Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Seton Hall Pirates

The Cardinals move onto their second game of the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic by hosting the Pirates.

(Photo of Steven Enoch: Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports)

Seton Hall Pirates (0-0, 0-0 Big East) at Louisville Cardinals (1-0, 0-0 ACC)

- Tipoff: Friday, November 27 at 4:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: ESPN2
- How To Listen: WHAS 840
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -6.5
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 14-6
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 70-65 on Dec. 1, 2018 (Prudential Center - Newark, N.J.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

• F Samuell Williamson (6-7, 210, 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.)

Seton Hall

• F Jared Rhoden (6-6, 210, Jr.)
• F Myles Cale (6-6, 210, Sr.)
• F Sandro Mamukelashvili (6-11, 240, Sr.)
• G Bryce Aiken (6-0, 180, Sr.)
• G Takal Molson (6-5, 205, Jr.)

Main Storylines

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

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Pirates, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape & Prediction: Louisville vs. Seton Hall

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville defeated Evansville 79-44 on Wednesday, limiting the Aces to 29.8 percent shooting from the field. Four Cardinals scored in double figures.
• Graduate transfer guard Carlik Jones filled up the box score in his debut with the Cardinals against Evansville, producing team highs of 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists on Nov. 25. His scoring total is tied for the fifth-most in program history in a Louisville debut.
• Samuell Williamson produced career-best totals of 17 points and five assists, while matching his career high with six rebounds vs. Evansville. Williamson had three double-digit scoring efforts as a freshman with a previous career-high of 15 points against Indiana State.
• Quinn Slazinski scored a career-high 10 points off the bench. He had just 15 total points in 15 games last season.
• Dre Davis blocked three shots vs. Evansville, the most by a Louisville freshman in his career debut since George Goode blocked five vs. Morehead State on Nov. 22, 2008.
• JJ Traynor scored 11 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting in his collegiate debut. His three dunks tied the Louisville record for most dunks in a freshman debut.
• Louisville plays its second game in three days to start the season as the Cardinals face the Seton Hall Pirates on Friday in KFC Yum! Center, UofL’s in second game of the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic.
  
• Louisville has won 56 straight home games in the month of November spanning the last 29 years, including a 43-0 record in the KFC Yum! Center. UofL has won its last 17 straight season openers and 20 consecutive home openers with its victory over Evansville.
  
• Louisville has won 82 of its last 86 non-conference games at home in the KFC Yum! Center, spanning the last 11 seasons. One of the losses in that stretch was against Seton Hall in 2017.

Seton Hall

• The 2019-20 season came to an unfortunate demise due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it was still an incredible year for the Pirates, who captured their first BIG EAST regular season championship since 1992-93 with a 13-5 record.
• Although The Hall shared the title with Villanova and Creighton, the Pirates were the only team to be in first place wire-to-wire, opening the league schedule with eight straight wins and remaining there until clinching on March 1.
• Seton Hall won a school record seven BIG EAST road games, including a pair against top-10 teams. Their eight “Quad 1” road wins on the season were tied with Kansas for most in the country. The Pirates’ seven BIG EAST road wins were a school record and their eight road wins were the most in the Kevin Willard Era.
• Despite losing three very critical members of the 2019-20 team, Seton Hall still returns 44 percent of its scoring, 63 percent of its rebounding and 50 percent of its three-pointers made from last season’s BIG EAST Championship squad.
• Plus, the Pirates gain the services of two transfers who have combined for over 2,000 points at the Div. I level.
• One of those transfers is Bryce Aiken (Randolph, N.J.), a two-time All-Ivy League honoree who scored 1,090 points and issued 174 assists in 65 career games with Harvard. His success in Cambridge impressed enough BIG EAST coaches that Aiken was named Preseason All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention entering his first season in the conference. 
• The second transfer is Takal Molson (Buffalo, N.Y.), the 2018 MAAC Rookie of the Year and a first-team All-MAAC selection at Canisius. In 65 career games, Molson is averaging 14.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game with 50 career double-digit scoring performances.
• Late last season, Sandro Mamukelashvili showed why he could be a force in the league this season. In his final eight games, he averaged 15.1 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 57 percent from the field and 50 percent from three. He’s been named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST first team and watch lists for the Naismith Trophy and the Karl Malone Award.
• In 18 conference games, Junior forward Jared Rhoden made 12 starts and averaged 9.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game with a 44.6 three-point percentage and a 50.0 field goal percentage.
• Guard Shavar Reynolds, Jr. will be one of Kevin Willard’s first options off the bench in 2020-21 after shooting 47.8 percent from three-point range and oftentimes guarding the opposing team’s top scorer in all 30 games last season.

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