No. 22/22 Louisville Hosts No. 3 South Carolina in ACC/SEC Challenge

Thursday, December 4

LOUISVILLE, KY

7 PM

University of Louisville

#3 South Carolina

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Photo by: Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics

No. 22/22 Louisville Hosts No. 3 South Carolina in ACC/SEC Challenge

December 03, 2025 | Women's Basketball

Game Notes (PDF)Walz Presser

This is the second Top-5 and Top-20 opponent the Cardinals have faced this season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The No. 22/21 Louisville women's basketball team (7-2, 1-0 ACC) is gearing up for another top opponent as they host No. 3 South Carolina (7-1, 0-0 SEC) on Thursday, December 4 at the KFC Yum! Center in the ACC/SEC Challenge. It is the second Top-5 opponent and third Top-20 opponent the Cardinals have faced through 10 games this season.

Thursday's game will be a Stripe Out and fans will have an assigned color based on what section their seats are in. Fans sitting in odd sections are encouraged to wear black and fans sitting in even sections are encouraged to wear white. All stripe out information can be located here.

The Cardinals are coming off a sweep of the Louisville MTE this past weekend. They had wins over Eastern Illinois (91-38), ETSU (88-50) and Bellarmine (100-37) where both the offense and defense shined in the wins. On the offensive side, the Cards scored 88 points or more in all three games and the first time they scored 100 points this season. On the defensive side, they have limited opponents to 50 points or less in all three games. The Cards have won 56-straight games when they have limited opponents to 59 points or less dating back to 2021.

In the win over Bellarmine, the Cards hauled in a season-high 58 rebounds. It was the most rebounds in a single game since November 29, 2020, when they had 58 against Eastern Kentucky. The Cards dished out a season-high 26 assists against the Knights, the most in a single game since December 4, 2020, when they had 26 against DePaul.

Louisville has had a knack for closing games out this season as the fourth quarter has been their most efficient this year. Louisville has outscored opponents 187-108 in the fourth quarter, the most points scored in a quarter and the fewest allowed in a quarter this season for the Cards. They have not been outscored in the fourth quarter all season and are shooting 67-for-133 (50.4%) from the floor in the final quarter. Defensively, the Cards are limiting opponents to 41-for-124 (33.1%) shooting from the field in the fourth quarter.

PROMOTIONS
Stripe Out | The Stripe Out makes its Women's Basketball debut for the Cards' ACC/SEC Challenge matchup with the Gamecocks! Click here for more details.

Date: Thursday, December 4
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Site: Louisville, Ky. | KFC Yum! Center (22,090)
TV: ESPN (Mike Monaco, play-by-play; Andraya Carter, analyst)
Radio: 93.9-FM The Ville (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Cortnee Walton, analyst)
Series History: Louisville trails 4-18 (1-8 home, 2-7 away, 1-3 neutral)
Last Meeting: L, 59-72 (April 1, 2022 at Minneapolis, Minn.)

ABOUT THE GAMECOCKS
South Carolina comes into the ACC/SEC Challenge with a 7-1 overall record this season and are ranked No. 3 in both polls this week. The Gamecocks have wins over Duke, Queens, Winthrop, No. 8 Southern Cal, Clemson, Bowling Green and Grand Canyon. Their only loss on the season was to No. 4 Texas this past Thursday. South Carolina has some of the best marks on both sides of the ball this season as they rank fourth nationally with 7.6 blocks per game and are fourth in field goal percentage (53.7%). The Gamecocks are seventh with a 1.68 assist/turnover ratio and are ninth in scoring offense (89.5).

Series History - This will be the 23rd meeting all-time between the two schools and the Cardinals trail the all-time series 18-4. This is the first meeting between the two teams since the 2022 Final Four in Minneapolis when they squared off in the semifinal round. Thursday's matchup will be the first on campus meeting for the two schools since 1991 when they faced off in Cardinal Arena. Their previous three meetings have all been at neutral venues.

Last Meeting (April 1, 2022) - Emily Engstler had 18 points, while Kianna Smith and Olivia Cochran chipped in 14 each, as University of Louisville women's basketball consistently fought back but came up short 72-59 to top overall seed South Carolina on Friday night at the Target Center. Engstler fouled out midway through the fourth quarter and had a team-high 18 points on 8-17 shooting, while adding nine rebounds and four steals. She had 10 points and seven rebounds at the end of the first half. Smith had 14 points and consistently hit tough shots to keep the Cardinals in the game, while Cochran finished with 14 points on 6-11 shooting, while adding four rebounds and three steals.

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