ABOUT LOUISVILLE
A new era has begun in Louisville this season, as Chris Mack took over the helm of the men's basketball program. Mack, who spent the previous nine seasons at Xavier, led the Musketeers to eight NCAA Tournament appearances and reached the Sweet Sixteen on four occasions as well as the Elite Eight in 2017. In 2017-18, Xavier won its first Big East Conference regular-season championship and earned the school's first-ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Mack was honored as the 2018 Big East Coach of the Year.
Mack has a roster full of experience, with nine upperclassmen and three graduate transfers.
Last season, Louisville missed out on the NCAA Tournament but earned a bid to the NIT, where the Cardinals advanced to the quarterfinals.
Sophomore forward Jordan Nwora leads the Cardinals in scoring (18.0 ppg) and rebounding (6.3 rpg) through three games despite coming off the bench in every outing. He is coming off a career-high 22 point performance on 7-of-11 shooting to go along with five rebounds.
Three other players to keep an eye on for Louisville are Darius Perry, Steven Enoch and V.J. King. So far, Perry (14.7 ppg, 2.0 apg) and Enoch (14.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.0 bpg) are both shooting better than 73 percent from the field and 88 percent from the free-throw line. King, who started all 36 games last year, rounds out the team's double-digit scorers with 11.3 ppg to go with 4.3 rpg.
Louisville's offensive production has been prolific this season. It averages 91.7 ppg while holding opponents to just 68.0 ppg. The Cardinals have excelled at getting to the charity stripe. They are averaging 42 trips to the free-throw line, where they are converting 78 percent of their attempts.