Skip to main content
Louisville IHC Mike Pegues Previews Georgia Tech (3/7/22)

Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

The Cardinals kick off their ACC Tournament run with a showdown against the Yellow Jackets.

Louisville Cardinals (12-18, 6-14 ACC) vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (12-19, 5-15 ACC)

- Tipoff: Tuesday, March 8th at 7:00 p.m. EST
- Location: Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
- How To Watch: ACC Network
- How To Listen: WHAS 840 AM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -1.5
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 24-14
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 67-64 on Jan. 2, 2022 (McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, Ga.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

  • F Malik Williams (6-11, 245, Sr.)
  • C Sydney Curry (6-8, 260, Jr.)
  • G Noah Locke (6-3, 210, Sr.)
  • G Mason Faulkner (6-1, 185, Gr.)
  • G Jarrod West (5-11, 185, Gr.)

Georgia Tech

  • 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 Kyle Sturdivant (6-2, 197, Jr.)

Comparison

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

Game Notes

Louisville

  • In its final game of the regular season, Louisville fell 71-61 to Virginia on Senior Day in the KFC Yum! Center as Sydney Curry continued his impressive recent performances with 24 points, a career-high 14 rebounds and three assists while connecting on 9-of-13 field goals.
  • Sydney Curry has averaged 23.3 points and 10.7 rebounds in his last three games while shooting 69.8 percent from the field (30-of- 43). He has back-to-back double-doubles in his last two games, including 18 points and 11 re- bounds at Virginia Tech. His 28 points at Wake Forest was the most for a Cardinal since Jordan Nwora finished with 37 at Boston College on Jan. 29, 2020. Curry’s 13 field goals made (in 18 attempts) were the most by a Louisville player since Russ Smith finished 14-of-22 in a win over Houston in the AAC semifinals on March 14, 2014.
  • Malik Williams has scored in double figures in seven of his last 10 games, including 10 points and seven rebounds against Virginia last Saturday. Williams is fifth in the ACC in rebounding (7.7 rpg) and 51st in the nation in defensive rebounding (5.9 per game).
  • Jarrod West is fifth in the ACC in assist- turnover ratio (2.35) and is fourth in the nation in career steals among active players with 292.
  • El Ellis has scored in double figures in six of the last 10 games, including a career-high 25 in the Feb. 1 meeting against North Carolina. He is averaging 10.4 points per game over the last 17 games -- top for the Cardinals in that stretch, while hitting 28-of-75 threes (.373), including 11.8 ppg in the last 10 games.
  • Noah Locke passed 1,200 career points with 14 at Wake Forest. He has 17 double figure scoring efforts this year, including four of the last eight games. He has made 38 percent of his three-pointers in ACC games (41-of-108). Locke has made multiple three-pointers in 19 games and at least three in 12 games this season.
  • Louisville used its 15th different starting lineup against Virginia on March 5 to allow all of its seniors to start. Louisville’s 15 different starting lineup combinations is tied for the fourth-most in the nation
  • Louisville does not have a double-figure scorer on its team, but has 10 players averaging between 4.7 and 9.5 points per game. The last time UofL finished the season without a double figure scorer was 1943- 44
  • Louisville has averaged 27.8 points per game from its bench this season. The Cardinals have had 33 double-figure scoring efforts off the bench. Louisville’s bench has contributed 30 or more bench points on 14 occasions this season. Louisville picked up 59 points off the bench at Wake Forest, its most since scoring 63 against Southern on Nov. 13, 2018. The Cards are ninth in the nation in bench minutes (42.7 percent)
  • This is the first time a Louisville team has dropped at least 18 of its first 30 games since the Cardinals also started 12-18 in 2000-01. The Cardinals’ seven-game losing streak broken with a win over Clemson on Feb. 19 was the longest for UofL since 1940-41
  • Opponents have shot over 10 percentage points higher against the Cardinals in their 18 losses (.473) than in their 12 victories (.376)
  • Louisville’s leading scorer has come from the bench 12 times this season, including six of the last 11 games (latest: Sydney Curry with 28 points off the bench at Wake Forest on Feb. 26)
  • Louisville made eight three-pointers against Virginia in its last game, UofL’s 12th game this season with at least eight made threes. However, the Cardinals have made a collective 39-of-160 threes in its last seven games (.244). The Cardinals made a season-high 15 three-pointers against North Carolina on Feb. 1, its most in eight years and a span of 257 games (season low two three-pointers vs. Miami). UofL made a high of eight threes in a game on just three occasions last year.
  • Jarrod West had made 12 three-pointers on the season in his first 18 games before making 17-of-37 threes over the last 12 contests (.459). West has made 249-of-674 threes over his collegiate career (.369). West handed out his 500th career assist vs. Clemson. He is fourth in the nation in career steals among active players with 292
  • Jae’Lyn Withers suffered a bone bruise in his right knee at Virginia Tech and missed UofL’s last game against Virginia. He is listed as day-to-day
  • After averaging just 9.6 turnovers in a stretch of 10 games, Louisville has averaged 14.3 turnovers over its last four games. The Cardinals have committed single-digit turnovers in five of its last 12 games, and six of the last 14 games.

