Louisville Cardinals vs. Oregon Ducks: Most Surprising Stats from Sweet 16 Clash

As expected, the top overall seed in the 2013 NCAA tournament, Louisville disposed of the Cinderella Oregon Ducks in the Sweet 16 on Friday night. But the game was not without its fair share of surprisingly statistics.

Although the scoreboard will show that the Cardinals won their 13th straight game, the box score tells a somewhat surprising tale about how Oregon was able to test Louisville like very few other teams have this season, especially over the past six weeks. 

Here we'll recap some of the most surprising stats from Friday's Sweet 16 matchup in Indianapolis.

Ducks Win Rebounding, Turnover and Assist Battle

It's rare that a team forces more turnovers than Louisville, but that's what happened on Friday night in Indianapolis, as Oregon won three big statistical battles only to lose the game. 

The Ducks finished plus-1 on the boards, plus-1 in the turnover battle and plus-2 in assists but minus-8 on the scoreboard. The biggest difference in Friday's game came at the foul line, where Louisville was plus-7, drawing 22 fouls and 26 free throws over the course of 40 minutes.

Still, it's crazy to think that 12th-seeded Oregon was able to top Louisville in all three of those categories.

After all, the Cardinals were a combined plus-12 on the glass, plus-19 in the turnover department and plus-17 in assists through their first two tournament games coming into Friday's Sweet 16 tilt.

Peyton Siva Scores Fewer Than Five Points for Eighth Time This Season

Louisville senior guard Peyton Siva is only averaging 9.7 points per game this season, but it's still shocking whenever he fails to reach the five-point mark in a game, especially a big one like Friday's against Oregon.

Siva played a season-low 19 minutes on Friday because of foul trouble, and finished with just four points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field. 

Friday's lackluster performance marked the eighth time this season that Siva has scored fewer than five points in a game. Luckily for Siva and the Cardinals, his fellow backcourt mate Russ Smith poured in 31 to make up for his off night.

Oregon Becomes First Team in Two Months to Outscore Louisville in Second Half

Prior to Friday's matchup with Oregon, Louisville had outscored 15 consecutive opponents in the second half, winning 14 of those games. 

But despite trailing by 14 points at halftime, the Ducks rallied in the second half, outscoring Louisville 38-32 to become the first team since Pitt on Jan. 28 to score more second-half points than the Cardinals. 

Oregon won't be content that it's headed home after three games, but the Pac-12 champions can at least take some pride in the fact that they were able to do what very few other teams in college basketball have been able to lately—push Louisville and only lose by single digits.

Coming into Friday, only two of Louisville's previous 12 opponents had come within single digits.

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