Louisville Cardinals at Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Louis Brown Athletic Center, Piscataway, NY
Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 9:00 pm Eastern, TV: ESPNU
Opening Line: Louisville -3.5
Current Line: Louisville -3.5
Opening Total: 135
Current Total: 135
Money Line: Louisville -165 / Rutgers +145
The 16th-ranked Louisville Cardinals (20-7, 9-5 Big East) have been outstanding at home this season but have dropped five of their last six conference road games heading into Tuesday’s matchup with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (13-13, 4-10). The Cardinals (-3.5) would have a six-game road losing streak if it was not for a 79-78 victory at #14 Connecticut in double overtime back on January 29.
During that same recent stretch, Louisville has won three home games as part of a bigger seven-game winning streak at the KFC Yum! Center. Meanwhile, Rutgers has seen five of its last six games decided by five points or less, including Saturday’s 84-80 overtime loss at Syracuse. The Scarlet Knights have prevailed in only one of those games, a 77-76 win over Villanova on February 9 that saw Jonathan Mitchell complete a four-point play with one second remaining.
The good news for backers of Rutgers is that the team is 5-1 against the spread in the last six games even though five of the games have resulted in straight-up losses. Mike Coburn led the Scarlet Knights against the Orange with a team-high 18 points and six assists while Mitchell scored 13 points and freshman Gilvydas Biruta added 12 and eight rebounds.
The Cardinals have alternated wins and losses in their past seven games, with the win at UConn being the last time they won consecutive games. They are 2-3 ATS in their last five games overall, 3-1 vs. the line in the past four meetings with Rutgers – all SU wins – and coming off a 71-58 home victory against the Huskies on Saturday to complete a season series sweep. The team limited Big East leading scorer Kemba Walker to 16 points on 3 of 10 shooting from the field and outrebounded Connecticut by a 40-35 margin.
Peyton Siva led Louisville offensively and defensively against UConn again with a team-high 15 points and six steals, which is his best game since totaling 19 points and three steals in the previous meeting with the Huskies. The Cardinals also got 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds from Gorgui Dieng, who had not scored in double figures since an 86-77 win at South Florida on January 9. That just happens to be the last time the team won a road game.
The OVER is 3-0-1 in the last four games overall for the Scarlet Knights and has also cashed in two of the past three meetings with Louisville. The UNDER is 6-3 in the last nine games for the Cardinals overall.
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