BLACKSBURG – Playing its first game in the New Year, the No. 19/20 Virginia Tech men's basketball team will play at RV/No. 25 Louisville on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
SERIES HISTORY
The Hokies (8-1, 2-0 ACC) and Cardinals (7-1, 2-0) played each other once last season, a 68-52 setback on the road for the Hokies. Tech on Wednesday will be trying to accomplish something that hasn't happened since 1991, a win for the Hokies. The Cards own the all-time series 35-8, dating back to 1979.
YOUNG'S TRACK RECORD
This will be Mike Young's second game vs. UofL (he's 0-1), but his fourth vs. Chris Mack (is 1-2). They were 1-1 vs. each other when they were at Wofford and Xavier. Mack won a triple OT thriller the first time in 2010, while Young won 56-55 the last time (2012) before they moved on to new jobs.
ON THE CALL
The matchup will be broadcast on ACC Network (click here), with Mike Monaco (play-by-play) and Dan Bonner (analyst) on the call, while Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst) will broadcast on Virginia Tech Sports Network.
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Digital Program: CLICK HERE
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Stats: CLICK HERE
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Watch: CLICK HERE
LAST TIME OUT
Getting up by as many as 17 points over Miami (Fla.), the Hokies held off a 'Canes comeback to win by two, 80-78. Getting stellar play from its bigs, Tech got a combined 41 points and 15 rebounds from forwards Justyn Mutts and Keve Aluma.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
After already setting his career high for points twice this season, Aluma did it again with his best performance yet (career-high 26 points). The redshirt junior also filled up the stat sheet, owning six rebounds, four assists and three blocks.
Mutts, who only had cracked the double figures scoring plateau twice coming into the Miami (Fla.) game this season, exploded for a season-high 15 points. The Delaware transfer almost had a double-double, too, grabbing nine rebounds.
SCOUTING LOUISVILLE
• Louisville is coming off a 12-point victory on the road against Boston College on Saturday, 76-64, and had two players almost have double-doubles – Carlik Jones (15 points, nine rebounds) and David Johnson (20 points, 8 rebounds) – to extend their win streak to three games.
• Mack enters his third season in Louisville, following a nine-year stretch at Xavier where he went 215-97 and led the Musketeers to eight NCAA Tournament appearances. Last season, Mack guided Louisville to a 24-7 record and a 15-5 ACC mark, which tied UofL for second in the regular season standings.
• The Cardinals are paced by Radford transfer Carlik Jones, who won Big South Player of the Year in 2019-20, and David Johnson, a sophomore guard. Jones leads the team in points (16.4) and rebounds (6.6) per game and Johnson is second in both categories (14.4 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and first in steals (9).
• Some of the things the Cards do well are rebound and play solid defense, ranking fourth in the ACC in scoring defense (61.8 points allowed per game) and first in field-goal percentage allowed (38.6%), while sitting third in the league in rebound margin (+7.2).