Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Tennessee Volunteers

The Cards and Vols meet in Wichita for a Sweet 16 showdown.

No. 1 Louisville Cardinals (27-4, 16-2 ACC) vs No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers (25-8, 11-5 SEC)

- Tipoff: Sunday, Mar. 26th at 4:00 p.m. EST
- Location: Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kan.
- How To Watch: ESPN2
- How To Listen: WKRD 790-AM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -7.5
- All-Time Series: Series tied 2-2
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 75-64 on Mar. 20, 2017 (NCAA Tournament - Oklahoma City, Okla.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

• G Hailey Van Lith (5-7, So.)
• G Chelsie Hall (5-7, Gr.)
• G Kianna Smith (6-0, R-Sr.)
• F Emily Engstler (6-1, Sr.)
• F Olivia Cochran (6-3, So.)

Tennessee

• G Jordan Walker (5-8, Gr.)
• G/F Rae Burrell (6-1, Sr.)
• G/F Tess Darby (6-1, So.)
• F Alexus Dye (6-0, Gr.)
• C Tamari Key (6-6, R-Sr.)

Comparison

	Louisville	Tennessee
NET	5th	18th
SOS	37th	6th
Points Per Game	72.4	70.2
Opp. Points Per Game
Scoring Margin	+17.4	+9.6
FG Percentage	45.8%	41.6%
Opp. FG Percentage
3PT Percentage	36.3%	30.0%
Opp. 3PT Percentage
FT Percentage	72.1%	64.4%
Rebounds Per Game	38.5	48.0
Rebound Margin	+6.1	+12.6
Assists Per Game	15.7	14.8
Turnovers Per Game	14.1	17.0
Turnover Margin	+5.2	-3.6
Assist/Turnover Ratio	1.1	0.9
Steals Per Game	9.9	6.2
Blocks Per Game	4.4	5.7

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville is in the Sweet 16 for the fifth straight season, joining UConn, Stanford and South Carolina as the only four programs to accomplish that feat. This is their ninth Sweet 16 since 2011, which is tied for the fifth most appearances during that span. This is their 11th overall appearance in the Sweet 16, all under head coach Jeff Walz, and they are 6-4 all-time, winning their last three. UofL is 4-2 as higher seed in Sweet 16 games and 2-2 as lower seed.
• Engstler had 12 points and 11 rebounds vs. Gonzaga for her 11th double-double, which ranks fourth in the ACC and are the most by a UofL player since Kylee Shook had 11 during 2019-20. She leads the ACC and ranks 24th in NCAA with 2.7 steals per game, ranks third in ACC with 9.1 rebounds per game and ranks fifth with 1.8 blocks per game. She has led UofL in rebounds in 28 of 31 games. She had seven steals and two blocks against UAlbany and joined UConn’s Breanna Stewart as the only two players to have seven steals and multiple blocks in NCAA Tournament history. Her seven steals are tied for the third most ever by a UofL player in the NCAA Tournament. Stephanie Edwards had 10 steals against Georgia in 1984 and Jude Schimmel had eight against Purdue in 2013. The seven steals also tie Engstler's career high, she had seven earlier this season against Pitt.
• Hailey Van Lith has put up 20 points in both NCAA Tournament games, with 20 against UAlbany and 21 against Gonzaga. It marks her first two 20-point games in the NCAA Tournament. She has six 20-point games this season and nine for her career. She leads the team in scoring with 14.0 points per game and has led the team in scoring 13 times. She reached double figures in 14 of 17 ACC games, including four 20-plus point performances and a career-high 34-point game at Clemson. In the last seven regular season games, she averaged a team-high 18.6 points per game. She has made at least one 3-pointer in 20 of the last 25 games.
• Emily Engstler leads the NCAA Tournament with 12 steals through two games. Kianna Smith ranks 13th with a 3.5 assist-to-turnover ratio and 18th with five made 3-pointers. Hailey Van Lith ranks 14th with 41 points
• Louisville leads the NCAA Tournament through two games with 28 steals, a +13.0 turnover margin and 22 turnovers forced per game. They are limiting opponents to 22.2 percent shoot from deep, which ranks seventh, their +20.5 scoring margin ranks eighth and their 75.5 points per game rank ninth.
• In addition to recording 10 steals and forcing 18 turnovers against Gonzaga, UofL had 44 deflections. Emily Engstler had a season-high 17, while Chelsie Hall added 10.
• Mykasa Robinson has played a team-high 10 NCAA Tournament games and is the only player in her third NCAA Tournament at Louisville. This is Kianna Smith’s team-high fourth NCAA Tournament, as she played in two tournaments while at California (2018, 2019). This is Emily Engstler’s third NCAA Tournament and first with Louisville. She played in the 2019 and 2021 tournaments while at Syracuse.
• Emily Engstler was listed at No. 16, while Hailey Van Lith was listed at No. 18. UofL is one of three schools, joined by Stanford (Haley Jones, Cameron Brink) and UConn (Paige Bueckers, Christyn Williams) to have two players on list.
• Kianna Smith had 15 points in the win over UAlbany, including 10 in the first quarter. She scored 10 of Louisville’s first 13 points. She finished 6-10, 3-6 from deep with five assists. She then scored seven of her 12 points in the first quarter against Gonzaga.
• Louisville is now 11-2 all-time in second round games under Coach Walz. The Cardinals are 11-6 all-time in the second round and were 0-4 prior to Walz’s arrival.
• UofL is 149-19 (.887) over the last five seasons, which ranks third behind UConn and Baylor for the most wins during that span. With one more win, they would reach 150 wins over a five year span a fifth straight time. The school record for wins over a five-year period is 151, accomplished three times (2013-18, 2015-20, 2016-21).

