Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Wright State Raiders

The Cardinals will attempt to secure their first win of the Kenny Payne era when they host the Raiders.

Wright State Raiders (0-1, 0-0 A10) at Louisville Cardinals (0-1,0-0 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, November 12 at 1:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: ACC Network Extra
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -10.0 (KenPom)
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 3-0
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 65-57 on Dec. 16, 1996 (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.)

Wright State

• G Trey Calvin (6-0, 165, Sr.)
• G Amari Davis (6-2, 175, Sr.)
• G Tim Finke (6-6, 215, R-Sr.)
• F Blake Sisley (6-9, 230, So.)
• C A.J. Braun (6-9, 225, So.)

Main Storylines

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

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Raiders, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape, Predictions: Louisville vs. Wright State

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville fell 67-66 to Bellarmine on Wednesday in its season opener, despite a late 11-0 run to finish the game.
• UofL shot 22 of 52 (42.3%) from the field, 11 of 28 (39.3%) from 3-point range and 11 of 14 (78.6%) from the free-throw line.
• Wednesday’s loss to Bellarmine was just the second ever for Louisville in November in the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals are 48-2 in the arena in November since it opened in 2010. Wednesday’s loss to the Knights broke a streak of 21 straight home openers won by Louisville, as well as 18 season openers.
• Kenny Payne lost the first game of his head coaching career vs. Bellarmine. The last head coach to lose their first game at UofL was Hall of Famer Denny Crum, who coached Payne and went on to claim two national titles and six Final Fours.
• Redshirt freshman guard/forward Mike James scored 16 points with three made 3-pointers against Bellarmine on Wednesday in his first college game. It was the fifth-most points ever by a Cardinal freshman in their debut, following Jerry Smith (24 points, 2006), Marques Maybin (22, 1997), Samardo Samuels (18, 2009) and Darius Perry (17, 2017).
• Redshirt junior forward Jae’Lyn Withers had a team-high 17 points against Bellarmine and went 2-for-3 from 3-point range. Across Louisville’s two exhibitions and the season opener, Withers has made 9 of 14 3-pointers (64.3%).
• Guard El Ellis played the full 40 minutes and scored 14 points with three rebounds and five assists. This game marked his 10th start for the Cardinals. Ellis tied his career high in 3-point field goals attempted with 11, making four.
• Forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield made his UofL debut playing 21 minutes and had nine points, shooting 4 of 4 from the field. He added 10 rebounds, three assists, and one block. o The block came at the 27.3 second mark to keep the Cardinals within one point.
• Forward/center Roosevelt Wheeler recorded a career high in rebounds with eight – including six offensive – and added three points, one assist, and one block to the stat sheet. Wheeler played 19 minutes, falling one minute shy of his career high.

Wright State

• Wright State lost to Davidson in double overtime, 102-97, in its opener Wednesday, despite a career-high 37 points from Trey Calvin. He finished the night shooting 14-of-33 from the field in 43 minutes.
• Calvin tallied 17 points in the first 20 minutes as Wright State shot 57 percent from the floor in the first half and led by as many as 21 before taking a 52-36 advantage into the locker room. Davidson (2-0) came out firing in the second half to cut into the deficit and take the lead, as the visitors shot 60 percent from the floor in the second 20 minutes to eventually tying the game at 79-all on a pair of free throws with 18 seconds remaining in regulation.
• Davidson used a 10-3 run at the start of the first overtime to push to an 89-82 lead before the Raiders forced a second extra period with the next seven points, including a jumper by Calvin to tie the score at 89-all with four seconds remaining to force the second overtime. The visitors played with the lead all throughout double overtime. 
• Amari Davis tallied a double-double in his first game as a Raider, finishing with 17 points and 13 rebounds, while A.J. Braun and Tim Finke each just missed double-doubles of their own. Both finished with 11 points as Braun pulled down nine rebounds and Finke added eight rebounds to his stat line.
• Wright State ended the night shooting 44 percent (39-88) from the floor while connecting on eight three-pointers (8-30, 27 percent) and was 11-of-15 (73 percent) from the free throw stripe. Davidson doubled up the Raiders at the line, going 22-of-36 (61 percent) at the stripe while shooting 52 percent (35-67) from the floor overall and hitting 10-of-23 three-point attempts (44 percent).
• Wright State returns nine players from last season’s squad that finished 22-14 overall on the way to the Horizon League championship and the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament victory last March. The Raiders are coming off their second NCAA Tournament appearance in the last five seasons.
• Wright State received 329 total votes and three first-place votes as the Raiders were selected third in the Horizon League preseason poll ahead of the 2022-23 season. Additionally, Calvin and Davis were each named preseason second team selections.

(Photo of Jae'Lyn Withers: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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