Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Morehead State Eagles

The Cardinals open up the 2024-25 season by hosting the Eagles at the KFC Yum! Center.

Louisville Cardinals guard Koren Johnson (3) gets two plus the foul against Spalding University's Levi Langley (21) in the second half in the Cards' second exhibition game against Spalding University at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. / Matt Stone/Courier Journal/USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Morehead State Eagles (0-0, 0-0 OVC) at Louisville Cardinals (0-0, 0-0 ACC)

- Tipoff: Monday, November 4 at 7:00 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 -17.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 31-12
- Last Meeting: Morehead State won 62-61 on Mar. 17, 2011 (NCAA Tournament - First Round)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

• G Chucky Hepburn (6-2, 190, Sr.)
• G J'Vonne Hadley (6-6, 215, 5th)
• G/F Terrence Edwards Jr. (6-6, 205, 5th)
• F Aboubacar Traore (6-5, 205, Sr.)
• C James Scott (6-11, 220, So.)

Morehead State

• G Jalen Breazeale (5-11, 160, R-Jr.)
• G Steven Clay (6-4, 185, Jr._
• G Tyler Brelsford (6-4, 185, Gr.)
• F Kenny White (6-7, 225, Sr.)
• F Dieonte Miles (7-0, 240, Gr.)

Comparison

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

Game Notes

Louisville

• The Cardinals were victorious in both of their home exhibition games, most recently defeating in-city foe Spalding 99-54 on Monday, Oct. 28
• UofL made 24 3-pointers on 56 attempts against the Young Harris Mountain Lions on Monday, Oct. 21. In a regular season game, the 24 triples would have surpassed the school record of 22 netted on Nov. 17, 2007 against Hartford. The 56 attempts would have crushed the school record of 40, attempted on Jan. 12, 2002 against TCU.
• UofL scored at least 100 points in three of the four exhibitions it played across Baha Mar Hoops and home contests. The Cardinals also held their opponent to under 60 points on three of those occasions.
• Louisville was selected ninth in the ACC Preseason Media Poll.
• The Cardinals received four votes in the preseason AP Poll released on October 14.
• Louisville has the chance to potentially play eight teams ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25 all before January 2. The first of
  those opponents will be current No. 12 Tennessee at home in the KFC Yum! Center on November 9.
• Four of the Cardinals enter the season with more than 1,000 career points scored: Terrence Edwards Jr. (1,414), Reyne Smith (1,212), Aboubacar Traore (1,033) and Chucky Hepburn (1,013).
• Louisville has 11 players who were on teams that played in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The roster in total has made 14 NCAA Division I Tournament appearances at their previous schools, playing in 20 NCAA Tournament games across their careers.
• Head coach Pat Kelsey has won 11 total conference championships across his 261-122 career record, including four NCAA Tournament bids. Kelsey has recorded winning seasons in 11 of his 12 complete seasons as a head coach.
• Pat Kelsey was hired on March 28, 2024 as the 24th head coach in Louisville’s 110-year history, and the 10th in the past 79 years.
• UofL has a 251-79 record (.761) against non-conference opponents over the last 23 seasons (includes postseason), including a 183-25 record in home regular season non-conference games. The Cardinals are 107-16 at home in regular season non-conference games over the last 14 seasons.
• The Cardinals took a foreign tour trip to the Bahamas in late July/early August to compete in two exhibition games as part of the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League. Louisville won the first exhibition game played in July in the program’s record, defeating the Bahamas Select team 111-59 on July 30, 2024. The Cardinals dished out 38 assists in the victory which would have been a program record in a regulation game. Louisville defeated the Calgary Dinos 111-71 on August 1 to finish off the trip. The Cardinals will take another trip to the Bahamas before the non-conference season is over as they compete in the Battle4Atlantis in late November.
• The Cardinals are one of the more experienced teams in the country this season. Between the 17-man roster, the average amount of years in college basketball is 3.0 years with just two underclassmen on the roster. The Cards have 12 players designated as seniors this season, tied with Western Kentucky for the most on any team in men’s DI college basketball.
• Louisville has just two underclassmen in freshman Khani Rooths and sophomore James Scott. Louisville is one of just 11 schools in DI that has two or fewer underclassmen on their roster, and the only Power Four school in that list.
• Louisville has 11 players who were on teams that played in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The roster in total has made 14 NCAA Division I Tournament appearances at their previous schools, playing in 20 NCAA Tournament games across their careers.
• Seven of the new Cardinals rank among the top-19 career scorers to transfer to UofL, with four of those players having scored at least 1,000 points in their Division I careers.
• Head coach Pat Kelsey brought his entire staff that was previously at Charleston including current assistants Brian Kloman, Thomas Carr, Mike Cassidy Jermaine Ukaegbu and support staff members Eli Foy, Mitch Johnson, Braden Connor, Tom Pupavac, Jonah Wexler and Katie Creznic.
• The only new full-time staff members integrated into the staff were assistant coach Ronnie Hamilton, Director of Player Development/Alumni Relations Peyton Siva and executive assistant Stephanie Davis.

