Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Tennessee Volunteers

The Cardinals face their first true test of the Pat Kelsey era against the Volunteers.

Louisville's Kasean Pryor (7) tries to get the crowd into the game after defensive stop against Morehead State during their game at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. on Nov. 4, 2024 / Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

No. 12 Tennessee Volunteers (1-0, 0-0 SEC) at Louisville Cardinals (1-0, 0-0 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, November 9 at 12:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: ACC Network
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Tennessee -1.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 12-8
- Last Meeting: Tennessee won 92-81 on Nov. 21, 2018 (Barclays Center - Brooklyn, N.Y.)

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.)

Tennessee

• G Zakai Zeigler (5-9, 172, Sr.)
• G Jahmai Mashack (6-4, 202, Sr.)
• G Chaz Lanier (6-5, 207, 5th)
• F Igor Milicic Jr. (6-10, 225, Sr.)
• F Felix Okpara (6-10, 245, Jr.)

Comparison

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

Additional Coverage

• Scouting Report: Three Things to Know About Tennessee
• Watch: Louisville HC Pat Kelsey Previews Tennessee

Game Notes

Louisville

• The 48-point victory over Morehead State on Monday was Louisville’s largest margin of victory since a 104-54 win vs. Southern on Nov. 13, 2018, and largest in a season opener since a 92-38 win vs. South Alabama on Nov. 18, 2001.
• UofL has a 62-81 record against Top 25 teams over the last 14 years.
• Louisville is 98-85 all-time against current SEC membership.
• The contest between Louisville and Tennessee is the first of an agreed upon home-and-home series that returns to Knoxville, Tenn., on December 16, 2025.
• In his Louisville debut, fifth-year senior Kasean Pryor logged a doubledouble of 18 points and 12 rebounds against Morehead State on Nov. 4.
  He is one of seven Cardinals since 1965 to produce a double-double in
  their first time on the court in a Louisville uniform.
• 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. 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.
• KEY FIRST HALF RUN vs. Morehead State: With Louisville leading 16-8 after 12:09, the Cards went on an 11-0 run that elapsed 4:05 and kept Morehead State scoreless for 5:23 to go up 27-8 with 6:48 remaining in the half.
• KEY SECOND HALF RUN vs. Morehead State: UofL was up 52-23 in the second half when the Cards went on an 8-0 run that started at the 15:50 mark. Louisville shut down Morehead State from scoring for three minutes while extending its lead to 60-23.
• UofL shot 32 of 71 (45.1%) from the field, 11 of 36 (30.6%) from 3-point range and 18 of 28 (64.3%) from the free-throw line.
• The Cards out-rebounded the Eagles 49 to 45 and held MSU to just 23.1% from the field and 14.3% from 3-point range.
• Louisville only posted five turnovers on the game, while claiming 21 turnovers from Morehead State.
• Pat Kelsey now owns the third largest margin of victory in first game as a Louisville head coach, behind Peck Hickman (72 points) in 1944 and Rick Pitino (54 points) in 2001.
• This is the first 45+ point win for UofL since beating Southern University 104-54 on Nov. 13, 2018.
• Louisville led 41-14 at halftime, making it the Cards’ third largest halftime lead in a season opener in the last 50 years.
• It was the first time Louisville held an opponent to fewer than 20 points in a half since holding Evansville to 16 in the first half on Nov. 25, 2020.

