No. 10/11 Cardinals Host Pitt on Sunday

Sunday, January 11

LOUISVILLE, KY

2 PM

University of Louisville

Pitt

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January 10, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Game Notes (PDF)

Louisville is 10-2 at home and 2-0 at home in ACC play

By: Matt Paras

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The No. 10/11 Louisville women's basketball team (15-3, 5-0 ACC) is back at home for a Sunday matinee matchup to close out the weekend. The Cardinals welcome the Pitt Panthers (8-9, 1-3 ACC) to the KFC Yum! Center for the annual Kids Day on Sunday, January 11. The Cardinals and Panthers are set to square off at 2 p.m. and it will be broadcast on the CW.

The Cardinals are coming off a hard fought 77-68 road win over Miami this past Thursday. Louisville trailed at halftime for the first time in a month but used a huge third quarter to regain the lead. Louisville outscored the Hurricanes 27-12 in the third to take a double-digit lead into the final quarter.

Elif Istanbulluoglu had one of the best games of her career against the Hurricanes. She scored a career-high 23 points and had a career-best five assists to go with seven rebounds. In the third quarter alone, Istanbulluoglu scored 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Imari Berry had a big second half as she scored 14 of her 16 points for her fourth-straight game in double figures. Berry scored 11-straight points for the Cards in the fourth quarter to close out the win.

The Cardinals take an eight-game winning streak into Sunday's game and are 5-0 to begin ACC play. It is the best start to ACC play since the 2023-24 season, when they also started league play 5-0. The last time Louisville began ACC play 6-0 was the 2020-21 season, when the Cardinals won their first nine ACC games.

Louisville has had one of the toughest schedules in the country this season. They have faced five Top 20 teams this year and have a strength of schedule rank of 13. All three of Louisville's losses have come to teams that are currently ranked in the Top 10. The Cardinals are 4-3 in Quad 1 games this year and the four Quad 1 wins lead the ACC. Louisville accounts for 40% of the ACC's Quad 1 victories so far this season as the ACC has 10 Quad 1 wins across their 18 teams this year.

PROMOTIONS
Kids Day | Every kid's favorite game of the year. Activities and promotions will be specially themed all game long.

Spirit Day | Louisville Cheer and The Ladybirds host a pregame clinic that concludes with an on-court performance.

Date: Sunday, January 11
Time: 2 p.m. ET
Site: Louisville, Ky. | KFC Yum! Center (22,090)
TV: CW (Tom Werme, play-by-play; Tabitha Turner, analyst)
Radio: 93.9-FM The Ville (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Cortnee Walton, analyst)
Series History: Louisville leads 28-2 (13-0 home, 13-2 away, 2-0 neutral)
Last Meeting: W, 65-56 (Jan. 9, 2025 at Pittsburgh, Pa.)

ABOUT THE PANTHERS
Pitt enters Sunday's matchup with an 8-9 overall record and are 1-3 in ACC play this season. They are coming off a 64-61 road win over Boston College this past Sunday. Their ACC defeats this season have come to Clemson (41-73), No. 18 Notre Dame (59-94) and Wake Forest (55-74). The Panthers have one other common opponent with Louisville this season as they faced Ball State in the Florida Gulf Classic and fell 55-41. Pitt leads the ACC and ranks ninth nationally with 12.7 fouls per game. Fatima Diakhate ranks third in the league and 17th nationally with seven double doubles on the year. She is fourth in the ACC and 25th nationally with 151 total rebounds. Lauren Rust is seventh in the league and 54 nationally with 137 rebounds on the year.

Series History - This will be the 31st meeting all-time between the two schools as the series dates back to the 2005-06 season, when the teams were in the BIG EAST Conference. Louisville leads the all-time series 28-2 and have won the last 24 matchups against the Panthers. Since Louisville joined the ACC in 2014-15, the Cardinals are 20-0 against Pitt in their conference matchups. The Cardinals are 13-0 all-time against Pitt in games played in Louisville.

Last Meeting (Jan. 9, 2025) - The Louisville women's basketball team (11-5, 4-1 ACC) battled its way to a 65-56 win over Pitt (8-9, 0-4 ACC) Thursday night at the Petersen Events Center. Louisville trailed at the half for the second-straight game but found a way to win their fifth-straight game. The Cardinals outscored the Panthers 44-28 in the second half. Tajianna Roberts led the Cards in scoring with 17 points on the night and scored 12 of her 17 in the second half. Roberts set a season-best from behind the arc when she hit 5-of-9 from three. Ja'Leah Williams scored all of her 11 points in the second half and Jayda Curry scored all of her 10 in the second half.

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For the latest on Louisville women's basketball, visit GoCards.com, or follow the team's Instagram account at @LouisvilleWBB, X account at @LouisvilleWBB or on Facebook at facebook.com/louisvillewbb.