CARDS will play lone exhibition game tonight at 7:00 p.m.
Reprinted from GoCards. com
EXHIBITION GAME
Date: Oct. 29, 2019
Time: 7:01 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,090) (145-25 in 10th year)
Television: ACC Network Extra (available to authenticated subscribers of ACCN on the
ESPN app) Kent Taylor, play-by-play; Jody Demling, analyst.
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (game not available on Sirius XM)
Series History: UofL leads 12-0 (regular season games; UofL leads 9-0 in exhibitions)
Last Meeting: UofL 71, Bellarmine 60 (exhibition/Oct. 28, 2018 at KFC Yum! Center)
Officials: Bert Smith, James Breeding, Greg Evans
Next UofL Game: Nov. 5 at Miami, ACC opening game, Miami, Fla., 6:30 p.m. ET (ACC Network)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville men’s basketball team will play its lone exhibition game in preparation for the 2019-20 season as the Cardinals face the Bellarmine Knights on Tuesday. UofL has tuned up with a closed scrimmage against Ohio State on Oct. 20 and a public Red-White intrasquad scrimmage on Oct. 12. The Red team posted a 42-32 victory in the 20-minutes scrimmage as Steven Enoch scored 21 points to lead all scorers.
Louisville, which posted a 20-14 record and participated in its 39th NCAA Tournament last year, opens the season ranked fifth in the AP and USA Today polls under the direction of second-year UofL Coach Chris Mack. Louisville returns most of its production from the Cardinals’ successful 2018-19 squad, including three-quarters of its scoring and rebounding.
The Cards return six of its top seven returning scorers, including three starters in Jordan Nwora, Dwayne Sutton, and Malik Williams. Last season, UofL’s six returning lettermen accounted for 76 percent of the Cardinals’ scoring (1925 of 2536 points), 74 percent of its rebounding (960 of 1297), 51 percent of its assists (232 of 458), 84 percent of its three-point goals, 89 percent of its blocked shots (88 of 99), 71 percent of its steals (106 of 149) and 67 percent of the total minutes played (4617 of 6900).
Coached by UofL graduate and former Cardinal assistant coach Scott Davenport, Bellarmine is ranked No. 2 preseason by NCAA.com, No. 2 by Street & Smith’s and as the nation’s No. 7 team by the Division II Bulletin.
The Knights achieved a 28-5 record last season while earning its third straight Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship and made its 11th straight NCAA Tournament appearance. It was also
the 11th consecutive season in which the Knights have won 23 or more games (since 2008-09). Senior forward Ben Weyer, a preseason second team All-America selection by Street & Smith’s, is
the lone returning starter, averaging 11.5 points and 4.9 rebounds last season.
Louisville has won all 12 regular season meetings against Bellarmine. That figure is not inclusive of nine exhibition games the teams played in 2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, and each year from 2014 to 2018 — all UofL victories. Louisville won the first meeting 79-52 at Bellarmine on Dec. 6, 1960, a year in which John Turner lead the Cardinals to a 21-8 record and UofL’s third NCAA Tournament appearance. Team co-captain V.J. King scored 17 points and Steven Enoch added 14 points as Louisville prevailed 71-60 in an exhibition game over Bellarmine in the last meeting between the teams (10-28-18). The Cardinals limited the Knights to 34.6 percent from the field against a team that would go on to lead NCAA Division II in field goal percentage last year (.545).
CARD FILES
- Louisville has won its last 36 straight in season exhibition games, a span stretching the last 18 years (since 2001). The Cardinals last dropped an exhibition game on Dec. 2, 2000 when falling 87-86 in double overtime to a Global Sports team in Freedom Hall.
- Louisville’s No. 5 preseason Associated Press ranking is the highest the Cardinals have been ranked in the preseason since 2013 when UofL opened the year ranked third. It is the fifth time in the last 10 years that UofL has been ranked among the top 10 preseason. The Cardinals are also ranked fifth in the USA Today coaches poll.
- UofL will play 12 games this season against teams ranked among the nation’s Top 25 or those receiving votes in the preseason Associated Press poll, including six games amongteams in the top 13.
- Jordan Nwora was selected to the five-person preseason Associated Press All-America team. The 2019 preseason ACC Player of the Year is the first UofL player to receive the preseason AP honor since Montrezl Harrell was named to the preseason AP team prior to the 2014-15 season. He is also a first-team choice by The Sporting News, CBS Sports, NBC Sports and Blue Ribbon.
- Ryan McMahon, Dwayne Sutton and Malik Williams were elected team captains by a vote of their teammates.
- Louisville’s Nov. 5 season opener at Miami will be the earliest season opener in UofL history and the first time the Cards have opened the season with a conference foe since 1981.
- Louisville is one of just four schools which have won 20 or more games in each of the last 17 seasons (also Kansas, Duke and Gonzaga).