No. 3 Louisville Opens ACC Tournament on Friday

Friday, March 8

GREENSBORO, N.C.

6 p.m. ET

University of Louisville

No. 7 Clemson

March 07, 2019 | Women's Basketball

Live Stats Tickets Game Notes

The 2-seed Cardinals will face either 7-seed Clemson or 10-seed Virginia Tech on Friday at 6 p.m. ET.

By: Nick Evans

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After claiming its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference championship, No. 3 Louisville (27-2, 14-2) opens ACC Tournament play as the 2-seed on Friday night at 6 p.m. ET against either 7-seed Clemson (18-11, 9-7) or 10-seed Virginia Tech (20-10, 6-10).

Virginia Tech opened the tournament with an 85-63 win over Wake Forest on Wednesday afternoon. The Hokies and Tigers will now square off on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET.

With the 67-40 win at Pitt, the Cardinals concluded ACC play with a 14-2 record to clinch the regular season conference crown. It marked the first time in program history that they have won back-to-back regular season titles.

UofL now seeks to sweep regular season and tournament titles in consecutive seasons. Last year they swept titles for the first time since they swept the Metro in 1984. Those two seasons are the only times in program history where they have won both. They have won seven regular season titles (1984, 1992, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2018, 2019) and six conference tournament titles, the first five in the Metro (1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1993, 2018).

Last season's ACC Tournament title marked the first conference tournament title under head coach Jeff Walz. Since his first season in 2007-08, the Cardinals boast an 18-10 record (.643) and have reached four championship games (2008, 2009, 2014, 2018). UofL is 9-6 in the Big East, 2-1 in the AAC, and 7-3 in the ACC in that span.

Arica Carter, Asia Durr and Sam Fuehring will go down as one of the most accomplished senior classes in program history. They are off to a 27-2 start this season and are 63-5 in the last two seasons combined. Last season, they helped the Cardinals reach the program's third Final Four and put together a program-best 36-3 record.

They are 118-21 (.849) overall in the last four years, which is tied for the most wins by a class ever and are assured to finish their careers with the fewest losses and the best winning percentage in program history. Last season, Myisha Hines-Allen wrapped her career with a 118-26 (.819) record, becoming the winningest player in program history.

Nine players have scored for the Cardinals in the last three games. Overall, nine players have scored in 13 games this season. Seven players are averaging more than 7.3 points and more than 19.4 minutes per game. Seven different players have scored 15-plus points in a game.

Louisville won 76-44 at Clemson on Feb. 2. After falling behind 4-0, they used an 18-0 run to pull ahead 18-4 and finished the first quarter with 20-10 lead. They then used a 32-6 run that began late in the second quarter and stretched into the final period. They outscored the Tigers 17-5 in the third and 24-12 in the fourth for a 41-17 second half advantage. Jazmine Jones led the Cardinals with 17 points as she went 3-for-3 from 3-point range.

The Cardinals won 72-63 at Virginia Tech on Feb. 10. They used a 26-12 second quarter to help build a 20-point lead before hanging on to a nine-point win. Durr and Fuehring combined for 55 of Louisville's 72 points in the win.

Date: Friday, March 8
Time: 6 p.m. ET
Site: Greensboro Coliseum, Greensboro, N.C. (23,500)
Radio: WKRD-790, Nick Curran, play-by-play; Adrienne Johnson, analyst
Video: ACCNE, Tom Werne, play-by-play; Debbie Antonelli, analyst, Kelley Deyo, sideline
UofL National Ranking: 3rd Associated Press, 3rd USA Today

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.