Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Bellarmine Knights

The Cardinals open up the 2022-23 season by hosting the Knights at the KFC Yum! Center.

Bellarmine Knights (0-0, 0-0 ASUN) at Louisville Cardinals (0-0,0-0 ACC)

- Tipoff: Wednesday, November 9 at 9:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: ACC Network
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -9.5
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 12-0
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 76-64 on Dec. 10, 2006 (Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

• G El Ellis (6-3, 180, Sr.)
• G/F Mike James (6-5, 215, R-Fr.)
• F Jae'Lyn Withers (6-9, 220, R-Jr.)
• F Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (6-10, 250, So.)
• F Sydney Curry (6-8, 270, Sr.)

Bellarmine

• G Juston Betz (6-3, 185, Gr.)
• G Peter Suder (6-5, 210, Fr.)
• G Garrett Tipton (6-4, 200, R-Sr.)
• G Bash Wieland (6-6, 205, Sr.)
• F Curt Hopf (6-8, 200, So.)

Main Storylines

Here are the more significant storylines to follow ahead of Louisville's matchup with Bellarmine: Points of Emphasis: Louisville vs. Bellarmine

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Knights, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape & Prediction: Louisville vs. Bellarmine

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville head coach Kenny Payne enters his first season at the helm after 17 years as a college and NBA assistant. Payne is the only Division I men’s basketball head coach in the country who was selected in the NBA Draft, as well as won a national championship as a player and a coach.
• Louisville has won its last 18 season openers and 27 of its last 29. The Cardinals are 75-33 all-time in season openers, and they’ve won their last 20 home openers. This is the seventh time in the last eight years that UofL has opened at home.
• Through two exhibition games, redshirt junior forward Jae’Lyn Withers averaged 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds while netting 7 of 11 3-pointers (63%) and 12 of 13 free throws (92%).
• After missing all of last season with a torn Achilles tendon, redshirt freshman guard/forward Mike James has started each of the Cardinals’ exhibition games. James averaged 7.5 points and made 4 of 6 shots from long range in those games.
• The Cardinals have an even split of seven returning players and seven newcomers on their 2022-23 roster. UofL returns three players who started at least nine games last year in Sydney Curry, El Ellis and Jae’Lyn Withers. They return 32% of their scoring, 31% of their rebounding and 23% of their assists.
• Louisville’s newcomers include four transfers and three high school prospects. The high school haul includes two players ranked in the top 100 by multiple recruiting outlets in Kamari Lands (No. 47 by 247 Sports) and Devin Ree (No. 82). Tennessee transfer Brandon Huntley-Hatfield was a five-star, top-25 recruit before attending UT.
• Louisville has just one player on its roster shorter than 6 feet, 3 inches. The team has seven players who are at least 6-8. The Cardinals represent nine different states, including California, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
• El Ellis’ 28 points in the Cardinals’ exhibition win over Chaminade on Thursday were tied for the most by a Louisville player in an exhibition since 2008. Jordan Nwora also had 28 against Bellarmine in 2019.
• Sydney Curry was a force to be reckoned with late last season for the Cardinals. The 6-8 senior forward averaged 17.6 points and 9.0 rebounds in his last five games of the 2021-22 campaign while shooting 64.4 percent from the field (38 of 59).

Bellarmine

• While this is the 13th meeting between these two in-town rivals, it marks the first time the Knights and Cards have met with both teams being Division I.
• There are many connections/fun facts between the Louisville and Bellarmine programs:
• BU Coach Scott Davenport is a UofL grad and a former Louisville assistant coach, serving on both Denny Crum’s and Rick Pitino’s staffs.
• BU Asst. Coach Doug Davenport also is former staff member of the UofL coaching staff.
• Reece Gaines, video coordinator for UofL, served three years as an assistant on Davenport’s staff at BU (2012-13 through 2014-15).
• Hall of Fame Coach Denny Crum’s first collegiate victory came over Bellarmine.
• Louisville is the first of three ACC teams the Knights will face in the month of November. BU plays at Clemson the 18th and at Duke on the 21st.
• Bellarmine played the country’s second hardest non-conference schedule (according to NET) last season, and the 2022-23 slate could rival that with road games at iconic venues such as Cameron Indoor (Duke), Pauley Pavilion (UCLA), and Rupp Arena (Kentucky). Only four other schools have played in those arenas (Louisville, Notre Dame, North Carolina and St. John’s).
• Just two seasons into their transition from Division II to Division I, Davenport guided Bellarmine to a 20-13 overall record and the ASUN Tournament title.
• Juston Betz was voted as the ASUN preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Last season, Betz was the ASUN’s third-best rebounder with an average of 7.1 per game, a statistic made more impressive that he did that as a 6-3 guard.

(Photo of J.J. Traynor: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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