Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Miami Hurricanes

The winless Cardinals kick off ACC play with a home matchup against the Hurricanes.

Miami Hurricanes (7-1, 0-0 ACC) at Louisville Cardinals (0-7, 0-0 ACC)

- Tipoff: Sunday, December 4 at 1:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: ACC Network
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Miami -8.0 (KenPom)
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 13-6
- Last Meeting: Miami won 70-63 on Feb. 16, 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 Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (6-10, 250, So.)

Miami

• G Isaiah Wong (6-4, 184, Rr.)
• G Nijel Pack (6-0, 184, So.)
• G Wooga Poplar (6-5, 182, So.)
• G Jordan Miller (6-7, 195, Sr.)
• F Norchad Omier (6-7, 248, So.)

Comparison

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

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville is 9-1 in its last 10 conference openers, including 7-1 since joining the ACC. The Cardinals have won 12 of their last 14 conference openers overall.
• As of Thursday, the combined record of all Louisville opponents from the start of the season through the end of 2022 was 68-37. From the Maui Invitational forward through the end of 2022, the combined record of Louisville’s 11 opponents was 56-26 with an average KenPom ranking of 93. Only Florida State and Florida A&M had less than five wins at that point.
• Senior guard El Ellis has scored in double figures in six of seven games this year. He’s tied for fifth in the ACC in scoring at 16.9 points game and ranked 11th in the league in made 3-pointers per game with 2.1 per contest.
• After scoring four total points and missing all six of his shots against Arkansas and Texas Tech, sophomore forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield averaged 11.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks while making 7 of 16 total shots across the last two games against Cincinnati and Maryland.
• Per Ken Pomeroy, Louisville is 339th in the country in Division I experience with an average of 0.89 years.
• Turnovers have been a key factor for Louisville so far this season. The Cardinals rank 351st in the nation in turnover percentage (24.4%), per KenPom, as well as 344th in non-steal turnover percentage (12.8%). They tied their season low for turnovers against Maryland with 13, including just five in the second half – their fewest in any half this season.
• Last game: Louisville fell 79-54 to Maryland as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. It was their largest home defeat since losing 106-72 to Charlotte back on Feb. 11, 2001, and they became the second major conference team in the last 40 years to start 0-7.
  
• KEY FIRST HALF RUN: With the score being 5-4 after a competitive opening segment, the Terrapins went on a 13-0 run, starting at 16:19 and elapsing 3:15, bringing their lead to 18-4. Over that span, the Cardinals had five turnovers and six missed shot attempts.
• KEY SECOND HALF RUN: The Terrapins had an 8-0 run starting at 16:12 and elapsing 3:48 to increase their lead to 60-35. They were also able to string together a 10-0 spurt starting at 11:04 and elapsing 3:33. The Terrapins hit their first six shots of the second half, including five 3-pointers. The Cardinals had five turnovers in the half, their lowest in a half this season.
• UofL shot 19 of 56 (33.9%) from the field, 4 of 16 (25.0%) from 3-point range, and 12 of 17 (70.6%) from the free-throw line. The Cardinals had their lowest number of turnovers in a game this season with 13, tied with the 13 they had against Bellarmine. The Cardinals never led in the game, with Maryland’s lead getting as high as 33 points.
• El Ellis scored 15 points in 32 minutes, shooting 6 of 16 from the floor and 2 of 7 from the three-point line. The guard also had three assists, two rebounds, and a steal. Ellis has now scored in double figures in six of the first seven games this season.
• Brandon Huntley-Hatfield tallied eight points and eight rebounds, shooting 4 of 9 from the field in 32 minutes of action. The forward also set a new career high in blocked shots with three.
• Fabio Basili set a career best in scoring, tallying 6 points on 1 of 2 shooting and 3 of 4 from the free throw line in eight minutes of play. The guard’s eight minutes of action are the most in a game in his young career. Basili also recorded an assist and a steal.
• Devin Ree scored a career-high five points, shooting 2 of 5 from the field and 1 of 3 from 3-point range, with those two field goals being the first of his career. The forward also recorded two rebounds, setting a career high in that category.

