CARDINALS

Cards return to friendly confines of the road

Jeff Greer
@jeffgreer_cj
University of Louisville's Terry Rozier (0) reacts after hitting a three point shot against the University North Carolina during the second half of play at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.       January 31, 2015

Terry Rozier insisted last week that the University of Louisville basketball team has been hurt by tight rims at its home arena, the KFC Yum! Center.

Aided by statistics that show that U of L's shooting percentage at home is 8.3 percent worse than it is on the road, Rozier, a sophomore guard, pleaded with U of L spokesman Kenny Klein to loosen the rims.

So, on Saturday morning, U of L measured Yum! Center rims for the players and found nothing – no extra tightness, no unnecessary firmness, no nothing. There would be no altering of the rims.

A few hours later, Louisville (18-3, 6-2 in the ACC) rallied from an 18-point second-half deficit to beat North Carolina despite a meager 33.8-percent shooting percentage. Maybe it's all mental at this point. Maybe it's a trumped-up excuse for other issues. Whatever it is, the numbers don't lie: Road arena rims are convincingly friendlier to Louisville's shooters than the Yum! Center.

And it just so happens that Louisville gets another chance to prove that on Tuesday, when the Cardinals take on Miami at 8 p.m. at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Fla.

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"We have to prepare for them and tune in for them like we did for (North Carolina)," U of L guard Chris Jones said Saturday.

"We play the best when we're on the road, so that's great for us."

In addition to the superior field-goal percentage, Louisville also shoots 9 percent better from 3-point range in road games and 6.2 percent better from the foul line. The Cardinals also score 11.2 more points per game and have compiled 80 or more points in five of their seven games away from the Yum! Center.

U of L coach Rick Pitino doesn't quite know how or why his team has produced such contrasting home-away numbers.

He has offered several theories without committing to any of them: Maybe they play better without their friends and family in the stands or maybe, just maybe, they prefer the us-against-the-arena feeling of road games.

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He is, however, 100-percent certain that it's mental. The rims, he maintains, have nothing to do with it.

If that's the case, then Tuesday's game should have the juice to motivate Pitino's ninth-ranked Cardinals.

Miami (14-7, 4-4 in the ACC) has been one of the surprise teams in the conference this season, and its blowout of Duke in mid-January caught U of L's attention long before Tuesday's meeting.

Film of the Hurricanes' win was a key part of Louisville's game prep ahead of its own matchup against Duke back on Jan. 17, which U of L lost 63-52.

But before their Duke loss, Pitino and his players praised Miami, particularly guard Angel Rodriguez, for making tough shots, attacking off pick-and-rolls and upsetting Duke on the road.

Pitino repeated that praise after Saturday's win over UNC.

"You know they're very talented, they're very long," Pitino said.

They are also on a two-game losing streak, having dropped back-to-back games to Florida State and Georgia Tech, two teams sitting in the bottom half of the ACC standings. They don't look much like the team that beat Duke three weeks ago.

In those consecutive defeats, Miami shot 28 percent from 3. FSU and Georgia Tech pounded the Hurricanes inside, making 42 of 66 2-point attempts and scoring 62 points in the paint.

That bodes well for Louisville, which is at its best attacking the basket and getting points in the paint. For whatever reason, that has happened a lot more on the road than at home. U of L hopes that continues, at least for Tuesday.

Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).