PREVIEW: Louisville vs. Western Kentucky

Mark BlankenbakerDecember 18, 2015

Location: KFC Yum! Center
Game Time: Noon, 12/19/2015
Series History: Tied 39-39 (27-18 in Louisville, 9-16 in Bowling Green, 3-5 Neutral)
Last Time: Louisville 76, WKU 67 (12-20-2014 at WKU)
Officials: Les Jones, Bill Covington, Jr. and Raymond Styons, Jr.
TV: ESPNU – Jim Barbar & Len Elmore
Radio: 790 AM WKRD – Paul Rogers & Bob Valvano. Sirius Channel 118/XM Channel 194

*New Toys Will Be Collected & Donated to Kosair Children’s Hospital As You Enter the Arena*

Team Stats

Western Kentucky has played a tougher schedule thus far, but the difference between Louisville & WKU is pretty drastic in every category except Free Throw % Shooting and Opponent’s Blocks per game.

Anything can happen in these in-state games and the Cards are hurting with injuries to Deng Adel, Anas Mahmoud, and Dillon Avare who are all OUT for this game. But also Damion Lee is nursing a heel injury that has persisted and recently flared up.

Even with that the Cards are decidedly better but this is a nice raise in competition from the past few contests.

	Louisville	Western Kentucky
Strength of Schedule (KenPom)	316th	160th
Points Per Game	86.9 (7th)	77.3 (88th)
Avg Scoring Margin	+31.3 (1st)	+0.8 (163rd)
Field Goal %	52.5% (5th)	46.4% (64th)
2-point FG%	58.7% (6th)	49.3% (135th)
3-point FG%	37.0% (85th)	41.3% (18th)
Free Throw %	67.7% (216th)	71.7% (105th)
Rebound Rate	62.4% (2nd)	51.5% (123rd)
Blocks Per Game	5.2 (40th)	4.4 (79th)
Steals Per Game	8.2 (24th)	3.2 (349th)
Assists Per Game	15.2 (70th)	14.0 (124th)
Turnovers Per Game	10.9 (35th)	12.2 (106th)
Opponent Turnovers Per Game	15.0 (54th)	10.0 (331st)
Team Fouls Per Game	18.9 (109th)	18.4 (89th)
Opponent Shooting %	34.4% (3rd)	43.9 (197th)
Opponent 2-point FG%	37.6% (3rd)	48.5 (176th)
Opponent 3-point FG%	29.0% (31st)	37.0% (272nd)
Opponent Block Per Game	2.8 (77th)	2.3 (34th)
Opponent Steals Per Game	5.4 (87th)	5.7 (111th)

	*351 teams Play Division 1

Starters

Chris McNeal is a future start in the making, I really like his game. The edge still goes to Quentin Snider here.

Aaron Cosby has played at both Seton Hall and Illinois, now at Western he’s not shooting how he would like so far. It’s always worth watching players who are from Louisville against UofL, sometimes they have huge games. Trey Lewis has the edge on paper.

Damion Lee is one of the best college basketball players PERIOD but Frederick Edmond will be a nice test for Damion.

The big thing to look out for is how well Ray Spalding/Jaylen Johnson fares against WKU’s Justin Johnson. A lot of the Hilltopper Offense flows through Justin and he’s a serious basketball talent. To me if WKU hangs tough it’s because the Cards can’t quite contain Justin Johnson. Getting Deng Adel and/or Anas Mahmoud would be a big help here.

Chinanu Onuaku will have a big body to contest with, but that’s about it. Nanu has a big advantage underneath.

