Cards Travel to Florida State

Courtesy: University of Louisville

GAME FACTS – Louisville at Florida State
Date: Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Site: Donald L. Tucker Center, Tallahassee, Fla. (12,100)
Television: ESPN2 – Mike Couzens, play-by-play; LaPhonzo Ellis, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Doug Ormay, analyst (Sirius 84, XM 84)
Series History: Louisville leads 30-9 (17-2 in Louisville, 10-6 in Tallahassee, 3-1 neutral)
Last Meeting: Florida State 76, UofL 69 (March 9, 1991 in Roanoke, Va., Metro Conference Tournament Championship)
UofL National Ranking: 15th USA Today, 17th Associated Press
Officials: Sean Hull, Tony Chiazza, Jerry Heater
Next UofL Game: Mar. 4 vs. Notre Dame, KFC Yum! Center, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

The Last Meeting

Louisville 69
Florida State 76
March 9, 1991
Roanoke, Va.

Game Notes vs. Florida State

Louisville plays its final road game of the season as the Cardinals visit Tallahassee, Fla. to face Florida State on Saturday. Louisville recovered from a 13-point deficit with 9:40 remaining to win 52-51 at Georgia Tech on Feb. 23 as Terry Rozier led the Cardinals with 22 points, including 18 in the second half.

Louisville has three players averaging double figures. Rozier leads the Cards in scoring with 17.7 points per game.  Montrezl Harrell ranks second with 15.3 points, while Wayne Blackshearaverages 10.5 points. The Cardinals are solid on the boards, Harrell leads the team with 9.4 rebounds per game. Rozier ranks second on the team in rebounding with 5.5 per game.

Louisville ranks among the nation’s top 30 in nine statistical categories through games of Feb. 23. Individually, Harrell is 28th nationally in rebounding (9.4) and 30th in field goal percentage (.565). Rozier is 59th in steals (1.9) and 58th in scoring (17.7).

Quentin Snyder
Quentin Snyder

Florida State (15-14, 7-9 ACC) has won five of its last nine, falling 81-77 at Miami on Feb. 25 in its last game as freshman guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes scored 35 points, including 30 points in the last 4:38 as the Seminoles’ rally from 18-points down fell short. Rathan-Mayes hit 6-of-11 three-pointers and added five assists.

Rathan-Mayes is the lone freshman in the ACC leading his team in scoring (14.4 ppg), assists (4.5 apg) and steals (1.1 spg). Bookert, a junior guard, has buried 49-of-121 three-pointers (40.5 percent, sixth in ACC). Coach Leonard Hamilton needs three victories to become the all-time winningest coach at Florida State (234-170 record at FSU).

Louisville has a 30-9 series advantage over Florida State. In the last meeting 24 years ago, the Cardinals fell 76-69 to the Seminoles in the championship game of the Metro Conference Tournament played in Roanoke, Va. (3/9/91). The teams were both members of the Metro Conference from 1976-91.

UofL Coach Rick Pitino won his only previous meeting against Florida State as his Kentucky team prevailed 106-81 over the Seminoles in the NCAA Southeast Region championship to advance to the 1993 Final Four in New Orleans (3/27/93).

CARDINAL NOTES:
• Louisville’s academic performance in the recently completed fall semester was impressive, with 15 of its 16 men’s basketball student-athletes achieving a 3.0 or better grade point average. The Cardinals posted a collective 3.33 GPA for the 2014 Fall Semester, just short of the team record of 3.47 achieved last fall.
• Louisville’s 118 victories over the last four years are tied with Wichita State for the most wins in the nation in that stretch. Louisville is the only school in the nation with three straight 30-win seasons, including a school-record 35 victories by its 2012-13 NCAA Title team.
Terry Rozier has scored 22 or more points six times in the last 10 games, including 22 points at Georgia Tech in his last game (18 in the second half).
• In its seven ACC road games this season, Louisville has shot a collective 48 percent from the field (201-of-419), while connecting on 37.2 percent of its field goals in seven league home games. The Cardinals have shot above 47 percent from the field on 12 occasions this season. Terry Rozier has averaged 21.1 points in UofL’s eight conference road games.
• Louisville has a 46-13 record in February over the last eight years (since 2007-08), winning 15 of its last 18 in the month.
Wayne Blackshear was honored as a Capital One Academic All-America second team selection on Thursday.
• UofL has produced its 13th consecutive season with 20 or more victories.