Georgia Tech

  • Georgia Tech and Louisville are meeting in the ACC Tournament for the first time, leaving Syracuse as the only league member the Yellow Jackets have never faced in the tournament. The Jackets and the Cardinals are not, however, facing each other for the first time in a conference tournament. They squared off as members of the Metro Conference in 1977, a game Tech won, 56-55.
  • Georgia Tech is 2-4 all-time in the Barclays Center, including a pair of opening round losses in the ACC Tournament to Pittsburgh (2017) and Boston College (2018). Tech split a pair of games in the home of the Brooklyn Nets in the 2013 Barclays Center Classic and the 2015 NIT Pre-Season Tipoff.
  • Since the first meeting between Georgia Tech and Louisville on Jan. 2, the Yellow Jackets are 5-13, and the Cardinals are 3-14.
  • Senior guard Michael Devoe was named Monday to the All-ACC third team after having earned honorable mention as a sophomore and a junior. The 6-5 guard ranks third in the ACC in scoring, fourth in three-point field goall percentage, seventh in three-point field goals per game, 13th in free throw percentage, 12th in field goal percentage, 15th in assists and fifth in minutes.
  • Senior Khalid Moore grew up in the Briarwood area of Queens, N.Y., just 13 miles from where he will play this week’s ACC Tournament. The 6-7 forward attended Archbishop Molloy High School, as did former Yellow Jacket AllAmerican Kenny Anderson.
  • Georgia Tech seniors Michael Devoe and Jordan Usher have accounted for 46.9 percent of the Yellow Jackets’ scoring this season, and as the top two assist purveyors on the team, have had a hand in 69.2 percent of Tech’s field goals made. Those numbers for ACC games are similar (46.0, 70.4). In Tech’s 12 wins, however, they account for just 43.4 percent of the Jackets’ points; in Tech’s five ACC wins: 42.1 percent.
  • Michael Devoe was named the ACC Tournament MVP last season in Greensboro while Jordan Usher made the all-tournament team. Devoe averaged 16.5 points and 5.0 assists while hitting 60 percent of his field goals (5-of-8 3pt) in Tech’s tournament games, while Usher averaged 15.0 points.
  • The Jackets are No. 2 in the ACC in forcing turnovers against conference opponents (13.30 per game) and are No. 2 in steals (8.05). Tech’s last 14 ACC foes (beginning Jan. 19 vs. Wake Forest) have coughed it up 188 times (13.43 per game), 121 of them takeaways for Tech (8.64 per game).
  • Tech has utilized nine different starting lineups this season, and Jordan Usher is the only player to start all 30 games. Tech’s most frequent lineup has been the original one (Michael Devoe and Kyle Sturdivant at the guards, Jordan Usher and Khalid Moore at the forwards, Rodney Howard at center), which the Jackets 18 times.
  • Tech has lost seven games by five points or fewer this season, five of them in conference play and three of them in its recent four-game losing streak. One of those losses came against Louisville on Jan. 2. Four other ACC losses have come by 10 points or fewer.
  • In Tech’s last six games, Michael Devoe has passed Georgia Tech legends John Salley (1,587 from 1982-86), Bruce Dalrymple (1,588 from 1983- 87), B.J. Elder (1,616 from 2001-05), Roger Kaiser (1,628 from 1958-61) and Tony Akins (1,658 from 1998-2002) on the program’s career scoring chart, reaching 12th place with 1,689 points.
  • Jordan Usher ranks 17th in the ACC in scoring average, 15th in rebound average, 10th in field goal percentage and 14th in steals. In ACC games, the 6-7 senior is 19th, 16th, 13th and 10th in those same categories.
  • Jordan Usher cleared the 1,000-point milestone for his career Jan. 15 at North Carolina. He has 1,218 points, 943 of them scored in a Tech uniform, giving Tech three 1,000-point scorers on its roster, including Michael Devoe (1,689) and Bubba Parham (1,452).
  • Tech’s highly-regarded freshman class has scored 77 points over Tech’s last five games and totaled 270 minutes on the floor, their most extensive time as a group this season. Deebo Coleman has averaged 24 minutes per game in ACC play this season, but Miles Kelly has averaged 21.4 minutes in the last five games and Jalon Moore 13.5.
  • Kick-started by a strong game against Clayton State on Jan. 23, Tech freshman Deebo Coleman has hit 22 of 54 shots (40.7 percent) from three-point range over Tech’s last 14 games. That includes a 0-for-6 game at Notre Dame. He has more three-point field goals this season (43) than Michael Devoe made as a freshman (42).
  • Center Rodney Howard has put together his best basketball this season in Tech’s last five games, scoring in double digits in six of Tech’s last eight games and posting a pair of double-doubles. He has averaged 11.0 points (38-of-60/63.3 pct. from the floor) and 6.5 rebounds, with 12 assists and five blocks. Louisville was one of the five games Howard missed due to his ankle injury.
  • Kyle Sturdivant has a 48:18 assist/turnover ratio over Tech’s last 18 games and played eight of those games without committing a turnover. The junior guard has also posted six double-digit scoring efforts over that stretch

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

You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter - @LouisvilleOnSI
Instagram - @louisville_report

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter

© 2024 ABG-SI LLC. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ABG-SI LLC. - All Rights Reserved. The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only. All betting content is intended for an audience ages 21+. All advice, including picks and predictions, is based on individual commentators’ opinions and not that of Minute Media or its related brands. All picks and predictions are suggestions only. No one should expect to make money from the picks and predictions discussed on this website. For more information, please read our Legal Disclaimer. Gambling content intended for 21+. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER.