The Louisville Cardinals take on the Samford Bulldogs in their second game of the NCAA Men's Basketball season at 7 p.m. ET.
Coach Rick Pitino and his boys are celebrating not only a season opening victory over the Manhattan Jaspers, they are happy because most of their players from last season are back in the lineup.
Russ Smith, the current leading scorer, Gorgui Dieng and Peyton Siva are all back in the lineup and leading the Cardinals, with what they hope can be a National Championship winning team. They made it to the Final Four last season.
In the 79-51 defeat of the Jaspers, the Cardinals' received contributions from the entire team to get the victory.
Smith dropped 23 points for the game high, Chane Behanan, the 6-6 sophomore forward who came off the bench, led the team with nine rebounds and Siva dished 10 assists in the victory.
Siva finished with a double-double as he also dropped 10 points in the meeting. Kevin Ware came off the bench and scored 10 points in 15 minutes for the huge contribution.
Coach Pitino himself has issues pin pointing who is the team's MVP.
"Somebody asked me the question: "Who is more valuable, Gorgui or Peyton?" and I have no idea. Who is the guy we can't win without? Russ Smith," Pitino said. "He gives you a dimension that most teams don't have. He is unguardable and then he turns around and is the leading steal leader for a season at our school. On the ball offensively and on the ball defensively, he is pretty darn good."
Click here to watch the Louisville Cardinals face off against the Samford Bulldogs.
