Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Duke Blue Devils

The Cardinals will attempt to create a winning streak when they hit the road to face the Blue Devils.

Louisville Cardinals (4-23, 2-14 ACC) at Duke Blue Devils (19-8, 10-6 ACC)

- Tipoff: Monday, February 19 at 7:00 p.m. EST
- Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.
- How To Watch: ESPM
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Duke: -20.0
- All-Time Series: Duke leads 12-9
- Last Meeting: Duke won 74-65 on Jan. 29, 2022 (KFC Yum! Center - Louisville, Ky.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

• G El Ellis (6-3, 180, Sr.)
• G/F Mike James (6-5, 215, R-Fr.)
• F J.J. Traynor (6-8, 190, Jr.)
• F Jae'Lyn Withers (6-9, 220, R-Jr.)
• F Sydney Curry (6-8, 270, Sr.)

Duke

• G Jeremy Roach (6-2, 180, Jr.)
• G Tyrese Proctor (6-5, 175, Fr.)
• F Mark Mitchell (6-8, 220, Fr.)
• C Kyle Filipowski (7-0, 230, Fr.)
• C Dereck Lively II (7-1, 230, Fr.)

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Blue Devils, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape, Predictions: Louisville vs. Duke

Game Notes

Louisville

• Last game: Louisville snapped a four-game losing streak, taking down Clemson 83-73 this past Saturday. The Cardinals honored their 2013 national championship team at halftime.
• KEY FIRST HALF RUN: After Clemson opened up a 7-2 advantage in the opening minutes, Louisville scored 10 unanswered points over a span of 2:50 beginning at the 17:43 mark.
• The Tigers immediately answered with an 8-0 burst of their own that also took 2:50 of game time.
• KEY SECOND HALF RUN: The Cardinals led by as much as 14 in the second half on the strength of a 9-0 run starting at 16:43 that elapsed 1:57.
• Clemson closed the gap on the heels of a 9-0 burst beginning at the 7:18 mark that saw the Cards suffer through a scoring drought of over four minutes, but the Tigers never got closer than four the rest of the way.
• UofL shot 26 of 51 (.510) from the field, 5 of 16 (.313) from 3-point range, and 26 of 28 (.929) from the free-throw line.
• The Cardinals set a season high in free throws made and tied their season-best in free throw attempts. 
• El Ellis tallied 28 points on 9 of 15 shooting from the floor, 3 of 6 from 3-point range, and 7 of 9 from the free throw line. The scoring outburst marks the fifth time this season Ellis has scored at least 25 points in a game. Ellis is averaging 27.3 points per game over the last three games. The guard also pulled down five rebounds in his 39 minutes of action.
• J. J. Traynor set a new career high with 16 points on 5 of 9 shooting from the field, also burying two of his four 3-point attempts and going 4 for 4 at the charity stripe. The forward also set new career high with four blocks and 34 minutes of action while tying a career best with nine rebounds.
• Mike James was the third Cardinal in double figures with 13 points, the 10th time this season he has scored in double figures. James shot 3 of 7 from the floor while connecting on all seven of his free throw attempts. The guard also secured four rebounds on the night while playing 32 minutes.
• Jae'Lyn Withers scored eight points and notched nine rebounds while dishing out two assists in his 33 minutes of play. The forward also recorded two steals, the fourth time this season he has swiped multiple steals in a game. 
• The game is a homecoming for senior guard El Ellis, a native of Durham, N.C. It’s also a homecoming for UofL assistant coach Nolan Smith, a former Duke star player and staffer. Smith was a consensus first-team All-American and the 21st overall pick in the NBA Draft in 2011, leading the Blue Devils to the 2010 national championship and three consecutive ACC titles (2009-11). He later spent six years on staff with the Blue Devils as they claimed the 2015 national title.
• UofL’s Kenny Payne and Duke’s Jon Scheyer are two of three head coaches in the country to win national titles as a player and a coach (including as an assistant). The third is Austin Peay’s Nate James, a former Duke player and assistant.
• The Cards are in the midst of an eight-game stretch to end the regular season that will see them play seven games vs. teams in the top 80 of the NET Rankings. Their five opponents from Pitt to Duke have an average NET Ranking of 41.
• Senior guard El Ellis is averaging 27.3 points per game over the last three games while shooting 57% from the field, 45% from 3 and 90% from the free-throw line. After having a positive or even assist-to-turnover ratio just three times in the first nine games of the season, Ellis has been positive or even in 15 of the last 18 games. In his last 13 games since 2023 began, he has 65 assists against just 41 turnovers.
• Junior forward JJ Traynor averaged 12.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in two games last week. He had a career-high 16 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in Saturday’s win over Clemson. Traynor is just the fifth Cardinal since at least 2010 to post those numbers in a game, and the first since Anas Mahmoud against Siena on Dec. 6, 2017.

