Preview: Southern Illinois at Louisville

[December 07, 2016]  Rick Pitino paid the price for not using his bench over Thanksgiving weekend and Louisville suffered the consequences with its only loss; since then, the Hall-of-Fame coach is quickly learning he has no shortage of options available. Coming off their first road contest of the season, the 13th-ranked Cardinals return to the KFC Yum! Center on Wednesday to begin a five-game homestand against Southern Illinois.

Louisville squandered a 22-point lead and dropped a 66-63 decision to No. 6 Baylor in the title game of the Battle 4 Atlantis and Pitino admitted following the loss he needed to learn to trust his bench, especially after his team started to fatigue near the end of the three-day, three-game event. The Cardinals got 28 points on 12-of-15 shooting from their reserves in last Wednesday's seven-point home win over 19th-ranked Purdue and 38 more points on 12-of-18 from the field from them in Saturday's hard-fought 79-70 road win at Grand Canyon. The Salukis won for the fifth time in six tries Saturday, downing Texas Southern 74-70. Southern Illinois will be the third Missouri Valley Conference team Louisville has faced already this season (Evansville, Wichita State), while the Salukis' only setback since their 0-2 start was a 57-45 road defeat on Nov. 25 at Minnesota, which is coached by Rick's son, Richard.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ACC Network

ABOUT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (5-3): Mike Rodriguez (team-high marks of 14.5 points and 5.9 assists) is one of five starters averaging at least 10 points and has had a hand in 36 percent of the Southern Illinois' offense this season; the senior point guard also ranks 19th in Division I in free-throw attempts (65). Preseason all-conference forward Sean O'Brien (11.4 points, league-best 7.8 rebounds) has started 75 consecutive contests and already has an 18-rebound game on his resume in 2016-17, as well as two nine-assist efforts and four games with at least 14 points. Junior 6-8 forward Thik Bol (10.1 points, 7.5 boards, 2.4 blocks) trails only O'Brien in the MVC in rebounding and ranks second in blocks; 20 of his 37 field goals this season have been dunks.

ABOUT LOUISVILLE (7-1): With leading scorer Donovan Mitchell missing parts of the second half due to leg cramps and center Anas Mahmoud (concussion) out, little-used reserve center Matz Stockman gave the Cardinals a much-needed lift Saturday by converting each of his three shots and finishing with a career-high 10 points in 15 minutes. "I never I thought I'd see the day where I'd call timeouts and run plays for (Stockman). But that's what happened and he executed it beautifully," Pitino said. Sophomore Ray Spalding (7.8 points, 5.5 rebounds) has given Louisville a spark in the last two games with 12.5 points on 10-of-12 from the field, while fellow reserve V.J. King also produced 14 points versus Grand Canyon and is shooting 50 percent beyond the arc this season.

TIP-INS

1. Louisville was a member of the MVC from 1964-75 and holds a 99-39 record against current league members.

2. In the Salukis' five victories, they have outscored the opposition by 114 points in the paint. In their losses, they have been outscored by four points.

3. The Cardinals rank 12th in Division I in field-goal percentage defense (36.2) and 15th in scoring defense (59.4 points).

PREDICTION: Louisville 81, Southern Illinois 59

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