Louisville (13-5, 3-2) will try to bounce back against South Florida tonight from a disappointing loss to Seton Hall in their last outing.
In that game, the Cardinals appeared on their way to a fifth straight victory before blowing a 14 point second half lead in a 92-82 loss to the Pirates.
“It’s one of those games that you lose and you don’t really recover,” said Louisville assistant Steve Masiello. “What we have to do is just learn from the mistakes that we made and then come out the next time and not make those mistakes.”
Jerry Smith is coming off a career-high 25 points
against Seton Hall. |
The Cardinals were done in by the outstanding three-point shooting of 6’5 freshman guard Jeremy Hazell, who scored a career-high 29 points and made nine three’s.
“This league is tough and it just shows that anybody can beat anybody,” center David Padgett said. “It’s going to be a grind all year and you can’t get too down about one loss. You just have to take it one game at a time.”
South Florida is struggling coming into Wednesday night’s game at the Sun Dome. The Bulls, 10-9 overall, are only 1-5 in the Big East and have lost their past five games, including a 69-52 loss to West Virginia last Saturday.
The Bulls are led by 6’9 Kentrell Gransberry, who leads the league and is sixth-nationally in rebounding at 10.9 boards per game. Gransberry is also a threat on offense, averaging a team-best 16.8 points per game.
“We just have to limit what he does well and that’s keep him off the offensive backboard and not allow him to get great post-position,” Masiello said. “He physically overpowers a lot of people and really knows how to play.”
Padgett, who said his knee is feeling better these days and reports that he’s regaining the strength in his legs, will draw much of the responsibility for stopping Gransberry around the basket.
“I think he’s one of the more under-rated players in the country,” said Padgett.
But Gransberry isn’t the only Bull Louisville has to worry about. South Florida boasts four players that average in double-figures scoring, including talented freshman Dominic Jones (15.3). Jones has scored 30 or more points twice this season.
“They have very good personnel and they’re a formidable opponent,” Masiello said.
Louisville owns a 20-3 overall series advantage and has won the past six games in the series, including an 81-55 victory in Tampa last season.
Tipoff is slated for 7:04 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WHAS-TV in Louisville.