Duke

• A pair of teams coming off wins on Saturday square off on ESPN’s Big Monday at Cameron Indoor Stadium when Duke hosts Louisville.
• A match-up of first-year head coaches, Duke’s Jon Scheyer and Louisville’s Kenny Payne are two of the three active head coaches to win a national championship as both a player and coach. Austin Peay’s Nate James (a former Duke player and assistant) is the other.
• Duke has won two straight and pulled with three games of first place and one game of a top-four spot in the ACC standings with four games remaining in the regular season.
• The Blue Devils bottled up Syracuse on Saturday, 77-55, holding the Orange to an ACC low for points, while hitting 13-of-26 from three-point range and assisting on 22 of 30 field goals.
• Syracuse became the 23rd team held below its season scoring average by Duke (19-4 in those games), including nine that scored a then-season low for points versus the Blue Devils.
• The Blue Devils are second in the conference in scoring defense (64.0), second in three-point field goal defense (.304) and third in field goal defense (.413).
• Freshman Kyle Filipowski, the seven-time ACC Rookie of the Week, leads all conference freshmen in rebounding and double-doubles. His 12 double-doubles are the most by any freshman nationally, while his 9.2 rebounds lead all power conference freshmen.
• At 15.1 points, Filipowski is the nation’s only freshman -- and one of just nine power conference players overall -- averaging at least 15 points and nine rebounds this season.
• Coming off 17 points at Syracuse, junior Jeremy Roach has scored 125 points over his last nine games (13.9) since returning from a toe injury that held him out for three games. Over his last six, he’s averaging 15.5, including 21 vs. Wake, 20 vs. UNC and 16 at No. 8 Virginia.
• Since returning three games ago from an injury, freshman Dariq Whitehead is averaging 11.0 points, shooting 12-of-21 (.571) from the field and 9-of-14 (.643) from three-point range in that span. He is Duke’s best from three-point range both overall (.419) and in ACC play (.490).
• The ACC’s best rebounding team, Duke is averaging 39.4 boards and has out-rebounded 22 opponents (18-4 in those game). Duke is 14-4 when leading in offensive rebounding.
• Now with seven ACC Rookie of the Week honors, Kyle Filipowski is tied with former Blue Devil Marvin Bagley III for the sixth most in a season in conference history -- the ACC record of 10 is held by Duke’s Jabari Parker (2014), UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough (2006) and GT’s Kenny Anderson (1990).
• Duke is second in the ACC and 33rd nationally in scoring defense, yielding just 64.0 points per game. Nineteen teams have been held to less than 70; 10 have failed to score more than 60
• Duke has played just 12 games all season -- and just four over the last 13 -- with its full complement of scholarship players available. Duke has not lost in regulation in those games (11-1), including wins over Xavier, Iowa, Ohio State, Miami, Notre Dame and Syracuse.
• Duke leads the ACC in bench scoring this season at 20.7 points per game and eight different Blue Devils have led the team in scoring at least once this season. The Blue Devils are +156 in bench points (558-402) this season.
• Whitehead has reached double figures in points eight times this season, which each coming over his last 11 games played (11.1 points in that span). He averaged just 5.6 points over his first eight games.
• Junior captain Jeremy Roach, Duke’s only returning player that saw significant playing time from last year’s Final Four run, scored a team-high 17 points in Saturday’s win at Syracuse, hitting 3-of-7 from three-point range as Duke is now 9-0 in his career when Roach hits three or more from long range.
• A calf injury held 7-foot-1 freshman Dereck Lively II out for much of the preseason, but the No. 1 recruit in this year’s class and the preseason ACC Rookie of the Year is second in the conference, 15th nationally and leads all freshmen nationally in blocked shots (2.3).
• Duke has connected on at least one three-pointer in 1,180 straight games, the second-longest streak nationally.

(Photo of J.J. Traynor: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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