No. 9 Cardinals Open Season Against Western Kentucky

Tuesday, November 5

LOUISVILLE, KY

7 p.m.

University of Louisville

WESTERN KENTUCKY

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November 04, 2019 | Women's Basketball

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The Cardinals and Hilltoppers will tip off at 7 p.m. E.T. on Tuesday.

By: Nick Evans

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville women's basketball opens the 2019-20 campaign by hosting Western Kentucky on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

Last week, the Cardinals were picked ninth in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls. They were picked first in the preseason Atlantic Coast Conference poll, while junior Dana Evans and sophomore Elizabeth Balogun were named to the preseason All-ACC team.

Evans, the 2018-19 ACC Sixth Player of the Year, is the leading returning scorer for the Cardinals. A season ago, she averaged 10.4 points per game and ranked eighth in the ACC with 4.0 assists per game. She improved her perimeter shooting dramatically, knocking down 50 3-pointers and shooting 39 percent from beyond the arc.

Evans will be joined by a quartet of seniors that will all play quality minutes with Yacine Diop, Bionca Dunham, Jazmine Jones and Kylee Shook.

Louisville is coming off of back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time in program history, going a combined 68-7 over the last two seasons, the best two-year stretch in program history. They have finished the last two seasons with 30-plus wins, an ACC regular season championship and as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Head coach Jeff Walz (331-100) is the winningest coach in program history; directing the Cards to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, including nine Sweet 16's, five Elite Eight's, three trips to the Final Four (2009, 2013, 2018) and two appearances in the national title game (2009, 2013).

Louisville opens the season on Nov. 5, which marks the earliest start to the season in program history. The previous earliest start was Nov. 6 last season at Western Kentucky.

ABOUT THE HILLTOPPERS

Last season, Western Kentucky went 20-15 overall and 11-5 in Conference USA play. They lost 64-57 to Rice in the C-USA Tournament semifinals and then advanced to the WNIT Round of 16 with wins at Miami (OH), W, 67-63, and Morehead State, W, 68-65, before their season ended at Ohio, L, 68-60. Second-year head coach Greg Collins led the Lady Toppers to their seventh straight 20-win season last year, which is tied for the longest in program history. WKU will rely on veteran experience with Dee Givens and Raneem Elgedawy back. Overall, they return 86 percent of their offensive production and 81 percent of their rebounding. The top five scorers will be back, including Givens, Elgedaway, Alexis Brewer, Meral Abdelgawad, and Whitney Creech. Givens was named All- C-USA First Team after becoming the 40th member of WKU's 1,000 point club, scoring 617 total points on the year. She became the only Lady Topper in program history to post a 45-40-85 shooting line for an entire season (45.5 from the field, 40.1 from three-point range and 85.9 from the free throw line). Her 79 3-pointers last season were the third most in program history. Elgedawy was an All- C-USA Second Team pick after putting up six double-doubles.

GAME FACTS
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 5
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Site: KFC Yum! Center,
Louisville, Ky. (22,000)
TV: ACCNX, Don Russell, play-by-play; Sara White, analyst
Radio: 93.1 FM (WTFX), Nick Curran, play-by-play; Adrienne Johnson, analyst
Last Meeting: W, 102-80 (Nov. 6, 2018 at WKU)
Series History: 17-20 (9-5 home, 7-14 away, 1-1 neutral)
UofL National Ranking: 9th Associated Press, 9th USA Today
Next UofL Game: Friday, Nov. 9 vs. Murray State - 7 p.m. ET

For the latest on Louisville women's basketball, visit GoCards.com, follow the team's Twitter account at @UofLWBB or on Facebook at facebook.com/UofLWBB.