Louisville-Pittsburgh preview: Cards continue pursuit of ACC title

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (21-6, 10-4) At PITTSBURGH PANTHERS (19-7, 8-6)

Game Time: 8:05 p.m.

Location: Petersen Events Center: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Television: ACC Network/WAVE-3

Announcers: Mike Gleason (play-by-play) and Cory Alexander (analyst)

Officials: Jamie Luckie, Les Jones, Michael Stephens

Favorite: Louisville by 1.5

All-Time Series: Louisville leads 11-5

Last Meeting: Louisville won 59-41 on Jan. 14, 2016 at the Yum Center

Series History:

Probable Starting Lineups:

Statistics:

Relevant Videos:

About Pitt:

Pittsburgh is coming off perhaps its best performance of the season in a 66-52 win at Syracuse on Saturday. The Panthers dominated on the road with defense, limiting the Orange to 37.3 percent from the field and 7 of 26 from beyond the arc.

Junior forward Michael Young leads Pitt in scoring at 16.3 ppg. He is the only player in the conference to rank among the top 15 in scoring (16.3 points), rebounding (7.0), field-goal percentage (53.6) and free-throw percentage (80.1). James Robinson (10.2 points, 5.3 assists), who became only the fifth player in school history to record at least 1,000 points, 500 assists, 350 rebounds and 150 steals in a career during Pitt's Feb. 14 loss at North Carolina, is also the NCAA record-holder in career assist-to-turnover ratio (3.51:1).

Pitt ranks 10th in the nation in free throw percentage (.761), seventh in assists (18.0) and is 11th in assist/turnover ratio (1.54). They have outrebounded their opposition 142-87 over the last three games, including 59-16 on the offensive glass.

Notable

--Louisville leads the nation in scoring margin (+16.6), is seventh in scoring defense (60.8), eighth in field goal percentage defense (.383), 12th in rebound margin (+8.4) and 13th in offensive rebounds (14.0).

--Pitt is one win shy of reaching 20 wins for the 12th time in 13 seasons under head coach Jamie Dixon.

--Louisville has won 20 games for the 14th straight season. The Cardinals are one of four schools to have won 20 or more games each of the past 14 seasons.

--Pitt (+8.5) and Louisville (+8.4) enter the game as the top two rebounding teams in the ACC. The Panthers have outrebounded their past three opponents by 18.3 rebounds per game.

--Louisville has beaten Pitt at the Petersen Events Center four times. No other Panther opponent has won inside the building more than twice.

--Pitt is 4-17 all-time against teams ranked 11th in the AP Poll, including a 1-2 mark under Jamie Dixon.

--With four games remaining, Damion Lee needs 26 points to reach 2,000 for his career, including his three seasons at Drexel. Trey Lewis needs nine points for 1,500 career points, including his time at Penn State and Cleveland State. Lee has scored in double figures in 24 of his 26 games this season while Lewis has 18 double-digit scoring efforts.

--Pitt is 18-0 this season and 236-22 (.915) under Jamie Dixon when scoring 70 or more points in a game. The Panthers are 53-3 (.946) when scoring at least 70 points in a game since joining the ACC in 2013-14.

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 68, Pittsburgh 66