Chris Jones Will Not Play Against South Florida

Louisville point guard Chris Jones will miss his third straight game when the Cards take the floor without him against South Florida Wednesday night. Rick Pitino told Eric Crawford of WDRB that Jones is expected to resume workouts with the team on Friday and should be available next Wednesday when U of L takes on AAC leader Cincinnati.

Jones had been Louisville's third leading scorer at 11.3 ppg and was second on the team in assists (2.9 apg) before an oblique injury forced him to miss nearly the entire second half of U of L's win over SMU Jan. 12. He was unavailable for the Cardinals' impressive victories over Houston and Connecticut last week.

Despite squaring off against a USF team that is just 1-4 in conference play, Pitino said he is predictably nervous about Wednesday night's game.

"This team is better than their record," Pitino told WDRB. "They gave Cincinnati all they wanted. We're going to try to press them more than we pressed UConn. We really couldn't press them because of their guard play, but we'll try to get more pressure on in this game.

"We're playing better. But we really have to be a team that focuses in on scouting and execution every game."

Pitino added that Wayne Blackshear, who was hit hard in the hip near the end of the UConn win, was not seriously injured on the play and is good to go for the game against the Bulls.