Michigan Vs. Louisville Preview With A Cardinals' Insider

We caught up with Ty Spalding of CardinalSports.com to preview the matchup between No. 4 Michigan and No. 1 Louisville tonight in the Big Ten / ACC Challenge (7:30 PM ET on ESPN). The Wolverines are coming off winning the Battle 4 Atlantis behind wins over Iowa State, North Carolina and Gonzaga in the Bahamas.

Louisville is also undefeated, but has yet to play another ranked opponent in the early going. Spalding discussed what he's seen from the Cardinals so far this season and gave a prediction on how the game will go. Louisville's last game was a 71-54 win over Western Kentucky.

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• Senior guard Ryan McMahon (6-0, 185 pounds) — Averages 11 points and 2.1 assists per game. He is shooting 50 percent from the floor and 53.8 percent from three.

• Junior guard Darius Perry (6-2, 195 pounds) — Averages 6.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. He shoots 48.7 percent from the field and 26.7 percent on three-pointers.

• Senior forward Dwayne Sutton (6-5, 220 pounds) — Scores 11.1 points per game and adds a team-best 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He shoots 71.8 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from three.

• Junior forward Jordan Nwora (6-7, 225 pounds) — His 21.9 points per game leads Louisville in scoring. He also adds 6.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Nwora shoots 50.5 percent from the floor and has made 20 of his 40 three-point attempts on the year. He was named the preseason ACC Player of the Year, and a preseason AP All-American.

• Senior center Steven Enoch (6-10, 255 pounds) — Averages 10.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. He shoots 55.2 percent from the field. He has made one of his nine three-point attempts from beyond the arc, not making him much of a threat from the outside.

Off The Bench

• Junior forward/center Malik Williams (6-11, 245 pounds) — Coming off a broken foot, Williams has played in just three games this season. In those games, he is averaging 5.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game down low.

• Senior guard Lamarr Kimble (6-0, 185 pounds) — Averages 5.1 points, 3.9 assists and 1.4 rebounds per game.

• Freshman guard/forward Samuell Williamson (6-7, 200 pounds) — Averages 7.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.

Kenpom has predicted that Louisville will beat Michigan by a score of 72-64.

Here's how Michigan and Louisville rank in Kenpom compared to the rest of the country:

Note: "Adjusted" refers to how a team would perform against average competition at a neutral site.

"Louisville's style of play on the offensive end of the floor depends heavily on the opponent," Spalding explained. "Thus far, Louisville has played seven games. Out of those seven games, Louisville's opponents are ranked 181st, 284th, 194th, 217th, 178th, 32nd, and 231st in tempo. Only one team they've played all year is ranked in the top 170 in that category. To summarize things, the teams Louisville has played don't like to push it up the floor. However, if a team likes to run, Louisville has the athletes to run.

"On defense, Louisville plays a pack line style of defense, and tries to force long possessions out of teams. Louisville is one of the best in the country at getting opponents to take the shot clock down, which most times ends in a contested shot. Per KenPom, Louisville's opponents are using 18.6 seconds per possession. The Division I average is 17.2 seconds. That's an excellent statistic for the way Louisville likes to play defense."

"Although Louisville hasn't really been tested this year, Louisville's starting five are not strangers to stiff competition," Spalding said. "Louisville played a daunting schedule last year, and shouldn't be overwhelmed by the moment. I think Louisville will be ready and a lot of that will have to do with [head coach] Chris Mack's approach. Mack knows his team hasn't earned their ranking, and I'm sure he is telling them that they have a chance to do just that against Michigan."