UMKC Continues Road Swing With Trip To No. 5 Louisville Saturday

The 'Roos continue a two-game road swing with its first-ever trip to Louisville on Saturday. The contest will be Kansas City's second this season against a top-five team, and second against a team that was in the 2012 Final Four (also having faced Ohio State). It also will not be the first time UMKC has faced a Big East unit. Against current Big East teams, the 'Roos are 1-3, dropping a contest earlier this year to Seton Hall (the win was against Cincinnati, 1988). Against ranked teams, Kansas City is 0-15 all-time. It is the first time in school history that Kansas City has faced two top-five teams in the same season (Ohio State was No. 3), and only the third time that it has faced two top-25 teams in the same year. All three occasions have come under Matt Brown.
Louisville is ranked No. 5 in the nation and boasts a 7-1 overall mark. The Cardinals only loss was to No. 2 Duke. Last time out, they won 80-38 at College of Charleston.
They are led by guard Russ Smith, who is averaging 19.0 points per game, along with 25 steals. Also in the backcourt is Peyton Siva, who is scoring 11.8 points a game to go with 45 assists and 23 steals. One of the deepest teams in the country, UL has nine players that average at least 15 minutes a game, and seven players that average 5+ points a game.
As a team the Cardinals are out-scoring opponents by 20.4 points per contest, and hold them to only 53.9 ppg. They force 21.9 turnovers per game (+8.9), and out-rebound the opposition by 8.3 per outing.
Against the University of North Dakota the 'Roos received a strong effort from their starters. All five starters scored in double figures on Wednesday (after having three double-figure scorers off the bench on Saturday against Western Illinois). The victory was the first road win for UMKC since December 10, 2011 vs. Southeast Missouri State.
UMKC is getting an outstanding effort from practically the whole roster. Thomas Staton (who has been the 'Roos hottest player, averaging 12.2 points per game in his last five games) and Nelson Kirksey earned their first starts of the season on Wednesday, with both scoring in double figures at 14 and 10, respectively. Nate Rogers led all scorers with a career-best 16 points on a career-best four threes made. Junior center Fred Chatmon had career-bests across the board in the last three games. He scored 20 points and had four blocks against IUPUI, then tallied 13 rebounds vs. North Dakota. His double-double against UND was the first for UMKC since January 19 of last season (Trinity Hall), and only the second overall among players on the current roster.
This season has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for the 'Roos. The team has followed every loss this season with a win, and every win with a loss. Coach Matt Brown says that he is looking to get the team more consistent on the positive end of game outcomes but it is going to be an uphill climb versus Louisville.
A UMKC upset would mean the 'Roos have defeated a ranked team for the first time in school history and have defeated a team from a BCS conference for the first time since taking out Kansas State on December 30, 2003 by a 93-52 score. It would also be the first time they have won back-to-back road games since December 5 and 12 of 2009.
Kansas City will come home for a three-game stand, starting with a Sunday home game against Appalachian State at Swinney Recreation Center at 1:05 p.m.