Cards Play Mustangs For January Finale

Saturday, January 31

LOUISVILLE, KY

2 p.m.

University of Louisville

SMU

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January 30, 2026 | Men's Basketball

SMU Game Notes Louisville Game Notes

Louisville plays host to SMU on Saturday afternoon

By: Dana Brown

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville men's basketball will play its January finale on Saturday afternoon, hosting the SMU Mustangs at 2 p.m. ET in the KFC Yum! Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

The Cardinals are looking to end the month on the right foot and bounce back from an 83-52 loss at Duke on Monday evening. SMU had a mid-week bye and has won its last two conference games, including defeating Florida State 83-80 last Saturday.

Louisville is 9-2 all-time against SMU with an undefeated 4-0 mark at home. UofL head coach Pat Kelsey is 1-0 in his career against the Mustangs.

GAME 21
Listen: Cardinal Sports Network (WLCL 93.9 FM & WGTK 970 AM flagship);
Streaming (Paul Rodgers, pxp | Jody Demling, analysis)
Watch: ESPN (Kevin Brown, pxp | Debbie Antonelli, analysis)
Live Stats: Louisville Statbroadcast.

PROMOTIONS

1986 Team Celebration | Members of the 1986 National Championship team return to the KFC Yum! Center for a special recognition of their 40^th anniversary.

CARDINAL NOTES

Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 171-67 (.718) all-time in conference play as a head coach.
As of Jan. 25, there are 25 players in DI shooting 41% or above from 3-point range in their career. No one in that group has made or attempted more 3-pointers than senior guard Isaac McKneely, who has made 287 on 695 attempts.
Louisville is one of three DI teams with at least five victories of 40 points or more this season, joining Michigan (6) and High Point (6).
Freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. returned to the floor on Jan. 24 against Virginia Tech after missing eight games due to injury. He was named the 2025 USA Basketball Men's Athlete of the Year on Jan. 6.
Louisville is 41-0 under Kelsey when leading with five minutes to play.
Louisville has had five games of at least 24 assists, the first time since 2010-11 that the program has had multiple games of 24+ assists; the Cardinals had five games of at 24+ assists that season. Louisville is one of six teams in 2025-26 as of Jan. 21 to have five games of at least 24 assists.
The late great Junior Bridgeman is the sixth player in Louisville men's basketball history to have their jersey number retired.
Against Memphis on Dec. 13, Louisville had four different players with at least three 3-pointers apiece for the first time since Nov. 22, 2010 when the Cards played Chattanooga. It was the second time in program history that six different players made multiple 3-pointers, the first time being at WKU on Dec. 22, 2010.
Senior guard Ryan Conwell is the only DI men's basketball player since at least 2010-11 to log at least 32 points, nine rebounds and six assists in 24 minutes or less, according to Sports Reference. He notched that stat line against NJIT on Nov. 26.
Louisville netted 20 3-pointers against NJIT on Nov. 26, the second-most made 3's in a single game in program history. It's just the second time ever the Cardinals have made at least 20 3's in a game. UofL is one of 13 teams in DI this season to make at least 20 3-pointers against another DI team, as of Jan. 25.
Kelsey reached his 300th career win on Jan. 10 with a victory over Boston College. He has now achieved 40 wins as the head coach at UofL.
Both Ryan Conwell and Mikel Brown Jr. represent Louisville on the preseason Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Watch List. Conwell is also on the Lute Olsen Early Season List while Brown is on the Midseason List for the John Wooden Award.