Louisville-Jacksonville State Preview: Cards Look To Impress In Home Opener

NO. 7 LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (1-0) vs. JACKSONVILLE STATE GAMECOCKS (0-1)

Game Time: 7:02 p.m.

Location: KFC Yum Center: Louisville, Ky

Television: ESPN3

Announcers: Jim Barbar (play-by-play) and Bob Valvano (analyst)

Favorite: Louisville by 31.5

All-Time Series: First meeting

Statistics:

Probable Starting Lineups:

Relevant Video:

About Jacksonville State:

The Gamecocks opened their season with a 74-55 loss at Marshall Friday night, as Avery Moore scored 18 points off the bench to pace the team.

Jacksonville State, which posted a 10-21 record last season, is picked to finish fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference's East Division. Located in Jacksonville, Ala., the Gamecocks return four starters including 6-3 senior guard Darion Rackley, who led JSU in scoring a year ago while averaging 13.1 points per game. Darrius Moore, a 6-8 redshirt sophomore forward, played with Louisville guard Chris Jones at Memphis Melrose High School when their team won the 2010 Tennessee State High School championship.

Louisville faced Jacksonville State coach James Green on seven occasions when he served as the coach at Southern Mississippi for eight seasons, with the Cardinals winning four of those seven matchups. It will be the first meeting for the Cardinals against Jacksonville State, one of three first-time opponents for U of L this season.

Notable

--Louisville is 13-0 under Rick Pitino in home-openers.

--Monday's game is the Cardinals' first in the 2014 Global Sports Showcase, a five-team, round-robin event played at various campus sites. U of L will play each of the four other teams in Louisville.

--The Cardinals have won their last eight games against teams they are playing for the first time.

--Louisville is favored in tonight's game for a program-record 50th straight time. The Cards have not been an underdog since playing at Syracuse on March 2, 2013. All told, U of L has been the favorite in 74 of their last 75 games.

--Louisville's 96 victories over the last three years are 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 amassed by Louisville's 2012-13 NCAA Championship team (30 in 2011- 12, 31 in 2013-14).

--U of L is 149-9 over the last 14 seasons under Coach Rick Pitino when scoring 80 or more points (20-1 last season, 11-1 in 2012-13).

--U of L fans are encouraged to bring gently used clothing to the game against Jacksonville State. The donated clothes will be "recycled" to help the Salvation Army refresh its Thrift Stores. The collection is occurring at all KFC Yum! Center events over the weekend and is in celebration of the Nov. 15 America Recycles Day.

--Louisville is 19-0 all-time in games in which sophomore guard David Levitch sees the court.

--Montrezl Harrell is just 225 points short of becoming the 66th career 1,000-point scorer at Louisville.

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 87, Jacksonville State 59