Syracuse beat its third Top 10 opponent of the season on Wednesday night against Duke. On Sunday at 2 p.m., the Orange (17-12, 9-7 Atlantic Coast) will look for another when visiting No. 7 Louisville (22-6, 10-5) at the KFC Yum! Center. SU still remains on the NCAA Tournament bubble and another big win would boost its postseason hopes.

Here’s what you need to know before Sunday’s matchup.

All-time series: Louisville leads, 17-8.

Last time they played: Louisville visited the Carrier Dome on Feb. 13 and handed Syracuse a 76-72 overtime loss. The Orange trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, but battled back and the two teams traded punches in the final 14 minutes of regulation. In overtime, SU took an early three-point lead, but Louisville tied it up at 63 and then went on an 8-0 run. Still, Syracuse never gave up and came within two Tyler Roberson free throws from tying the game with three seconds left. Roberson missed both, though, and the Orange went down. Andrew White scored 22, but went 2-of-14 from behind the arc.

The Louisville report: The Cardinals enter Sunday’s matchup coming off an 11-point loss at North Carolina. UofL ranks 24th nationwide in adjusted offensive efficiency and fifth in adjusted defensive efficiency, per Kenpom.com. Prior to the UNC loss, Louisville beat Miami by five, Syracuse by four in overtime and Virginia Tech by four. As good as the Cardinals have been, they haven’t soundly beaten a team since a 23-point win over Boston College on Feb. 4. On the flip side, one could argue that the Cards are navigating the ACC schedule by winning 10 of its last 13 games. Point guard Quentin Snider has returned from injury and is playing at a high level. Forward Jaylen Johnson ranks 28th in the country in offensive rebounding percentage, per Kenpom, and guard Donovan Mitchell has scored in double digits in 14 of the last 15 games.

How Syracuse beats Louisville: The Orange is a different team when its guards drive to the basket. In wins over Virginia and Duke and other games throughout the season, SU has relied on Tyus Battle and John Gillon to get to the basket to open up space for shooters like Tyler Lydon and Andrew White. When Battle, who is now back to full strength, and Gillon force the defense to shift, Syracuse becomes a much more dangerous team. That’s what will need to happen against a feisty matchup zone team like the Cardinals. Otherwise, Louisville can force SU into bad shots and capitalize on the Orange’s stagnant offense.

Stat to know: 36.2 percent — Louisville collects an offensive rebound on 36.2 percent of available rebounds, according to Kenpom. That ranks 16th in the country. Against Syracuse earlier this season, the Cardinals rebounded 16 of their 37 missed shots and scored 20 second-chance points.

Player to watch: Anas Mahmoud, forward, No. 14

Mahmoud has started just 12 games this year, but according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino hinted he might move Mahmoud into the starting lineup against the Orange. Mahmoud led UofL with eight rebounds in the Feb. 13 matchup and ranks second in the ACC with 2.2 blocks per game. The 7-foot junior provides the necessary length to counteract Syracuse, which ranks as the 11th tallest team in the country, per Kenpom. He also went 4-of-5 from the field against UNC on Wednesday, one of the lone bright spots in a game Louisville had a 44.3 field-goal percentage.

Published on February 25, 2017 at 2:57 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds