Feb 17, 2016 06:00 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals (18) will be glad to play at home Wednesday night coming off back-to-back road losses and hosting the red-hot Syracuse Orange.

With less than a month to go before their season comes to an end, Louisville is just two games off the ACC lead with games scheduled against Duke, Miami, and Virginia. But Syracuse is coming in with five straight wins and eight victories in their last nine games.

Tipoff: 7 p.m. ET in Louisville, Ken.

Line: Louisville -9

TV: ESPN

Listen live online: TuneIn Radio

Watch live online: WatchESPN

Syracuse stumbled out of the gate with four straight losses to open its ACC schedule, but has just its road loss to Virginia as a blemish since. Beating Louisville on the road would not only help Syracuse climb the ACC standings, but would give them a huge boost as the NCAA Tournament creeps closer.

On a conference call with reporters, Pitino admitted he has been having trouble rallying his players with the season winding down and the postseason out of reach, Syracuse.com reported.

"The toughest thing we're going through right now is, I'm trying to get them to be disappointed in a loss and gracious in victory," he said. "The guys played really hard the last two games, but you can see it weighing on them a little bit emotionally that they're not going to be in the tournament. So we're just trying to keep our perspective, keep working hard."

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit