Connecticut Huskies at Louisville Cardinals, KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY
Friday, February 18, 2011, 9:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN
Opening Line: Louisville -3.5
Current Line: Louisville -4
Opening Total: 139
Current Total: 138.5
Money Line: Louisville -165 / UConn +145
The 13th-ranked Connecticut Huskies (20-5, 8-5 Big East) have rebounded from a rough stretch by winning consecutive games and will be out for revenge on Friday when they visit the 16th-ranked Louisville Cardinals (19-7, 8-5). The Huskies dropped a 79-78 decision in double overtime at home against the Cardinals (-4) nearly three weeks ago to begin their brief slide while Louisville has alternated wins and losses in five games since then.
UConn ended Georgetown’s eight-game winning streak with a 78-70 home victory on Wednesday behind a game-high 31 points from leading scorer Kemba Walker, who is getting his groove back when his team needs him the most. Walker went through a shooting slump recently when the Huskies lost three of four games, shooting just 29.2 percent from the field and averaging 15.5 points. He has totaled 53 points, 17 assists and 13 rebounds in the last two games.
Walker started his struggles though against Louisville’s Peyton Siva, who leads the conference in steals with 2.1 per game. Siva was not only outstanding defensively with three steals and two blocks, but he also led the Cardinals offensively with a team-high 19 points and seven assists. Walker missed a potential game-winning 3-point at the buzzer and finished with 20 points on 7 of 23 shooting, including 2 of 10 from beyond the arc.
Louisville has not lost any of its six conference home games so far but has dropped all three road games since visiting Connecticut. The Cardinals are coming off a 63-54 loss at Cincinnati on Wednesday, as Siva did not score in the first half and ended up fouling out late after totaling eight points. The Bearcats led 36-24 at halftime and were up by as many as 15 points in the second half.
Terrence Jennings scored a team-high 14 points for Louisville against Cincy and was the only player on his squad to finish in double figures. The Cardinals got to the free-throw line just seven times compared to 24 for the Bearcats, scoring 12 less points from the charity stripe. They outrebounded Cincinnati 26-25 and shot better from the field at nearly 47 percent (23 of 49).
UConn has lost its last two road games both straight-up and against the spread, failing to cover four of six overall. Louisville has not covered two of its last three home games despite winning all of them. However, the Cardinals have beaten the Huskies in each of the last three meetings with the OVER cashing each time, going 6-1-1 ATS in the past eight games between the teams.
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