The Louisville Cardinals suffered their first loss of the season in the Battle 4 Atlantis Final against Baylor last week and are looking for revenge. Louisville blew a 22-point lead and that cost them an early season win against a ranked opponent. The Cardinals will get a chance for a win against another ranked opponent when they face the Purdue Boilermakers on Wednesday. Purdue is also searching for its first big win of the season.
At 7 p.m. ET, tune into ESPN for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Wednesday, November 30, 2016, at the KFC Yum! Center.
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Purdue is 5-1 SU and 2-2 ATS at this point. The Boilermakers’ lone loss was a close one at the hands of last year’s champions, Villanova, but their best win was against Auburn a week ago. Three of their four games that have had listed totals have gone over the total.
Louisville is 5-1 SU and 4-2 ATS and looking to get back to the postseason after a self-imposed ban last season following accusations of recruiting impropriety. The Cardinals do have a quality win on their schedule, a 10-point victory, over Utah State, but the loss to Baylor was a big one.
Key Stat
Ken Pomeroy’s numbers love Louisville’s defense. Per his metrics, the Cardinals have the second-best defense in the country, and opponents would be hard-pressed to say anything differently, as no team has scored more than 66 points on them yet this season.
Louisville is in the Top-10 in the country in every major defensive statistic except rebounds. The Cardinals have allowed 56.8 PPG on 34.7 percent shooting over six games, but where they really stand out is three-point defense. Louisville has allowed opponents to complete less than 24 percent of their three-point attempts thanks to their aggressive defense, but haven’t forced as many turnovers as you might expect.
Matchup to Watch
Purdue likes to run everything through its front court and how it stacks up against Louisville’s big men will be fun to watch. Caleb Swanigan has been a double-double machine this season. He is currently averaging 18 and 12 and is hitting over 60 percent of his shots from the floor. Swanigan isn’t just doing it by himself as Isaac Haas and Vince Edwards have also been big contributors.
Haas is mercurial though. He often has difficulty staying on the floor because of foul trouble and has a propensity to commit way too many turnovers. However, Haas is a fantastic finisher, hitting 72.9 percent of his field goal attempts, so Purdue has learned to take the good with the bad.
It will be interesting to see how Rick Pitino counters this and if he juggles his line-up a bit. He has one of the best shot-blockers in the ACC in Anas Mahmoud, but has made him just a rotation player. Mahmoud could have a huge game if Pitino needs a big man to stop Purdue’s trio. He is tall and lanky, but has the athleticism to move quickly to whatever spot he needs to get to.
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Purdue has been extremely efficient from the field this year. The Boilermakers are one of the Top-20 teams in the country according to field goal percentage, and are knocking down over half their shots. Much of that has to do with their very slow, deliberate style of offense, and their ability to get the ball inside to their big men.
When you play Louisville, having experienced guards is important with how much they press. Purdue has two guards that can hold onto the ball well enough in Dakota Mathias and PJ Thompson, but may need to rely on these two too much with a young, inexperienced backcourt. Keep that in mind and look for Louisville to get a come from behind victory in this one.
College Basketball Odds: Louisville 73, Purdue 66
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