Louisville-Marshall Preview: Cards Look To Win Second Global Sports Showcase Game

NO. 7 LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (2-0) vs. MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD (3-0)

Game Time: 9:05 p.m.

Location: KFC Yum Center: Louisville, Ky

Television: ESPNU

Announcers: Roxy Bernstein (play-by-play) and Cory Alexander (analyst)

Officials: Les Jones, Jerry Heater and William Humes

Favorite: Louisville by 27.5

All-Time Series: Louisville leads 10-5

Last Meeting: Louisville won 80-66 on Nov. 27, 2010 at the Yum Center

Series History:

Probable Starting Lineups:

Statistics:

Relevant Videos:

About Marshall:

The unbeaten Thundering Herd opened their season with a 74-55 victory over Jacksonville State on Nov. 14 and then beat Savannah State 66-47 on Nov. 16 to win their first two games of the Global Sports Showcase. Marshall also
defeated WVU Tech 87-65 on Nov. 18 as sophomore guard Ryan Taylor scored 25 points to lead the way. Tamron Manning, a junior guard from Georgetown, Ky. who started the first two games, missed the WVU Tech game with a groin injury. Manning and Louisville guard Trent Gilbert were high school teammates at Scott County High School.

Marshall returns three starters from its team last season which produced an 11-22 record. Sophomore forward Ryan Taylor, a graduate of Louisville's Western High School, is the top returning scorer for the Thundering Herd, averaging 12.8 points and a team-best 7.2 rebounds a year ago. Marshall joined Conference USA in 2005, a league in which the Cardinals were members for 10 years (1995-2005) prior to Marshall's arrival. First-year Marshall Coach Dan D'Antoni, the older brother of former Los Angeles Lakers Coach Mike D'Antoni, was an NBA assistant coach the last nine seasons and is a 1970 Marshall graduate.

Notable

--Friday's game is the Cardinals' second in the 2014 Global Sports Showcase, a five-team, round-robin event played at various campus sites. U of L is already 1-0 in the event, while Marshall is 2-0.

--Louisville is favored in tonight's game for a program-record 51st 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 75 of their last 76 games.

--Louisville's 98 victories over the last four 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 150-9 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 Marshall. 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's 88-39 win over Jacksonville State was Rick Pitino's 21st victory at U of L that came by 40 points or more, the most of any coach in Cardinal history.

--Rick Pitino is just three wins shy of 700 for his career.

--Louisville is 20-0 all-time in games in which sophomore guard David Levitch sees the court.

--Montrezl Harrell is just 210 points short of becoming the 66th career 1,000-point scorer at Louisville.

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 83, Marshall 60