Men's Basketball Opens Season Against George Mason on Sunday

GAME 1
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,000) (115-15 in 8th year)
Television: Regional Sports Networks (FOX Sports South in Louisville) Tom Werme, play-by-play; Mike Gminski, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 84, XM 84, Internet 84)
Series History: UofL leads 3-0 (2-0 in Louisville, 1-0 in Fairfax)
Last Meeting: UofL 132, George Mason 87 (Jan. 4, 1994 at Freedom Hall)
UofL National Ranking: 16th USA Today, 16th Associated Press
Officials: James Luckie, John Gaffney, Anthony Burris
Next UofL Game: Nov. 17 vs. Omaha, KFC Yum! Center, 7 p.m. ET (ACC Network Extra - available to authenticated subscribers of ESPN on the Watch ESPN app)

Louisville will open its 2017-18 season and play its first game under interim head coach David Padgett as the Cardinals face the George Mason Patriots on Sunday.

The Cards beat Bellarmine 72-57 in their second exhibition on Nov. 7 as Deng Adel totaled 21 points and seven rebounds. In 2016-17, UofL posted a 25-9 record, tied for second in the ultra-competitive ACC and finished 10th in the final Associated Press poll.

Last season, George Mason posted a 20-14 record, was among the top-20 most improved teams in the nation and participated in the postseason College Basketball Invitational (CBI). GMU also earned its first Atlantic-10 Tournament win in school history and a program-record nine A-10 victories last season. The Patriots will open their season with a home game against Lafayette on Nov. 10 prior to playing the Cardinals.

Junior guard Otis Livingston, one of three returning starters for George Mason, was the second-leading scorer (14.3 ppg, 45 three-pointers) a year ago. George Mason was ninth in the nation last year in rebound margin (+7.9). George Mason is No. 139 in the Sagarin Ratings and No. 169 by Ken Pomeroy
entering the season.

Louisville has won each of its three previous meetings with George Mason, including a 132-87 victory on Jan. 4, 1994 in the last matchup. It was the most points ever scored by a Louisville team. Dwayne Morton poured in a game-high 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Cardinals while Clifford Rozier added 16 points and 18 rebounds.

CARDINAL NOTES

George Mason Ties -- Former Cardinal Luke Hancock, the 2013 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player, played two seasons with George Mason before transferring to Louisville. He was on the Patriots' last NCAA Tournament team when he scored 18 points, including a three-pointer with 21 seconds remaining, as George Mason beat Villanova 61-57 in the 2011 East Region Second Round played in Cleveland.

Season Openers -- UofL has won its last 13 straight season openers and 22 of its last 24. The Cardinals have won their last 16 consecutive home openers. The Cards have posted a 70-33 record in all-time season openers (47-13 home, 10-15 away, 13-5 neutral). Sunday's game against George Mason will the 10th time in the last 12 seasons that the Cardinals have opened their season at home. This game is the fifth-earliest season opener ever for the Cardinals. UofL beat Evansville 78-47 in the KFC Yum! Center
in last season's opener on Nov. 11, 2016.

Men's Basketball Opens Season Against George Mason on Sunday

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Players Mentioned

Deng Adel

University of Louisville Athletics