Louisville @ Pittsburgh preview
Petersen Events Center
Last Meeting ( Jan 14, 2020 ) Louisville 73, Pittsburgh 68
Louisville's return from a lengthy hiatus due to coronavirus was a disaster and it did not help that leading scorer Carlik Janes remained out after the team returned.
The Cardinals (4-1) hope to produce a better showing and expect to get Jones back Tuesday night when they visit Pittsburgh for their ACC opener.
Louisville is coming off an 85-48 loss at Wisconsin on Saturday in its first game since Dec. 1. The Cardinals trailed by 26 at halftime, shot 36.2 percent, committed 18 turnovers, and allowed 54.4 percent shooting (64 percent from 3-point range).
The Cardinals posted those subpar totals while Jones traveled with the team but sat out due to not being entirely cleared after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month.
He joined previously injured players Malik Williams (foot), Josh Nickelberry (knee) and Charles Minlend (foot) as unavailable. Jones will return to a team playing short-handed again.
"Going into it, we didn't think it would be as tough as it was, but as you can see by the way we played today, it was a tough turnaround, all that time off," Louisville sophomore Samuell Williamson said. "But there's no excuse. It's going to be a crazy year. A lot of teams are going to go through that type of stuff over the course of the season and we've just got to come out and we've got to play better."
Jones is averaging 17.3 points, seven rebounds and 5.3 assists. Last season, he averaged 20 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 5.5 assists at Radford. Before testing positive, Jones scored 18 points against Western Kentucky on Dec. 1.
Pittsburgh (5-1, 1-0 ACC) has not experienced any disruptions due to players testing positive but will be without coach Jeff Capel after he tested positive. Without Capel, the Panthers are trying to win a sixth straight game after getting knocked off by St. Francis (Pa.) in their season opener. Associate head coach Tim O'Toole will fill in for Capel against Louisville.
The Panthers are getting terrific performances from Justin Champagnie, who is averaging 17.8 points and 12.3 rebounds. He posted consecutive games of 20 points and 20 rebounds against Northwestern and Gardner Webb Dec. 9 and 12, and leads the ACC in rebounding.
The Panthers did not need a double-double from Champagnie on Wednesday when they opened ACC play with a 70-55 win at Miami. Ithiel Horton scored 18 points while Au'Diese Toney added 15 to compensate for Champagnie and Xavier Johnson playing 24 and 21 minutes respectively due to foul trouble.
"We had more options and more guys who could do stuff, but we needed Xavier and Justin to be in the game and not be in foul trouble and be good players for us," Capel said.
Louisville, which leads the all-time series with Pitt 19-6, is 15-1 in its past 16 meetings with the Panthers.
--Field Level Media