Rivalry Reunited: Memphis

Site: Madison Square Garden (19,812), New York, N.Y.

Television: ESPN2 - Ted Emrich, play-by-play; John Thompson, analyst.

Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst

Series History: Louisville leads 53-36 (31-12 in Louisville, 16-23 in Memphis, 6-1 neutral)

Officials: Wally Rutecki, Dwayne Gladden, Jerry Heater

Game Look

Louisville plays its first neutral site game of the season as the Cardinals face the Memphis Tigers in the showcase game of the Houzz Gotham Classic presented by TicketIQ at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday.

Louisville reached the century mark with a 102-59 victory over Bryant on Monday as the Cardinals shot a season-high 55.7 percent from the field.

The Tigers (7-2) have won four straight games, including a 67-58 victory over Albany on Dec. 12 as Kareem Brewton Jr. led the scoring with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field (3-3 threes) in 17 minutes off the bench.

Cardinal News & Notes

 Louisville is second in the nation in blocked shots (7.9 bpg) and ranks ninth in field goal percentage defense (.367) and 23rd in FT% (.774).

 Quentin Snider has averaged a team-high 15.3 points and made 6-of-12 three-pointers over the last three games, with nine assists and two turnovers. He needs 119 points to become the Cardinals’ 68th career 1,000-point scorer.

 UofL committed a season-low six turnovers vs. Bryant, the third time the Cardinals have had single-digit turnovers this season and the 48th occasion in the last five years.

 Tri-captain Anas Mahmoud moved into 10th in career blocked shots at UofL (147) with three vs. Bryant. He is sixth in the nation in blocks (3.7). He blocked a career-high nine shots vs. Siena with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

 UofL has shot a combined 49.6 percent over the last four games  Louisville has a 34-6 record during the month of December over the last six years, winning 22 of its last 27 in that month.

 Louisville is one of just four schools which have won 20 or more games in each of the last 15 seasons (also Kansas, Duke and Gonzaga).

 Scoring leader Deng Adel (16.1 ppg) has five 20-point scoring efforts in his last 14 games stretching back to the end of last season, including three this season. He has been UofL’s scoring leader on five occasions this year.

 UofL’s academic performance has been impressive, as Louisville is one of only two schools in the nation to have perfect men’s basketball multi-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores each of the past four years. A league-high six Cardinals were named to the 2017 All-ACC Academic Team.

About Memphis

Louisville plays its neutral site game of the season as the Cardinals face the Memphis Tigers in the showcase game of the Houzz Gotham Classic presented by TicketIQ at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday (Dec. 16, Noon, ESPN2).

The Tigers (7-2) have won four straight games, including a 67-58 victory over Albany on Dec. 12 as Kareem Brewton Jr. led the scoring with 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field (3-3 threes) in 17 minutes off the bench.

Memphis is No. 147 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 151 by Ken Pomeroy and No. 123 in the RPI through Dec. 12. Memphis ranks 54th nationally in offensive rebounds per game (12.7). Memphis returns only two lettermen (both starters) from last season’s squad which posted a 19-13 record and finished fifth in the AAC. Louisville had a 4-6 record in games against

Memphis Coach Tubby Smith while he was at Kentucky, including a 65-56 Cardinal victory over the Wildcats in Lexington on Dec. 27, 2003 when UK was the top-ranked team in the ESPN/USA Today poll and No. 2 by AP. Louisville holds a 53-36 advantage over Memphis in the series which began in 1949.

UofL has won four of the last six games. The Cardinals have a 6-1 edge in games at neutral sites. This 90th meeting makes Memphis the Cardinals’ second-most played rivalry behind Cincinnati (99 meetings). The two teams were both members of the Missouri Valley Conference (1964-75) and then the Metro Conference when they met for 23 straight seasons (1968-91).

Memphis departed the Metro for four years to join the Great Midwest Conference in 1991 and the schools were reunited in Conference USA for 10 years (1995-2005). The two schools were in The American for one season (2013-14) before the Cardinals moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014.

Louisville has a collective 266-117 record against current members of the American Athletic Conference, having faced all 12 of its members. New member Wichita State was the last AAC team the Cards have faced, with UofL winning 62-52 on Nov. 24, 2016 in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals.

The two teams met in the Metro Conference Tournament on 12 occasions, with the Cardinals winning eight of those contests. The teams played twice in the Conference USA Tournament and Louisville won both contests (2003, 2005).

Louisville at MSG

Louisville has an all-time 31-26 record in Madison Square Garden and the Cardinals have won nine straight there and 11 of their last 12. UofL won the 1956 NIT Championship in the Garden; the 2009, 2012 and 2013 BIG EAST Championships; and the 1971 Holiday Festival.

U of L was 13-5 in the Garden for BIG EAST Tournament games, posting a league-best 12-2 record with three titles in their last five years in the post season event.

In its last game in the Garden, Louisville beat Indiana 94-74 in the 2014 Jimmy V Classic (12-9-14) as three Cardinals scored 20 or more points for the first time since 2008 in Terry Rozier (26 points), Chris Jones (24 points) and Montrezl Harrell (21 points), who added 11 rebounds.

In its last Big East game in the Garden, Louisville fell behind by 16 (45-29) with 15:51 to play in the game before rallying to beat Syracuse 78-61 in the 2013 Big East title game (3-16-13). A 27-3 run put UofL up to stay and the Cards completed the remarkable recovery by outscoring Syracuse 56-26 in the second half.

Cardinals Hail from New York Area

New York natives have been major contributors to Cardinal Basketball in past years. Consensus All-America guard Russ Smith (2010-14) from Brooklyn was a part of the winningest class in Louisville basketball history and led the Cardinals to two Final Fours and the 2013 NCAA Championship.

Rodney and Scooter McCray, from Mt. Vernon, N.Y., helped the Cardinals reach three NCAA Final Fours during their years at Louisville (1978-83). Rodney is one of just five Cardinals to reach both 1,000 points and rebounds (1,247 pts., 1,029 reb.).

UofL trainer Fred Hina was the head trainer for the New York Mets for seven years prior to joining the Cardinal staff in 2001. Freshman forward Jordan Nwora hails from Buffalo, N.Y. Assistant coach Greg Paulus grew up in Syracuse and played a year at quarterback for the Orange

Double-Double Duo

Anas Mahmoud and Ray Spalding each registered double-double performances against Siena, becoming the first Louisville duo to produce double-doubles in the same game since Montrezl Harrell (28 points, 12 rebounds) and Terry Rozier (22 pts., 10 reb.) achieved the feat vs. Pitt on Feb. 11, 2015.

Mahmoud came within a blocked shot of what could have been only the fifth triple-double in UofL history and the first since 2008 with career highs of 17 points, 13 rebounds and nine blocks. His nine blocks were the most by a UofL player since Kendall Dartez had nine in a 56-40 win over Holy Cross on Dec. 7, 2003.

Spalding was particularly active on defense and totaled 10 points, 10 rebounds, four blocked shots, a career-high four steals and 15 deflections against Siena.

Spalding followed that performance with his fourth double-double this season and sixth in his career with 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds and five blocked shots against Indiana. Both were within a rebound of double-doubles in their last game against Bryant

McMahon Returns

Ryan McMahon played in his first game this season vs. Indiana on Dec. 9 after suffering a broken rib on his left side in UofL’s first scrimmage on Oct. 13. He played 11 minutes vs. Indiana and contributed a three-pointer, three assists and a pair of steals, including one with 31 seconds remaining in the game that led to a layup that pushed the lead to 69-62. He had two points, two assists and two steals in 10 minutes vs. Bryant in his last game.