Louisville Fall to Kansas in Opening Exhibition

Friday, October 24

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:30 p.m.

University of Louisville

0-0,0-0ACC

#19 Kansas (EXH)

0-0,0-0Big 12

Kansas

Louisville

October 24, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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Ryan Conwell leads Cardinals with 26 points

By: Sara Miller

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 11-ranked University of Louisville men's basketball team fell to No. 19 Kansas 90-82 in its first exhibition game of the season.

"First of all, I want to say what a great atmosphere it was for a preseason game in October. Louisville versus Kansas in October doesn't happen very often. I thought the city responded, our students responded, and our fans responded. There was a great, great buzz in the arena. It was the first time that either team suited up against anyone other than themselves since June. That's what these early games and scrimmages are all about – finding things out about your team – the strengths and the weaknesses and things that need to be fixed. Playing a preseason game against a Division III team like we did last year, you don't get the answers that you need. We got some tonight and we now have a great teaching tool that I am excited to dive into right away.

Louisville used the starting lineup of Mikel Brown Jr., Isaac McKneely, Ryan Conwell, J'Vonne Hadley and Sananda Fru.

Kansas started the competition with nine unanswered points before the Cards broke their scoreless streak with a point from the charity stripe that sparked a 12-0 run.

After three ties and two lead changes, the Jayhawks began to pull away with a 13-2 run. Conwell slowed down the momentum of the opposition with six straight points for Louisville.

McKneely nailed a shot from deep to bring the Cards within 10, but a pair of 3's gave Kansas a 16-point advantage going into the half.

The Jayhawks were first to get on the board out of the break, but a layup and back-to-back 3's by Conwell and McKneely forced Kansas to burn its first timeout of the half less than two minutes in.
Louisville cut Kansas' lead down to single digits three times in the second half, but were unable to get over the hump, falling to the Jayhawks 90-82 on Friday night.

The Cards were led in scoring by Conwell who totaled 26 points on 7 of 21 shooting, adding on three rebounds and two assists. Hadley was perfect from the field, going 4-for-4 with two of his goals from deep for a total of 13 points.

Kansas was led by freshman Darryn Peterson who tallied 26 points, four rebounds and two assists in 25 minutes of action.

Louisville will turn their attention to Bucknell for its final exhibition game on Tuesday, Oct. 28. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 pm ET and the game will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.