Know The Foe: #11 Louisville

Memphis will travel up to Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday for its first meeting against the Cardinals since 2017. What was once a heated rivalry, the two teams haven’t played regularly since the early 2000s, but they agreed to a six-year scheduling agreement in May.

The series will start at the KFC Yum! Center before returning to Memphis next season.

Louisville is off to an 8-1 start to the year, and it suffered its first road loss against Arkansas two weeks ago. The Cardinals responded three days later with a nine-point win over Indiana, and like the Tigers, they haven’t played since Saturday.

Pat Kelsey took over last year after Louisville won a combined 12 games in two seasons under Kenny Payne. Kelsey immediately turned the team around and earned an eight seed in the NCAA Tournament. 

This season, the Cardinals average 93.8 points per game, and they’re shooting 47.2 percent from the field, 36 percent from deep and 77.1 percent from the free-throw line. They have four players averaging 10 or more points, and senior Ryan Connell leads the team with 19.7 points per game.

Conwell has played at four different programs in four years, and he’s currently shooing 42 percent from three on nine attempts per game. The senior has made four or more three pointers in five games this season, and he’s coming off a 21-point performance against Indiana.

Point guard Mikel Brown Jr. might be the most notable player on the roster, and he’s leading the team with 5.3 assists per game, while posting 16.7 points per game. The freshman does a little bit of everything for the team, and he will likely be a top 10 pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

Both Conwell and Mikel Brown Jr. were part of the seven newcomers to Kelsey’s roster. 247 Sports ranked Louisville the No. 3 transfer portal class in the country and the No. 25 recruiting class.

Kelsey also brought in Isaac McKneely, who spent three seasons at Virginia. The senior guard is averaging 12.4 points per game, and he’s shooting 42.9 percent from deep.

In the frontcourt, Louisville returned J’Vonne Hadley and brought in German forward Sananda Fru. Fru played four seasons in the German BBL, which is the highest level of basketball in Germany, and he leads the team with 6.2 rebounds per game.

Louisville has two players on its roster who played on current American teams. Aly Khalifa played two seasons at Charlotte, but he transferred before the 49ers joined the American.

Kasean Pryor played one year at USF and recorded 21 points and 10 rebounds in one game against Memphis. 

Defensively, the Cardinals are holding opponents to 67.6 points per game, and opposing teams are only shooting 37.4 percent and 29.7 percent from deep. 

Louisville average 43.6 rebounds per game, and they have a plus-8.8 rebounding margin. Kelsey’s team also forces 14.2 turnovers per game, and they average 18.6 points off turnovers.