Miami

• Since joining the league in 2004-05, the Hurricanes are 7-11 in ACC openers, including 2-5 on the road and 5-6 under Jim Larrañaga. Only thrice have the Hurricanes opened ACC play on the road during Coach L’s tenure, posting a 2-1 record.
• With last season’s 70-63 victory at Louisville on 2/16/22, the Hurricanes achieved two feats in the series for the first time. The win marked Miami’s first on the road over the Cardinals, the last ACC team it had not topped on the road. It also gave the Hurricanes their first two-game winning streak versus Louisville, as they earned a 78-72 home triumph exactly 13 months prior, on 1/16/21, over then-No. 16/18 Louisville behind Isaiah Wong’s 30 points.
• Four (4) coaches own at least 150 wins at three-plus DI schools: 4 Jim Larrañaga, John Calipari, Lefty Driesell and Cliff Ellis.
• The Hurricanes have won six (6) of the last 12 games in which they trailed by double digits, dating back to 11/26/21.
• Jordan Miller is among nine (9) DI players averaging at least 13.0 ppg/6.0 rpg/1.5 apg/1.5 spg while posting a 50.0 FG%.
• The active DI leader in career RPG (12.0), Norchad Omier is fifth nationally this year in OR% (19.8), per KenPom, and is one of seven DI players posting 13ppg/10rpg on a 60.0 FG%.
• According to KenPom, Miami foes average 19.5 seconds per possession, the highest mark of any team in the country.
• After going 43-69 (.384) in ACC play from 2004-11, Miami is 105-96 (.522) in Jim Larrañaga’s 12 seasons, good for the fifth-most ACC wins of any team in the league over that span.
• Sporting a 703-476 career record, Jim Larrañaga is ninth in victories among active DI coaches and No. 33 all-time (min. five years at DI school).
• Miami entered 2022-23 with four players who have a 30-point showing in their careers: Jordan Miller (one), Norchad Omier (three), Nijel Pack (three) and Isaiah Wong (one). The only other ACC school with four such individuals is NC State.
• Miller (10.0), Omier (17.9), Pack (17.4) and Wong (15.3) all averaged 10-plus points per game last season (60.6 total). North Carolina, NC State and Virginia are the only other ACC teams with four players who averaged double figures at the DI level last year, while Boston College has four total with one doing so for a DII team.
• Norchad Omier, who is a team-best plus-4.5 in his wingspan (6-11.5), has a max bench press of 275 pounds, 15 more than any other Hurricane. Second place, at 260, is Jordan Miller who paces the team in standing vertical jump (36), one-step vertical jump (41) and high touch (11-11.5). Anthony Walker leads the way in max power clean (240), while tying with Bensley Joseph atop the list in max front squat (250). Favour Aire tops the team in height (6- 11), wingspan (7-3) and reach (110), while Wooga Poplar owns a max-rep chin-up count of 23 to pace the Hurricanes.
• Miami (16-6) was one of just eight DI teams with 16-plus non-home wins in 2021-22, alongside Kansas (18), Villanova (18), Duke (17), Arizona (16), Houston (16), Murray State (16) and South Dakota State (16).
• Miami finished with a 7-5 record against Quad 1 teams last year, one of just 24 schools in the nation with at least seven such victories. Of those 24, the Hurricanes were among just 15 to fare better than .500 against Quad 1 foes.
• The Hurricanes recorded double-digit steals 16 times (12-4) in 2021-22, including in 13 (10-3) of the final 23 games. During Jim Larrañaga’s first 10 years at the helm, Miami had 10-plus takeaways 40 times (26-14), an average of 4.0 per season.
• Three of the four individuals in the ACC who averaged at least 1.75 steals per game last season played for Miami. Virginia’s Reece Beekman (2.09) led the conference, but Hurricanes finished 2-3-4 behind him in Charlie Moore (2.03), Kameron McGusty (1.81) and Jordan Miller (1.75).
• Miami forced 515 turnovers and committed just 352 last season, good for a +4.41 margin to lead the ACC and rank eighth in the country. Only four times did the Hurricanes log more turnovers than their foe, just once did they post 15-plus turnovers and they recorded a 614-337 edge in points off giveaways, a +7.49 margin.
• The Hurricanes won the rebounding battle just seven times during the 2021-22 season, finishing 7-28-2 on the glass. Offensively, Miami got out-rebounded by over 100, 375-269, good for an average of -2.86 offensive boards per game.
• Miami averaged 75.8 points per game in ACC play last year, a program record for conference action since joining the league in 2004-05. The prior top mark was 74.8 in 2007-08, while the previous high number in ACC play during Jim Larrañaga’s tenure was 73.8 in 2017-18.

(Photo of Hercy Miller: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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