	Quentin Snider	Chris McNeal
	6-1, 180, Soph	6-0, 195, Fr.
Minutes	27.6	27.3
Points	9.8	5.4
Field Goal %	43.2%	32.70%
3-point %	33.3%	36.70%
FT %	63.6%	84.60%
Rebounds	2.8	3.7
Assists	4.8	4.8
Steals	0.7	0.4
Blocks	0.0	0.0
Turnovers	1.1	1.4
Fouls	1.7	2.2

	Trey Lewis	Aaron Cosby
	6-2, 190, Sr.	6-3, 200, Sr.
Minutes	29.0	27.8
Points	13.7	10.2
Field Goal %	45.20%	33.33%
3-point %	41.90%	40.00%
FT %	87.50%	71.40%
Rebounds	4.2	3.5
Assists	3.0	1.3
Steals	1.1	0.3
Blocks	0.1	0.2
Turnovers	1.9	1.6
Fouls	1.6	1.4

	Damion Lee	Fredrick Edmond
	6-6, 200, Sr.	6-4, 205, Jr.
Minutes	29.1	24.2
Points	18.7	10.7
Field Goal %	53.8%	56.20%
3-point %	40.0%	33.30%
FT %	90.0%	63.90%
Rebounds	4.6	4.7
Assists	1.7	1.9
Steals	1.4	0.8
Blocks	0.0	0.5
Turnovers	1.4	1.8
Fouls	1.8	1.2

	Ray Spalding	Justin Johnson
	6-10, 210, Fr.	6-7, 235, Soph
Minutes	13.3	28.1
Points	6.0	17.2
Field Goal %	69.70%	64.80%
3-point %	0.00%	50.00%
FT %	42.10%	70.50%
Rebounds	4.4	8.4
Assists	0.3	1.6
Steals	0.9	0.1
Blocks	1.0	0.8
Turnovers	0.9	1.5
Fouls	1.7	2.2

	Chinanu Onuaku	Ben Lawson
	6-10, 230, Soph	7-1, 230, Jr.
Minutes	19.7	15.0
Points	9.8	4.0
Field Goal %	61.5%	45.80%
3-point %	0.0%	0.00%
FT %	53.3%	75.00%
Rebounds	7.0	4.1
Assists	0.9	0.5
Steals	1.0	0.4
Blocks	1.4	2.4
Turnovers	1.5	0.9
Fouls	2.0	2.7

Bench

Chris Harrison-Docks is a fantastic bench player to have on your team. The same goes for Nigel Snipes. Louisville doesn’t have too big of an edge on its bench with Anas Mahmoud & Deng Adel both out, but it’s still there.

	Donovan Mitchell	Chris Harrison-Docks
	6-3, 210, Fr.	6-0, 175, Jr.
Minutes	19.9	24.6
Points	7.7	10.7
Field Goal %	50.00%	39.30%
3-point %	21.10%	38.60%
FT %	86.70%	82.60%
Rebounds	4.4	1.1
Assists	2.1	2.3
Steals	1.1	0.3
Blocks	0.0	0.0
Turnovers	0.8	1.4
Fouls	3.2	1.7

	David Levitch	Marlon Hunter
	6-3, 180, Jr.	6-2, 195, Fr.
Minutes	8.0	14.3
Points	2.8	4.4
Field Goal %	66.70%	35.60%
3-point %	57.10%	20.00%
FT %	40.00%	53.80%
Rebounds	0.9	3.0
Assists	0.6	0.4
Steals	0.3	0.7
Blocks	0.0	0.1
Turnovers	0.4	0.9
Fouls	0.6	1.6

	Mangok Mathiang	Nigel Snipes
	6-10, 220, Jr.	6-6, 222, Sr.
Minutes	18.6	24.4
Points	7.6	12.7
Field Goal %	60.00%	52.30%
3-point %	0.00%	46.20%
FT %	60.90%	76.50%
Rebounds	5.8	3.9
Assists	0.4	1.4
Steals	0.8	0.5
Blocks	1.2	0.3
Turnovers	1.1	1.4
Fouls	2.2	3.1

	Jaylen Johnson	Aleksej Rostov
	6-9, 215, Soph	6-10, 225, Sr.
Minutes	14.8	5.8
Points	4.4	1.7
Field Goal %	46.2%	41.70%
3-point %	0.0%	50.00%
FT %	40.0%	60.00%
Rebounds	3.6	1.2
Assists	0.3	0.1
Steals	0.3	0.0
Blocks	0.3	0.4
Turnovers	0.4	0.3
Fouls	1.7	0.8