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Louisville enters Durham with ACC Player of Year candidate Jordan Nwora

By Kevin Connelly

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - DECEMBER 18: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals shoots the ball against the Miami-Ohio Redhawks at KFC YUM! Center on December 18, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - DECEMBER 18: Jordan Nwora #33 of the Louisville Cardinals shoots the ball against the Miami-Ohio Redhawks at KFC YUM! Center on December 18, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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The Louisville Cardinals will face the Duke basketball team with one of the best players in the Atlantic Coastal Conference coming into Cameron Indoor Stadium on a roll.

Jordan Nwora was voted as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year and the Louisville forward is very much in the conference Player of the Year conversation.

Nwora leads the ACC in scoring at 20.4 points per game, but behind the 6-foot-7 junior, the Cards only have one other player averaging at least ten points and that is the senior center Steven Enoch who averages 10.8 points per game.

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Going back to the star of the team in Nwora, in addition to leading the team in scoring, he is also second on the team with 7.4 rebounds per game and is shooting 48.0 percent from the field, 44.0 percent from 3-point range, and 79.0 percent from the free throw line.

Enoch is listed at 6-foot-10, yet only averages 6.8 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game, neither leading the team in its respective category, but the big man does shoot 50.7 percent from the floor.

Louisville head coach Chris Mack is in his second year at the school, and he has eight players who average at least 14.4 minutes per game. As a team, Mack’s Cardinals are shooting 46.1 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from 3-point range.

Entering the season, Louisville was ranked No. 5 in the country and pulled off a win on the road in ACC play on opening night against Miami. The Cardinals were ranked as high as No. 1 before a loss at Madison Square Garden to the Texas Tech Red Raiders dropped Louisville in the rankings.

After its first loss of the season, Chris Mack’s team responded with wins over Eastern Kentucky and Miami (OH) but then dropped two straight on the road to the Kentucky Wildcats and at home to the Florida State Seminoles.

Since that home loss to Florida State, Louisville has won three straight games, all in conference play, to push its record to 14-3 overall and 5-1 in ACC play.

Saturday night will be the third straight game on the road for the Cardinals with its other two games (at Notre Dame and at Pittsburgh) resulting in two wins by a combined eight points and needing overtime to defeat the Panthers.

Duke and Louisville will tipoff at 6:00pm EST on Saturday, January 18 from Cameron Indoor Stadium and the game will be televised on ESPN with ESPN’s College GameDay broadcasting live from Durham starting at 11:00am EST.

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