Tennessee

• The Volunteers gave up a 14-point lead to Belmont on Monday night, but held on late after Belmont missed a few crucial free throws to win 70-67 and get to their first Sweet 16 since 2016.
• Alexus "Snoop" Dye is doing everything she can to make this postseason journey continue. The graduate forward leads Tennessee at 20.0 ppg., 11.5 rpg., 57 percent from the field and four double-doubles over the last four games (SEC and NCAA Tournament) after averaging 8.9 ppg. and 7.2 rpg. and shooting 41 percent during the regular season.
• When Tamari Key gets 10+ FG attempts, she is averaging 17.1 ppg. and 9.4 rpg. and shooting 60.6 pct. She has scored in double figures in six of her past eight games, with three double-doubles. She is coming off an 18-point effort vs. Belmont.
• Rae Burrell, who missed games two through 13 with a knee injury, has tallied 11+ points in 10 of her last 11 games. She has elevated to 15.3 ppg. and 5.5 rpg. during the postseason.
• Freshmen guards Brooklynn Miles and Kaiya Wynn have given Tennessee depth at that position, are players who embrace commitment to the defensive end and help provide a boost in energy and intensity.
• Tennessee's 48.0 rebounds per game average (No. 3 nationally this season) is on pace to break the school record of 46.9, set in 1992-93. The 2021-22 number currently ranks third all-time among SEC season-leading averages by member schools. This season's average also would be the third of the Harper era to rank in UT's top six efforts all-time. The 2019-20 (46.0) and 2020-21 (45.6) marks would rank fifth and sixth.
• The Lady Vols have a 24-2 record when holding foes to 70 points or fewer and 1-6 when they don't.
• UT is No. 3 in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense (34.1). In only 21 of 89 games under Kellie Harper (and five of 33 this season) has an opponent hit 40+ percent vs. Tennessee.
• UT ranks No. 7 nationally in offensive boards at 16.5 per contest. That has equalled 15.8 second-chance points for the Lady Vols.
• Thanks to Tamari Key, UT ranks No. 4 nationally in total blocks (189) and No. 6 in bpg. (5.7). Key has supplanted Kelley Cain and Candace Parker as the Lady Vol record holder for most blocks in a season (118) and most blocks in a career (276), respectively. Key needed only 31 contests in 2021-22 to pass Cain's total of 113 achieved in 33 games in 2009-10. Her current mark is No. 4 in SEC history. Key's three blocks vs. Belmont moved her to No. 1 on the career list in game No. 89 to top CP's 275 swats achieved in 110 contests from 2004-08.
• Sara Puckett earned the nickname Sara Bucketts long before Monday night's corner three and 12 points helped send the Lady Vols to their first Sweet 16 since 2016. The SEC All-Freshman honoree has seven double-figure scoring efforts, including a clutch 15-point road effort vs. Va. Tech and a 10/10 double-double vs. Arkansas. She is putting up 9.5 ppg. and 4.0 rpg. while shooting 67 percent in NCAA Tourney play.
• Jordan Walker (aka Jojo or Jo), at 5-8, is averaging 9.5 ppg., 7.0 rpg. and 6.0 apg. and had an impressive blocked shot vs. Belmont.

(Photo of Emily Engstler: Scott Utterback - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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