No. 21/19 Louisville hosts No. 20/18 Kentucky in Battle of the Bluegrass

Saturday, November 22

LOUISVILLE, KY

2 PM

University of Louisville

#20/#18 Kentucky

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The Cards huddle before the game against Morehead State at the KFC YUM Center on November 19.

Photo by: Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics

No. 21/19 Louisville hosts No. 20/18 Kentucky in Battle of the Bluegrass

November 21, 2025 | Women's Basketball

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The Cardinals have won four-straight games against Kentucky at the Yum! Center

By: Matt Paras

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The No. 21/19 Louisville women's basketball team (4-1, 1-0 ACC) team is set for the annual Battle of the Bluegrass this weekend. The No. 20/18 Kentucky Wildcats (6-0, 0-0 SEC) are coming to the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday, November 22. The Cardinals and Wildcats will square off at 2 p.m. ET and it will be broadcast on The CW.

The Cardinals are 3-0 this season at home after its most recent 96-49 win over Morehead State this past Wednesday. The Cards had their best offensive output of the season with a season-high 96 points and multiple players scored in double figures. The Cards had seven players in double figures, the most in a game since November 16, 2023, when they had eight against Bellarmine.

Anaya Hardy and Reagan Bender put together the best games of their career against the Eagles. Bender tied for the team lead with a career-best 13 points. Hardy had career-best 12 points and 13 rebounds for her first career double-double. Elif Istanbulluoglu tied a career high with 11 points.

Laura Ziegler scored in double figures and tied for the team lead with 13 points. It was her fourth game in double figures this season and the third time she has led the team in scoring. Tajianna Roberts also tied for the team lead with 13 points on Wednesday. It was her fourth-straight game scoring in double figures and the second time she has led the team in scoring.

Saturday's matchup will be the 10th time since Walz took over that both teams are ranked in the Top 20 for the rivalry game. It is the second-straight year that both teams are meeting and ranked in the Top 20 of the polls.

PROMOTIONS
Red Out | Show up and show out in red for the annual Battle of the Bluegrass.

Date: Saturday, Nov. 22
Time: 2 p.m. ET
Site: Louisville, Ky. | KFC Yum! Center (22,090)
TV: The CW (Tom Werme, play-by-play; Kelley Deyo, analyst)
Radio: 970-AM WGTK (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Cortnee Walton, analyst)
Series History: Louisville trails 24-35 (17-11 home, 6-21 away, 1-3 neutral)
Series History w/Walz: Louisville leads 10-7 (6-2 home, 4-5 away)
Last Meeting: L (OT), 61-71 (Nov. 16, 2024 at Lexington, Ky.)

ABOUT THE WILDCATS
Kentucky comes into the matchup with a 6-0 overall record and are ranked No. 20 in the AP poll and No. 18 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. They opened the season with a win over Morehead State (76-59) and are coming off a win over Purdue (76-35) this past Tuesday. The Wildcats are coming off a 2024-25 campaign where they went 23-8 overall and were 11-5 in SEC play. The Wildcats advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling at home to No. 5 seed Kansas State. This season they were picked to finish eighth in the SEC Preseason Poll and Clara Strack was named to the Preseason All-SEC Second Team. Kentucky leads the nation in a number of categories including blocks per game (10.0), field goal percentage defense (.269) and scoring defense (43.5).

Series History - This will be the 60th meeting in the Battle of the Bluegrass and Louisville trails the all-time series 24-35. This will be the 18th matchup between the two teams since Jeff Walz took over at Louisville and the Cardinals have a 10-7 advantage over the Wildcats during that time. Louisville has won the last seven of the last eight games against the Wildcats dating back to the 2015-16 season (The teams did not meet in the 2020-21 season). The Cardinals are 6-2 all-time against the Wildcats in matchups played in Louisville and have won four-straight games played at home against Kentucky.

Last Meeting (Nov. 16, 2024) - The No. 18 Louisville Cardinals (2-2) hit a driving layup with 26 seconds left to force overtime but ended up on the wrong end of a 71-61 defeat against No. 20/19 Kentucky (4-0) Saturday night at Memorial Coliseum. Merissah Russell's layup ended a three-minute scoreless drought and earned the Cards another five minutes. In overtime, the Cards were unable to hit a shot from the field and the Wildcats put the game away. The Cards were led by two freshmen in Imari Berry and Tajianna Roberts as they had 14 points and 12 points respectively. Roberts has scored in double figures in all four games this season and Berry has scored double digits in back-to-back games. Ja'Leah Williams was steady across the board with nine points, team-high six assists and five rebounds.

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