Christen Cunningham

Christen Cunningham drives against Miami in the KFC Yum! Center in January.

Dwayne Sutton, Jordan Nwora, Darius Perry, Christen Cunningham, and Steven Enoch during the game against Clemson at the KFC Yum! Center on February 16

Photo by: Jermaine Bibb | Louisville Athletics

Christen Cunningham handles the ball during the game against Clemson at the KFC Yum! Center on February 16

Photo by: Jermaine Bibb | Louisville Athletics

Christen Cunningham during the Cardinals game at Florida State on February 9.

Photo by: Jeff Reinking | Louisville Athletics

Christen Cunningham directs the offense during the game against UNC at the KFC Yum! Center on February 2

Photo by: Jermaine Bibb | Louisville Athletics

Five Louisville starters walk to the court to begin the second half

Christen Cunningham goes up for a shot against NC State

Christen Cunningham goes up for a shot against Pittsburgh

Christen Cunningham eyes a Kent State defender in a Dec. 15 game at the KFC Yum! Center.

Head Coach Chris Mack talks with Christen Cunningham and Ryan McMahon during the game against Kent State at the KFC Yum Center on December 15

Photo by: Jermaine Bibb | Louisville Athletics

Christen Cunningham is all smiles after hitting a buzzer beater before halftime during the game against Kent State at the KFC Yum Center on December 15

Photo by: Jermaine Bibb | Louisville Athletics

Christen Cunningham takes a shot against Indiana

Photo by: Jeff Reinking | Louisville Athletics

Christen Cunningham embraces Ryan McMahon after the Cards' upset of Michigan State

Christen Cunningham handles the ball against Marquette

Photo by: Adam Creech | Louisville Athletics

Height:
6-2
Weight:
190
Class:
Graduate Student
Hometown:
Georgetown, Ky.
Prev School:
Samford University
High School:
Henry Clay

Senior Year at Louisville

Starting guard for the Cardinals was voted a co-captain by his teammates after joining the team as a graduate transfer from Samford.
Ranked third in the ACC in assists (4.9 per game) and was fourth in assists/turnover ratio (2.46). His 6.0 assists average in conference games only was second in the ACC.
Handed out five or more assists in 14 of the last 21 games, including a career-high 12 assists against No. 2 Duke.
His 160 assists were the most for a Cardinal in six years and ranked 11th for a UofL single season.
Honored on the 2019 All-ACC Academic team.
Led UofL with 22 points and four assists against Minnesota in the NCAA Tournament in his final game (13-of-13 free throws).
Totalled 20 points, six assists and a career-high seven rebounds at Florida State.
Scored 15 points and handed out nine assists -- second-most this year -- against North Carolina on Feb. 2.
Dished out 11 assists with no turnovers while scoring nine points against Georgia Tech. He is the first Louisville player to have 10 or more assists and no turnovers since Tony Williams had 10 assists and 0 turnovers in a 108-76 win at Alaska-Anchorage on Nov. 27, 1999. He is one of three Cardinals in the last 47 years to hand out 11 assists without a turnover.
Scored a UofL career-high 23 points at Pittsburgh while dishing out five assists and hitting 2-of-3 from behind the three-point line.
Handed out five assists while scoring 13 points in the Cards’ win over No. 9 Michigan State.
Missed the Robert Morris game due to concussion protocol.

Collegiate Career

Graduate transfer from Samford.
Elected as a team captain for this season with V.J. King in a vote of his teammates.
A starter in all 110 games of his career at Samford Unversity in Birmingam, Ala.
Ranks 13th on Samford’s all-time scoring list with 1,283 career points and his 514 career assists is a school record.
In each of his three full seasons at Samford, he produced at least 125 assists, 100 free throws, 30 steals and averaged double-digits in scoring. He is an 81 percent career free throw shooter (380-469). He is the only player in Samford history with three straight 125-assist seasons.
Scored in double figures in 71 games at Samford, including 11 contests with 20 or more points.
Handed out at least five assists on 51 occasions, including 14 games with eight or more assists. He had a career-high 13 assists against Nicholls State on Nov. 27, 2016.
Scored a career-high 30 points against East Tennessee State in the semifinals of the 2017 Southern Conference Tournament.
Totaled 15 points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal in a Nov. 13, 2015 season opening game against Louisville in the KFC Yum! Center.
As a junior in 2016-17, Cunningham was fifth in the nation with a school-record 225 assists and ranked 10th nationally in assists per game (6.3). He averaged 11.4 points and shot 35.4 percent from three-point range when he led the Southern Conference in minutes played as Samford achieved a 20-14 record.
A lengthy illness limited Cunningham to just the first nine games of the 2017-18 season and he received a medical waiver for a fifth and final season.
Bulldogs’ second-leading scorer as a sophomore in 2015-16 when he averaged 14.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists.
Averaged 10.3 points and 3.9 assists as a freshman in 2014-15 when he was honored on the Southern Conference All-Freshman Team and was selected as the 2015 College Sports Madness Southern Conference Freshman of the Year. He was named the SoCon Freshman of the Week on five occasions.
Earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Samford.
His former teammate at Samford, Wyatt Walker, is a graduate transfer at NC State.
Chose to attend Louisville for graduate school and his final collegiate playing season after also considering Arizona State, Oregon State and Ohio State.

High School

First-team Herald-Leader all-city selection as a junior at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Ky., when he averaged 12.1 points per game.
Transferred to Cordia High School in Hazard, Ky., for his senior season, averaging 18.7 points and 5.3 rebounds while leading his team to a 23-9 record.
His brother Trae was a basketball manager at Louisville and his brother Christopher played football at Florida A&M.
Represented Kentucky in the annual Kentucky-Indiana All-Star Game in 2013, including scoring 19 points in the second game of the event.
Teammate of former UofL guard Quentin Snider on the Louisville Magic AAU team, which is coached by former UofL center Ellis Myles. He helped his team win the 2014 17U Kentucky State Championship.
Chose to attend Samford out of high school after interest from multiple schools including Houston, Western Kentucky, Marshall and Wright State.

Personal

Born Sept. 24, 1995 ... Son of Marilyn Wilson and Shirley Cunningham ... Has five older brothers (Christopher, Weldon, Darrel, Trae, Jaiz) ... Major is sport administration.
Personal goal at UofL is to win a championship.
Enjoys reading, working out, watching television and movies, playing video games and going to parks in his spare time.
Chose to attend UofL because “I believe in Coach Mack’s system and want to bring a championship to my state.”
Best basketball advice given to him was the “best way to establish confidence is through hours in the gym.”
Most proud of graduating college (he earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Samford University in May 2018).
His mom has had the greatest influence on his athletic career.
Wearing uniform number 1 this season for his dad.
Feels Omari Hardwick would be the best actor to play him in a movie.
If you walked into his dorm room, the first thing you would notice is the cleanliness and his artwork.
Best thing about being a Cardinal is “the love from Card Nation and getting to play at the highest level.”
When playing basketball as a kid, he pretended he was Kobe Bryant.
Would most like to meet Barack Obama and Jay-Z.
What impresses him the most about Coach Mack is his attention to detail.