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UofL HC Chris Mack Press Conference (11/24/20)

Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Evansville Purple Aces

The Cardinals open up the 2020-21 season by hosting the Purple Aces as part of the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic

(Photo of Mamadi Diakite, Malik Williams: Jamie Rhodes/USA TODAY Sports)

Evansville Purple Aces (0-0, 0-0 MVC) at Louisville Cardinals (0-0, 0-0 ACC)

- Tipoff: Wednesday, November 25 at 4:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: ACC Network
- How To Listen: WHAS 840/790 WKRD
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -22.0
- All-Time Series: Tied 13-13
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 78-47 on Nov. 11, 2016 (KFC Yum! Center - Louisville, Ky.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

  • F Quinn Slazinski (6-8, 215, So.)
  • F Dre Davis (6-5, 220, Fr.)
  • C Jae'Lyn Withers (6-8, 215, R-Fr.)
  • G Carlik Jones (6-2, 185, Gr.)
  • G David Johnson (6-5, 210, So.)

Evansville

  • F Jax Levitch (6-7, 195, Gr.)
  • F Evan Kuhlman (6-8, 215, Sr.)
  • F Trey Hall (6-9, 200, Fr.)
  • G Shamar Givance (5-10, 170, Jr.)
  • G Noah Frederking (6-4, 205, Sr.)

Game Notes

Louisville

  • Louisville opens its 107th season of collegiate basketball and 11th year at home in the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals face the Evansville Aces on Wednesday in their first game of the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic. It is the first of five straight home games for UofL, all part of a 16-game, season-opening event in which the Cardinals are hosting eight additional teams.
  • Louisville has won its last 16 straight season openers and 25 of its last 27. The Cardinals are 73-33 in all-time season openers.
  • Louisville has won its last 19 consecutive home openers.
  • Louisville has won 55 straight home games in the month of November spanning the last 28 years, including a 42-0 record in the KFC Yum! Center.
  • Louisville was picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2020-21 in a preseason media poll with Virginia as the league favorite.
  • Carlik Jones was named as a 2020-21 Preseason All-America selection by Stadium on the five-person third team preseason All-America team, placing Jones among the top 15 players in the nation.
  • David Johnson is one of 50 players named to the preseason watch list for the 2021 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Men’s Basketball Player of the Year. Johnson was honored on the 11-person preseason All-ACC Team and was the leading vote-getter on the second team.
  • Senior forward/center Malik Williams, team co-captain and the most experienced returnee for the Cardinals, will miss at least 12 weeks due to an injury to his right foot. Williams developed a fracture in the fifth metatarsal of his right foot and had surgery to repair the break on Nov. 11.
  • Graduate transfer guard Charles Minlend is sidelined for six weeks after suffering a sprained medial collateral ligament (MCL) in his left knee during practice on Nov. 5.
  • Louisville’s victory over Wake Forest on Feb. 5 gave UofL its 18th consecutive 20-win season. Louisville is one of four Division I schools in the nation which has won 20 or more games in each of the past 18 seasons (Kansas - 31, Duke - 24, Gonzaga - 22).
  • Louisville posted a 15-5 record in its sixth season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, finishing in a tie for second in the league with Duke and Virginia. It was its best in its six years in the conference and its first time to win more than 12 ACC games.
  • With three of its top nine scorers (two of its top six) returning including a pair of late-season starters (F/C Malik Williams, G David Johnson), Louisville returns about a quarter of its production from the Cardinals’ successful 2019-20 squad.
  • Last season, UofL’s seven returning scholarship players accounted for 25% of the Cardinals’ scoring (565 of 2296 points), 29& of its rebounding (342 of 1196), 51% of its assists (106 of 433), 11% of its three-point goals (27 of 255), 36% of its blocked shots (30 of 83), 25% of its steals (40 of 157) and 25% of the total minutes played (1558 of 6250).

Evansville

  • On January 21, 2020, it was announced that Todd Lickliter inked a multi-year deal to become the Aces head coach.
  • This year’s version of the Aces features seven returners (two regular starters) and seven newcomers from the 2019-20 team.
  • Evansville looks to end a 19-game losing streak, which is the longest in school history - The last win for the Aces came on Dec. 21, 2019 - a 78-76 overtime win against Murray State.
  • The Aces are picked to finish 10th in the MVC this season behind top choice Northern Iowa.
  • Through the first 19 games of last season, Evan Kuhlman posted 2.9 points, 1.6 rebounds, 12.8 minutes and shot 18.8% from outside. From the January 22 game against Drake through the end of the season, Kuhlman was on fire averaging 9.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 30.0 minutes while draining 38.9% of his long range attempts in the last 13 contests.
  • As a junior, Noah Frederking played in all 32 games and made 15 starts while averaging 5.7 points and 2.0 rebounds. He finished the season on a bit of a hot streak, knocking down 8 of his final 18 3-point attempts in the last six games.
  • Since joining the Aces in 2018, Shamar Givance has excelled in his ability to take care of the ball. He led the Missouri Valley Conference with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.6 after finishing the year with 72 assists and just 28 turnovers.
  • In 12 games with Lickliter, Jawaun Newton finished with 8.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game while shooting 55.6% overall and 48.0% from long range. This was a huge jump from the opening 17 games that saw him finish at 3.4 points and 2.5 rebounds; his shooting numbers over that span finished at 33.9% from the field and 13.6% from 3-point territory.
  • Since the start of the 2018-19 season, the Aces are 0-19 when scoring under 60 points - UE has lost 23 in a row when finishing with 60 or fewer; the last win was a 57-49 win over UNI on 1/31/18.
  • UE excelled over the last ten games of 2019-20 in limiting assists and forcing turnovers - the opposition had 90 assists against 117 turnovers over that stretch. The three games prior to that opponents them finish with 50 helpers and 22 turnovers.

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