Morehead State

• Morehead State opens the Jonathan Mattox era Monday at in-state foe Louisville. Mattox spent nine seasons on the Eagle bench as graduate manager, assistant coach and associate head coach before spending the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons as assistant coach with Steve Prohm at Murray State.
• Louisville leads the all-time series 31-12, but MSU won the last matchup in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. The Eagles will look to reverse history as MSU is just 2-25 all-time in games vs. the Cardinals in Louisville.
• In Morehead State’s 2011 NCAA Tournament victory over 4th seed Louisville, Demonte Harper hit a game-winning three-pointer with less than five seconds left as the Eagles upset their Bluegrass State counterparts 62-61. Kenneth Faried blocked a last-second corner three-point shot attempt (although the box score never credited him with one) to set off the celebration.
• Morehead State owns 90 victories in the last four seasons, two OVC Tournament championships and two OVC regular season titles. Current head coach Jonathan Mattox was on the bench for the 2020-21 tournament title and the 2022-23 regular season trophy.
• The 2024-25 Eagle roster features seven players who were with the program in 2023-24, including five who saw action in at least one game. Of the seven returnees, MSU returned just 14.5 points per game and 8.5 rebounds per game.
• The roster features nine newcomers to the program, including six who have played at least one season at a four-year college. Of the Eagles’ six players who have yet to see a game as an Eagle (also counting Jalen Windham who redshirted in 2023-24), they have 400 combined Division I games played.
• Morehead State is continuing its trend of finding significant transfers from the NAIA level. Two seasons ago, it was Alex Gross from Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), who ended as the OVC Defensive Player of the Year. Last year, it was superstar Riley Minix, who was the OVC Player of the Year and OVC Male Athlete of the Year. He is now on a two-way contract with the San Antonio Spurs. This year, MSU signed Kade Ruegsegger, a sharpshooter from Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio), who nailed 145 three-points his last two seasons.
• Bryant transfer Tyler Brelsford owns an 80 percent career free throw accuracy. He is 161-of-201 in his D1 career.
• Transfer Kenny White, Jr., who is from Madisonville, Ky., has the unique opportunity to play for his fourth different (current or former) Ohio Valley Conference school. He started his career at Tennessee Tech, transferred to Murray State (where current Eagle head coach Jonathan Mattox was on staff) and was at UT Martin last winter.
• Guard Trent Scott returns this year after missing the final 28 games last year due to injuries. He was averaging 4.6 points and 2.0 assists per game before ending his campaign.
• Freshman Jace Winkleman’s mother is Kenna (Allen) Gauche, who is Morehead State’s Senior Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator. The extended Allen family has close to 50 members who are alums of MSU.
• Current associate head coach Jason Taylor was current Eagle head coach Jonathan Mattox’s coach at Anderson (S.C.) when he played there.

(Photo of Koren Johnson: Matt Stone - Courier Journal/USA Today Network)

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