or shoots more free throws than its opponent (6-0) ... The Cardinals were 25-for-34 from the free throw line against Wake Forest, both of which were season-high totals. The totals were the highest for the Cardinals since going 30-for-41 against Michigan State on Nov. 27, 2018.
• Sydney Curry scored a season-high six points in six minutes off the bench vs. Wake Forest. Curry had not scored in the last six games.
• Louisville trailed by as many as nine (36-27) in the second half against Wake Forest, marking the 37th time in the last 10 seasons the Cardinals have recovered from nine or more points down to win.
• Louisville is off to a 2-0 start in conference play for the third consecutive year. The Cardinals have won their first home conference game in nine of the last 10 seasons. Louisville won its first four ACC games last season.

Georgia Tech

• Georgia Tech brings a 5-3 home floor record into Sunday night’s game, while Louisville is 1-2 in road games this season. Eight of the Yellow Jackets’ 11 games prior to the Christmas break were played at McCamish Pavilion.
• Two games were postponed since Tech last played, a Dec. 23 home game against Alabama A&M and a Dec. 29 road game at Syracuse. Neither game has a makeup date.
• Tech is coming off a stretch of four straight games against power conference foes in the month of December, three of whom were ranked in the nation’s top 25 (No. 23/21 Wisconsin, No. 25/24 LSU, No. 10/9 USC). It was the first time the Yellow Jackets have faced as many as three top-25 teams in its non-conference schedule since the 1995- 96 season. That season, the Yellow Jackets went 2-3 against No. 4 Georgetown, No. 17 Michigan, No. 5 Kentucky, No. 20 Louisville and No. 2 Massachusetts.
• Tech has outrebounded seven of its 11 opponents this season and has a plus-3.1 rebound margin collectively, the best mark for the Yellow Jackets in fiveplus seasons under head coach Josh Pastner. Tech has finished a season on the plus side of rebounding margin only once in that span (+0.1 in 2017-18).
• Michael Devoe remains the ACC leader in scoring average (21.0 ppg) and is No. 2 three-point percentage (45.9), and ranks No. 10 and 20, respectively, in the nation on those categories. He is coming off a season-low 8-point game against Georgia State.
• After beginning the season No. 36 in career points at Tech, the 6-5 guard has jumped to 24th on the Tech career points list with 1,359 points, passing such Tech luminaries as Iman Shumpert, Drew Barry, Jarrett Jack, Michael Maddox and Tico Brown. He needs five points to pass 23rd-place Bobby Kimmel (1.363 from 1954-57).
• Jordan Usher, who scored a career-high 30 points in Tech’ Dec. 21 win over Georgia State, is averaging 18.7 points and 7.3 rebounds over his last three games, having hit 18-of-37 shots from the floor and 7-of-13 threes. 
• Khalid Moore has averaged 8.2 points over Tech’s last five games, after scoring just 23 points in the Jackets’ first six games of the season. He has hit 15-of-25 from the floor over that stretch.
• Splitting the point guard duties nearly evenly so far this season, Kyle Sturdivant and Deivon Smith have combined to average 12.4 points and 4.0 assists over 11 games, while compiling a 44:38 assist/turnover ratio. Sturdivant started Tech’s first eight games, while Smith has started four. They both started and played together for much of Tech’s win over Charleston Southern in the absence of Michael Devoe.
• To replace ACC Player of the Year Moses Wright, Tech has turned to a trio of big men in junior Rodney Howard, who has started all 11 games, and sophomores Saba Gigiberia and Jordan Meka. With Howard slowed by an ankle injury, Gigiberia and Meka stepped up to play nearly 35 minutes in Tech’s victory over Georgia State and contribute 10 rebounds and four blocked shots.

(Photo of Samuell Williamson: Sam Upshaw Jr. - Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

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