Grand Canyon currently stands as one of the 16 teams in Division-I that has yet to taste defeat. The Antelopes enter Saturday's game fresh off a thrilling 75-72 victory over Central Michigan, arguably their most impressive victory of the season.
In the win over CMU, Gerard Martin led the Lopes with a career-high 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting including hitting 5-of-6 from behind the arc. De'Andre Davis also contributed 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists off the bench and Grandy Glaze added 13 points and led the Lopes with 6 rebounds.
Coached by former NBA All-Star Dan Majerle in his third year at Grand Canyon, the Antelopes return three starters from a team which finished 17-15 last season and participated in the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament. They were picked to finish second in the Western Athletic Conference before the start of the season.
Notable
--Louisville is expected to go with a starting lineup of Quentin Snider, Trey Lewis, Damion Lee, Ray Spalding and Mangok Mathiang.
--Louisville has a 9-1 record against current members of the WAC, having faced three of its nine members (Chicago State 1-0, UMKC 2-0, New Mexico State 4-1).
--Saturday's game is the start of a three-game series, with Louisville playing Grand Canyon in Phoenix next season and GCU making another visit to Louisville in 2017.
--Louisville previously faced Grand Canyon's second-leading scorer Grandy Glaze (12.3 ppg) when he was playing for Saint Louis in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
--UofL leads the nation in scoring defense (54.5), and is second in scoring margin (+27.3), fourth in rebounding margin (+16.2) and third in field goal percentage defense (.342).
--Grand Canyon has won the rebounding battle in all six of its games this season.
--Grand Canyon will be the 310th different opponent that Louisville basketball has faced. The Cards are 43-2 under Rick Pitino when facing a team for the first time in program history, and have won 14 in a row in said situations.
--Damion Lee grabbed a season-high five steals against Michigan State. He is second in the ACC in steals (1.8) and eighth in the league in scoring (18.3).
--Louisville has opened with an 11-1 record in each of the last three seasons.
--Louisville's 128 victories over the last five years are the second-most wins in the nation in that stretch. Louisville and Wichita State are the only schools in the nation to win 30 games in three of the last four seasons, including a school-record 35 victories amassed by Louisville's 2012-13 NCAA Championship team.
--Louisville is 20-3 in the month of December over the past three seasons.
Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 77, Grand Canyon 59