Tennessee

• The Volunteers went 1-11 versus the Cardinals from 1927 to 2008 before Rick Barnes led them to a 92-81 victory on 11/21/18 in the NIT Season Tip-Off in Brooklyn, N.Y., behind Grant Williams' 24 points.
• Tennessee and Louisville last met at a campus site on 1/22/05, with the Cardinals earning an 85-62 home victory.
• After going 8-24 (3-17) last season, Louisville, now under the direction of first-year head coach Pat Kelsey, was picked ninth in the ACC preseason poll.
• The Cardinals return just two total points from their 2023-24 roster, but added 16 newcomers, 15 of them transfers, in the offseason.
• Tennessee is 122-101 all-time against current ACC schools and has beat all but one of them, Notre Dame (0-1), at least once.
• Rick Barnes is 81-77 in his career versus current ACC programs, including 11-5 at Tennessee.
• Located 240 miles apart, Louisville (third) and Tennessee (fifth) play in two of the five largest college basketball arenas in the country.
• Rick Barnes (203-101) is one win away from tying Don DeVoe (204-137 from 1978-89) for second place on UT's all-time leaderboard.
• Tennessee is 5-2 in its last seven road openers under Rick Barnes.
• The 172 wins for Tennessee over the last eight years (2017-25) rank co-eighth nationally alongside Liberty and St. Mary's. Only Gonzaga (214), Houston (209), Kansas (192), Duke (186), Purdue (183), San Diego State (178) and Virginia (177) have more.
• Tennessee, which claimed the outright SEC regular season title and made the Elite Eight in 2023-24, finished 27-9. It marked the the third time in the last six years (2018-24) under Rick Barnes UT won 27-plus games. It hit that tally just twice before his arrival.
• The Volunteers finished fifth in KenPom, the Coaches Poll and AP Poll last season, setting a program best in the former two and tying the top mark in the latter.
• Tennessee placed third in the SEC preseason poll, as voted on by a select panel of league and national media members. Only the two Yellowhammer State schools, Alabama and Auburn, finished above Tennessee in the voting.
• Zakai Zeigler collected Preseason First Team All-SEC recognition from the media, alongside Auburn's Johni Broome, Florida's Walter Clayton Jr., Alabama's Mark Sears and Texas A&M's Wade Taylor IV.
• Tennessee, at 20-14 (.588), is the only school in the SEC with a winning record versus ranked opponents over the last four seasons (2021-25). Auburn (9-9; .500) is the lone other team without a losing record in such games.
• At 8-5 (.615), the Volunteers are the only team in the SEC with a winning record against AP top-10 foes over those four seasons. Texas A&M (5-6; .455) places a distant second.
• The Volunteers, despite their excellent winning percentage, have played the third-most games against AP top-25 foes of any SEC team in the last four years (2021-25). They trail just Texas (41) and Oklahoma (37) in such outings, while the only other school at even 30-plus is Alabama (32).
• The Volunteers finished third in 2023-24 in KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency (90.2) and placed fifth in DI in field-goal percentage defense (39.4).
• In 2022-23, Tennessee led the nation in KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency (87.5), holding the top spot for 15 total weeks. The Vols also led all DI teams in 3-point defense (26.5) that year, as well as ranked third in both scoring defense (57.9) and field-goal percentage defense (37.3).
• In five of the last seven seasons, UT has finished top10 in KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency: third in 2023-24, first in 2022-23, third in 2021-22, fourth in 2020-21 and sixth in 2017-18.
• UT, through 2023-24, has won 35 times in a row when holding its foe under 60 points, including posting a dazzling 22-0 mark in 2022-23.
• The Vols, through 2023-24, have won 46 straight when allowing 50 points or fewer, since 12/29/12. That includes 12 such victories in 2022-23, matching Houston for the most of any team that season.
• Darlinstone Dubar, Jordan Gainey, Chaz Lanier, Igor Miličić Jr. and Zakai Zeigler all entered 2024-25 with at least 105 made 3-pointers as collegians.
• That quintent possesses a combined career 3-point mark of 770-of-2,080 (37.0 percent).
• The four guards (all except Miličić) owned upwards of 150 makes before even beginning the year. Four of them (all except Zeigler) are over 35.5 percent in their careers.
• The two fifth-year guards, Dubar and Lanier, are a combined 343-of-902 (38.0 percent) from deep as collegians.

(Photo of Kasean Pryor: Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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