Cards Face Western Kentucky in Fourth Game in Seven Days

Game Facts
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,090) (165-26 in 11th year)
Television: ACC Network - Mike Couzens, play-by-play; Jimmy Dykes, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (XM channel 380, Internet 970)
Series History: UofL leads 41-39 (28-18 in Louisville, 9-16 in Bowling Green, 4-5 neutral)
Last Meeting: UofL 71, Western Kentucky 54 (Nov. 29, 2019 at Nashville, Tenn.)
UofL National Ranking: unranked; receiving votes in USA Today & Associated Press polls
Next UofL Game: Dec. 4 vs. UNC Greensboro, KFC Yum! Center, 2:05 p.m. ET (ACCN)

Louisville plays its fourth game in seven days to start the season as the Cardinals face intrastate foe Western Kentucky on Tuesday in KFC Yum! Center.

Louisville won its third straight in defeating Prairie View A&M 86-64 on Sunday as the Cardinals shot 60.9 percent from the field (all 16 layups). Redshirt freshman Jae'Lyn Withers totaled career-highs of 20 points and nine rebounds, while David Johnson matched his career scoring high of 19 points with six assists and two blocked shots.

Western Kentucky won its first two games 93-87 over Northern Iowa on Nov. 25 and 75-69 over Memphis on Nov. 26 before falling 70-64 to No. 15 West Virginia on Nov. 27 in the Crossover Classic championship game. The Hilltoppers led by 10 in the second half against WVU.

The preseason favorite to win the Conference USA title, Western Kentucky posted a 20-14 record last season. Senior guard Taveion Hollingsworth (19.0 ppg) and junior center Charles Bassey (15.7 ppg, 10.0 rpg.) were both named to the C-USA preseason all conference team.

Louisville has a 41-39 edge in the series which dates back to 1926, winning the last eight matchups. Louisville won last year's meeting 71-54 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. on Nov. 29, 2019 as Jordan Nwora scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Cardinals. UofL Coach Chris Mack won his only other previous time facing Western Kentucky when his Xavier team prevailed 90-64 on Dec. 5, 2015.

Western Kentucky has been a member since 2014 of Conference USA, a league in which the Cardinals were charter members and participated in for 10 years (1995-2005). UofL has a collective 139-80 series record against current members of C-USA, having previously faced 10 of its 14 members. Louisville and WKU were charter members of the Ohio Valley Conference in 1948. The Cardinals remained in the OVC one season.

Notes

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

Carlik Jones has led the Cardinals in scoring, rebounding and assists in two of the first three games. He produced a double-double against Seton Hall with 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. 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 the 1996-97 season.

Quinn Slazinski's (9.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg) 27 points and 17 rebounds in three games are nearly twice what he totaled in 15 games as a freshman last year (15 points, 10 rebounds in 2019-20).

Louisville has held its first three opponents below 40 percent shooting from the field (Evansville .298, Seton Hall .333, Prairie View .393). Last season, the Cardinals were 13th in the nation in field goals percentage defense (.389).

With its 86-64 victory over Prairie View A&M, UofL won its 156th consecutive game when scoring at least 185 points in regulation (since 1997).

UofL is No. 16 in the early Sagarin Ratings and No. 26 by KenPom through Nov. 29.

Cards Face Western Kentucky in Fourth Game in Seven Days

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Players Mentioned

David Johnson

Carlik Jones

Jordan Nwora

Quinn Slazinski

Jae'Lyn Withers

University of Louisville Athletics