No. 23 Louisville out to avenge loss to Pitt

Louisville proved it could handle its newfound prosperity as a ranked team.

The No. 23 Cardinals, who reached the poll for the first time this season on Monday, knocked off visiting No. 21 North Carolina State 84-77 on Thursday.

Louisville will be aiming for a potential top 20 spot when it hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday in an Atlantic Coast Conference game, seeking redemption for a loss to the Panthers earlier this month.

Since a 71-58 home loss to rival Kentucky on Dec. 29, Louisville has won five of its past six games and enters on a four-game winning streak.

The Cardinals (14-5, 5-1) will enter the weekend in a five-way tie for first in the ACC. Jordan Nwora leads Louisville in scoring at 18.2 points per game. Christen Cunningham, who had a team-high 17 against the Wolfpack, is the second-leading scorer at 10.8.

"When you can beat a team like that, you know you can step up to the challenge," Louisville head coach Chris Mack said after the win over N.C. State.

However, Louisville's lone loss in conference play came at Pitt, which beat the Cardinals 89-86 in overtime on Jan. 9. Louisville trailed for most of the game before mounting a 17-4 run to tie the game with 26 seconds left in regulation.

After winning just eight games last season, Pitt (12-7, 2-4) raised some eyebrows in nonconference play when it amassed a 10-3 record. But ACC play has proven to be a struggle for the Panthers, who are coming off a 79-64 home loss to Duke on Tuesday.

In fairness, Pitt's four conference losses have been against North Carolina, at N.C. State, at Syracuse and to Duke -- and the Panthers did record a home win over Florida State on Jan. 14.

Much like other opponents, Duke bothered Pitt with a zone defense that forced the Panthers into a 3-of-15 shooting performance from 3-point range.

"We have to learn how to attack it better and put our guys in positions to attack it better," Pitt head coach Jeff Capel said. "We have to be able to make some outside shots, but we have to have the movement to get the right shots."

Pitt is led in scoring by freshman guard Xavier Johnson, who is averaging 16.6 points per game and shooting 40.3 percent from 3-point range (25 of 62). Freshman guard Trey McGowens is also having a nice season for Pitt, averaging 13.9 points a game.

McGowens scored 33 points in the victory over Louisville, when Johnson had 21 points, 10 assists and five rebounds.

"We know that there will be teams that we play from here on out that will be more talented than us," Capel said. "They'll be bigger, they'll have more experience and all those things. It doesn't mean that we can't win. We just have to minimize our mistakes and do the little things at a very high level."

--Field Level Media