Cards Face Prairie View A&M in Third Game in Five Days

Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,090) (163-26 in 11th year)
Television: Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports South in Louisville) - Eric Collins, play-by-play; Brian Oliver, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM; joined in progress on WHAS 840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (XM channel 389, Internet 979)
Series History: UofL leads 2-0 (2-0 in Louisville)
Last Meeting: UofL 90, Prairie View A&M 65 (Dec. 3, 2005 at Freedom Hall)
UofL National Ranking: unranked; receiving votes in USA Today & Associated Press polls. UofL is No. 21 in the early Sagarin Ratings and No. 25 by KenPom through Nov. 27.
Next UofL Game: Dec. 1 vs. Western Kentucky, KFC Yum! Center, 6:05 p.m. ET (ACC Network)

Louisville plays its third game in five days and third straight at home in the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals face the Prairie View A&M Panthers on Sunday.

Louisville (2-0) built an 11-point second half lead and hung on to win 71-70 over Seton Hall in the Cardinals' second game of the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic. Carlik Jones led UofL with a double-double performance of 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. His 11 rebounds were the most for a Louisville guard since Terry Rozier pulled down 14 vs. NC State in the 2015 NCAA East Region semifinals (3-27-15). Last season at Radford, Jones was the only player in the nation to average at least 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, and was one of just 16 players in Division I men's basketball to do so since 1996-97.

Freshman JJ Traynor made a follow basket, grabbed a key rebound and made two free throws in the final 19 seconds after UofL trailed by one against Seton Hall. It followed an 11 point effort on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the field in his collegiate debut vs. Evansville.

Graduate transfer guard Carlik Jones filled up the box score in his debut with the Cardinals against Evansville, producing team highs of 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists on Nov. 25. His scoring total is tied for the fifth-most in program history in a Louisville debut.

The preseason All-America selection followed that effort with a double-double against Seton Hall with 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. His 11 rebounds were the most for a Louisville guard since Terry Rozier pulled down 14 vs. NC State in the 2015 NCAA East Region semifinals (3-27-15). Last season at Radford, Jones was the only player in the nation to average at least 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, and was one of just 16 players in Division I men's basketball to do so since 1996-97.

Prairie View has split its first two games played in Louisville, falling 71-66 to Little Rock on Nov. 25 before beating Evansville 64-61 on Nov. 27. The Panthers, who posted a 19-13 record in 2019-20 and won the Southwest Athletic Conference Championship, is picked to finish third in the SWAC this season behind Texas Southern and Southern.

Louisville has won its only two previous meetings against Prairie View A&M. In the last meeting, the Cardinals won 90-65 in the first game of the Colonial Classic on Dec. 3, 2005 in Louisville's Freedom Hall as Juan Palacios scored 19 points to lead the Cards. UofL prevailed 100-76 on Dec. 15, 1990 when Everick Sullivan scorer 19 points to lead six Cardinals in double figures.

Notes

Samuell Williamson suffered a toe injury in the second half against Seton Hall and did not return in the game. He had produced career-best totals of 17 points and five assists, while matching his career high with six rebounds vs. Evansville in his previous game. Williamson is the fourth key Cardinal player that is out with an injury, joining Malik Williams (foot), Charles Minlend (knee) and Josh Nickelberry (knee). The Cardinals are down to eight scholarship players, seven of them freshmen or sophomores.

Louisville has won 57 straight home games in the month of November spanning the last 29 years, including a 44-0 record in the KFC Yum! Center.

Quinn Slazinski's (10.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg) 20 points and 11 rebounds in two games are more than he totaled in 15 games as a freshman last year (15 points, 10 rebounds in 2019-20).

Louisville has held its first two opponents below 34 percent shooting from the field (Evansville .298, Seton Hall .333). Last season, the Cardinals were 13th in the nation in field goals percentage defense (.389).

Louisville has won 83 of its last 87 non-conference games at home in the KFC Yum! Center, spanning the last 11 seasons.

Louisville is averaging 44 points in the paint in the first two games, 59 percent of its scoring.

Louisville lost the rebounding battle 43-41 vs. Seton Hall against an experienced and tall front line. UofL was dominant on the glass vs. Evansville with a 46-18 board edge, the largest rebounding advantage for the Cardinals since outrebounding Grand Canyon by 35 (55-20) on Dec. 5, 2015.

After redshirting last season as a freshman, Jae'Lyn Withers is averaging 9.5 points and 5.5 rebounds as the Cardinals' starting center. Of his career-best 11 points and six rebounds against Seton Hall, seven points and five rebounds came in the second half.

Cards Face Prairie View A&M in Third Game in Five Days

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Players Mentioned

Carlik Jones

Charles Minlend

Josh Nickelberry

Quinn Slazinski

JJ Traynor

Malik Williams

Samuell Williamson

Jae'Lyn Withers

University of Louisville Athletics