Cards Open Basketball Season on Tuesday vs. Southern

Game Information
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Denny Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,090) (171-27 in 11th year)
Television: Regional Sports Networks, with a link to those carrying the game here.
In Louisville, it is available on Bally Sports South on AT&T U-Verse channel 1724, DIRECTV channel 646 and Spectrum channel 70.
Evan Lepler, play-by-play; Mike Gminski, analyst.
Radio: WKRD (790 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (XM channel 380, Internet 970)
Series History: UofL leads 1-0 (1-0 in Louisville)
Last Meeting: UofL 104, Southern 54 (Nov. 13, 2018 at KFC Yum! Center)
Next UofL Game: Nov. 12 vs. Furman, KFC Yum! Center, 7:02 p.m. ET (ACCN Extra)

Louisville opens its 108th season of collegiate basketball and 12th year at home in the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals face the Southern Jaguars on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET.

UofL prevailed 103-51 in its second exhibition game last Wednesday over NCAA Division II foe West Georgia. Dre Davis and Samuell Williamson scored 15 apiece to pace five players in double figures for UofL. Jarrod West contributed five points, five assists and four steals without a turnover. After committing 17 turnovers in its first exhibition contest, the Cardinals handed out 23 assists with only eight turnovers and collected eight steals with five blocked shots.

Against West Georgia in its second exhibition game, Louisville made 11-of-23 three-pointers (.478) with seven different players making a three. The Cardinals hit 10-of-23 threes in its first exhibition vs. Kentucky State. Louisville's top two three-point shooters from a year ago are gone (David Johnson 32 threes, Carlik Jones 18) from a team that averaged 5.35 three-pointers and made a high of eight in a game last year.

Southern, which posted an 8-11 record last season, is picked to finish fifth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in a preseason poll.

UofL was picked to finish sixth in the ACC in 2021-22 in a preseason media poll with Duke as the league favorite. Malik Williams was honored on the 12-person preseason All-ACC Team as a second team selection.

Louisville has won its last 17 straight season openers and 26 of its last 28. The Cardinals are 74-33 in all-time season openers.

Louisville has won its last 20 consecutive home openers. This is the sixth time in the last seven year the Cardinals have opened at home.

UofL Head Coach Chris Mack will serve a suspension for six games from Nov. 8 through Nov. 27. UofL assistant coach Mike Pegues (pronounced puh-GEESE) will serve as the Cardinals' acting head coach while Mack is out. Pegues is in his fourth season at UofL and his 10th with Mack, after working six seasons with him at Xavier (2012-18) as well.

Notes

Louisville has won 58 straight home games in the month of November spanning the last 29 years, including a 45-0 record in the KFC Yum! Center.
In the only previous meeting between the two schools, Jordan Nwora scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds in just 18 minutes off the bench to lead UofL to a 104-54 victory over Southern on Nov. 13, 2018 in the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals shot 58.2 percent from the field while limiting the Jaguars to 39.1 percent accuracy while holding a 37-22 rebounding advantage.
UofL has a 9-0 record against current members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, having previously faced five of its 12 current members (Jackson State 3-0, Prairie View A&M 3-0, Alcorn State 1-0, Southern 1-0, Texas Southern 1-0). In its last matchup against a SWAC team, Louisville beat Prairie View 86-64 last season on Nov. 29, 2020.
Southern coach Sean Woods, a former player at Kentucky (1988-92) and coach at Morehead State (2012-16), is in his fourth year at the school. As a player at Kentucky, Woods averaged 11.7 points and 5.3 assists in three games against Louisville, including totaling 20 points and four assists against the Cardinals in 1990.
Located in Baton Rouge, La., 762 miles from Louisville, Southern is the alma mater of current Alabama head basketball coach Avery Johnson, baseball hall of fame outfielder Lou Brock (Chicago Cubs 1961-64, St. Louis 1964-79), NFL Hall of Fame cornerback Mel Blount (Pittsburgh Steelers 1970-83), and two-time Olympic medalist hurdler Willie Davenport (gold 1968, bronze 1976).

University of Louisville Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Dre Davis

David Johnson

Carlik Jones

Jarrod West

Malik Williams

Samuell Williamson

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