Louisville Cardinals (2-0) vs. Kentucky Wildcats (2-0)
Battle of the Bluegrass
Game Time: 8 p.m.
Location: KFC Yum Center: Louisville, Ky.
Television: ESPN
Announcers: Dan Shulman (play-by-play) and Jay Bilas (analysis)
Officials: TBA
Favorite: Louisville by 6.5
Series: Kentucky leads,
40-17
Last Meeting: Kentucky won 93-85 on Dec. 14, 2024 in Lexington
Series History:
Projected Starting Lineups:
Louisville
- G Mikel Brown Jr. (6-5, 190, Fr.)
- G Isaac McKneely (6-4, 195, Sr.)
- G Ryan Conwell (6-4, 215, Sr.)
- G/F J’Vonne Hadley (6-7, 210, 6th)
- F/C Sananda Fru (6-11, 245, Jr.)
Kentucky
- G Otega Oweh (6-4, 220, Sr.)
- G Denzel Aberdeen (6-5, 195, Sr.)
- G Collin Chandler (6-5, 205, So.)
- F Brandon Garrison (6-10, 245, Jr.)
- F Mo Dioubate (6-7, 220, Jr.)
Statistics:
Kentucky’s Season to Date:
Relevant Videos:
About Kentucky:
After a Sweet 16 campaign in year one, expectations have been raised a notch in year two for Mark Pope. The former Kentucky standout turned coach is in charge of the nation’s most expensive roster, and he comes to Louisville as KenPom’s No. 1 ranked team.
Like U of L, Kentucky has yet to face a serious in-season challenge. The Wildcats had some iffy moments early on before running away from Nicholls (77-51) and then pulverized Valparaiso, 107-59.
Depth appears to be perhaps the biggest asset for this year’s Kentucky team, which currently has 10 players averaging at least 17.0 minutes of playing time per contest. While that figures to change at least a little bit as the competition rises, UK will absolutely come at Louisville in waves Tuesday night.
Headlining the charge is preseason SEC Player of the Year Otega Oweh, who scored 17 points in the win over the Cards last season. The 6’4 guard can do a little bit of everything, and was a Second Team All-SEC selection a year ago when he averaged 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists, shooting 49.2 percent overall and 35.5 percent from three. While he can knock down the outside shot at a decent enough clip, he is most dangerous getting downhill and making plays inside the arc. Oweh is also one of the best defenders in the country, and will likely be tasked with keeping Louisville’s backcourt (particularly Ryan Conwell) at bay.
UK’s new point guard is a familiar face for Cardinal fans. Jaland Lowe comes over from Pittsburgh where he faced U of L twice in each of the past two seasons. Few players in college basketball are as quick and shifty with the ball in their hands as Lowe, but he struggled with decision making and shot selection at times last season. Kentucky fans are hoping that having more weapons around him will improve Lowe’s shooting percentages and knock down his turnover totals from the last two seasons. His matchup with Louisville freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. will be one of the focal points of the evening.
Kentucky’s leading scorer so far this season is sophomore guard Collin Chandler (14.5 ppg), who is a natural off-the-ball guard but can also handle the duties at the point. In addition to leading the Cats in scoring and assists so far this season, Chandler has also been UK’s top outside threat. He has connected on 8 of the 15 shots he’s attempted from beyond the arc. It goes without saying that Louisville can’t afford to lose him either in transition or in halfcourt situations.
Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen is a rock solid guard who played a big role in the Gators’ national title run last season. He doesn’t do anything off-the-charts well, but does everything well enough. He is another guy that has the ability to go nuts from deep and turn the game on its head if Louisville isn’t locked in defensively.
Kentucky’s freshman duo of Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson have been both more involved and more productive than I figured they’d be coming into the season. Johnson might be the best pure shooter on the team, and Moreno is nearly averaging a double-double through two games. He’s aided on the inside by returnee Brandon Garrison and Alabama transfer Mouhamed Dioubate, who is precisely the type of physical power forward who gave Louisville fits down the stretch last season.
We could go on and on here, but you know the deal.
These guys have depth, they have athleticism, they have scoring. They’re really good … as you should be when you shell out $22 million for a college basketball roster.
Notable:
—Tuesday night’s contest will be the earliest in the season that the rivalry game between Louisville and Kentucky has ever been played.
—The only other time these two teams have met in November was a 78-70 Kentucky win on Nov. 27, 1993 in Lexington.
—Tuesday will be the first meeting between the schools with both teams ranked inside the AP Top 25 since 2019.
—Louisville is 10-14 all-time in home games against Kentucky.
—The team that has won the battle of the shooting percentages has won 15 of the last 17 games in this series.
—Both the Louisville and Kentucky coaching staffs will be wearing black ribbons on their chest in honor of the lives lost in the plane crash at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on November 4.
—Kentucky has held their first two opponents of a season to 59 points or fewer for the first time since 2014-15.
—Louisville is 98-89 all-time against members of the SEC.
—Favorites have failed to cover the spread in 11 of the last 16 meetings between these two teams.
—This will mark UK’s earliest true road game since Nov. 17, 2008 when the Cats played at North Carolina in the second game of the year.
—Kentucky is 14-0 under Mark Pope when holding opponents below 70 points.
—Louisville player Aly Khalifa played for Kentucky head coach Mark Pope two seasons ago at BYU.
—Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 0-2 in games against Kentucky. In addition to last season’s game, Kelsey’s Winthrop team lost inside Rupp Arena, 87-74, on Nov. 21, 2018.
—Kentucky head coach Mark Pope beat Louisville just once during his career as a player at UK. He scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds in an 88-86 loss to the Cards on Jan. 1, 1995. He is 1-0 against the Cardinals as a head coach.
—At 6.5 points, Louisville is the largest favorite its been in its series vs. Kentucky since it was a 7-point favorite in an 80-77 win on Dec. 29, 2012, and the fifth largest favorite it’s been since 1988. Louisville is 4-0 vs. Kentucky since 1988 when favored by more than 5 points.
—Since 1988, Louisville is 7-5 straight up and 3-9 against the spread when favored vs. Kentucky.
—Louisville is 117-1 all-time when scoring at least 100 points in a game, which they’ve done in both games so far this season.
—Louisville has a 260-84 record against non-conference opponents over the last 24 seasons (includes postseason).
—Louisville has a 190-27 record in home regular season non-conference games over the last 24 seasons. The Cardinals are 114-18 at home in regular season non-conference games over the last 15 seasons.
—Inside the KFC Yum Center, Louisville has a 110-18 record in non-conference games.
—After going 59-0 in November home games from 1991 to 2021, Louisville has lost at least one November home game in each of the last four seasons.
—Before 2021, Louisville’s last November home loss had come in 1972.
—Pat Kelsey is the reigning ACC Coach of the Year and is one of 10 active DI head coaches that have earned a Coach of the Year honor in three or more DI conferences.
—Two Louisville players — freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. and senior guard Ryan Conwell — were named First Team preseason All-ACC.
—There are 14 players returning to DI this season that have made at least 175 3-pointers with a career 3-point field goal percentage of 38% or more; Ryan Conwell and Isaac McKneely are two of those 14.
—Louisville is 29-0 under Pat Kelsey when leading a game with 5 minutes to play.
—Louisville is 14-0 over the past 10 seasons when limiting opponents to no more than one three-point field goal.
—Louisville is 117-0 all-time when scoring 100 or more points in non-overtime games.
—Louisville has won 165 consecutive games when holding an opponent under 50 points.
Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 84, Kentucky 83
