No. 9 ranked Mountaineers host an unranked Louisville team for a noon start.
–Louisville swept the season series with the Mountaineers last season including a 62-59 win in the Coliseum late in the season that clinched the Big East regular season title for the Cardinals.
–Louisville is the only Big East Conference team current Mountaineer seniors Da’Sean Butler and Wellington Smith have never beaten. Smith and Butler both got off to solid starts by hitting three point shots in the first minute of the game.
–Louisville went with a big starting lineup in the last game against Cincinnati as it inserted 6-10 sophomore Terrence Jennings with 6-9 sophomore Samardo Samuels in the lineup. The Cardinals will go with that same lineup today.
–The Mountaineers down just four at the half despite the fact that Louisville shot nearly 60% from the field in the first half. WVU has to get offense from Truck Bryant, Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones. That trio combined for just four field goals and 18 points in the first half.
–Early second half, Truck still doesn’t have a field goal, but look for the momentum to shift here quickly. Louisville has committed seven fouls in the first five minutes and turnovers are starting to kill the Cardinals.
–Louisville managed to re-take the momentum with an 8-0 second half run. The pressure got to WVU a bit as the Mountaineers had trouble getting it across midcourt on three consecutive possessions.
–Samardo Samuels is the leading scorer for Louisville 14 minutes deep into the second half, but the story of this game so far is the bench play and the scoring of Louisville guards Reginald Delk and Peyton Siva. Siva, who came to Louisville from Washington state, has hit four three point shots. Siva and Delk combine to average 10 1/2 points per game. Today the duo has scored 25 points. The Mountaineer bench has contributed zero field goals and just one point.