Louisville Cardinals (0-0) vs. Kansas Jayhawks (0-0)
Exhibition Game One
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: KFC Yum Center: Louisville, Ky.
Television: ACC Network
Announcers: Dave O’Brien (play-by-play) and Seth Greenberg (analyst)
Favorite: No line
Series: Kansas leads, 6-5
Last Meeting:
Kansas won, 98-77, on Jan. 16, 1993 at Freedom Hall in Louisville
Series History:
Statistics (from 2024-25):
Relevant Videos:
About Kansas:
For a variety of reasons, today sort of feels like the start of a new era for Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks.
KU is coming off arguably its two most disappointing seasons of Self’s tenure. In both years, Kansas began the season as the No. 1 team in the country, and in both years its run in the NCAA Tournament ended before the first weekend was finished.
Preseason expectations are much lower this year for the Jayhawks, who begin their 2025-26 campaign ranked No. 19 in both the AP and coaches polls. Self’s roster makeup for this season is also markedly different. After fielding veteran squads headlined by the ultimate veteran, big man Hunter Dickinson, the last two seasons, Self will now lean on a superstar freshman to be the focal point of his squad.
There are many, including myself, who believe that 6’5 guard Darryn Peterson will be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Self has referred to Peterson as “the best freshman I’ve ever recruited” and stated that he will be asked to shoulder more of the scoring load at KU than any of the talented first years that have come before him. Her certainly appears to be capable of handling the task.
Peterson can handle primary ballahndling duties, he can play off the ball, he can score at all three levels (the three-point shooting isn’t elite, but it’s good enough), he can pass, he can create, he’s a capable defender and a freak athlete. With how much is going to be asked of him this season, don’t be surprised if Peterson ends the year as a First Team All-American who is one of the players on the short list for the Wooden Award.
The players expected to join Peterson in KU’s starting lineup are far more experienced.
Senior guard Melvin Council is a proven commodity who starred at the junior college level before putting up great numbers at both Wagner and St. Bonaventure. He averaged 14.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game as an all-conference performer for the Bonnies last season. He’s likely to be joined in the backcourt by Peterson and fellow senior transfer Jayden Dawson, who averaged 13.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game at Loyola-Chicago last season. Expect Dawson to be the most consistent outside threat on this team.
Sophomore guard Elmarko Jackson — a former top 20 recruit who missed most of last season because of injury — and reclassified freshman guard Kohl Rosario also figure to receive solid run in this game, with Rosario potentially starting. Jackson is exceptionally gifted, and if all goes according to plan for Kansas this season, should work his way into the starting lineup around the time conference play rolls around.
A familiar name in former Cardinal Tre White headlines the Jayhawk frontcourt. White wraps up his tour of power conference basketball after previous stops at USC, U of L and Illinois. After surviving Kenny Payne, White put up averages of 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game for a good Fighting Illini team last season.
In the middle, Sananda Fru and Aly Khalifa will be tested immediately by 6’10, 235-pound sophomore center Flory Bidunga. Bidunga is a load, and is precisely the type of big the Cardinals struggled with immensely down the stretch of last season. Pat Kelsey has claimed that this year’s team will be far more physical than last year’s. They’ll have an opportunity to prove it right out of the gate.
Notable:
—Louisville’s 39-game winning streak in exhibition play was snapped three years ago with a 57-47 loss to Lenoir-Rhyne. The exhibition loss was U of L’s first ever against a college opponent, and its first overall since Dec. 2, 2000 when Denny Crum’s final Cardinal team fell 87-86 in double overtime to the Global Sports All-Stars. The Cardinals also dropped an exhibition game to Kentucky Wesleyan the next season. Louisville is currently riding a three-game win streak in exhibition play.
—Friday night’s game will mark the first time that Louisville has ever played an exhibition game against a fellow Division-I program. This is the first season that such games have been permitted without an NCAA waiver. The Cardinals will play another D-I foe, Bucknell, next Tuesday in exhibition play.
—Louisville is coming off a debut season under head coach Pat Kelsey in which it improved from eight wins in 2023-24 to 25 wins in 2024-25, the largest turnaround in program history, improving by 19 wins. The Cards led the nation in win differential.
—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.
—Kansas is starting a season ranked in the preseason AP poll for the 34th consecutive year.
—Kansas is 96-12 all-time in exhibition play. The Jayhawks’ last exhibition loss came at Illinois in October of 2023.
—Kansas is 5-5 all-time in exhibition road games.
—Louisville is 27-0 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 115-0 all-time when scoring 100 or more points in non-overtime games.
—Louisville has won 164 consecutive games when holding an opponent under 50 points.
Go Cards.
