Preview: Louisville Welcomes Boston College to KFC Yum! Center

The Cardinals will attempt to bounce back with a home matchup against the Eagles.

Feb 5, 2025; Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA; Boston College Eagles guard Donald Hand Jr. (13) passes the ball past Louisville Cardinals guard J'Vonne Hadley (1) during the second half at Conte Forum. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images | Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

Boston College Eagles (7-8, 0-2 ACC) at No. 20 Louisville Cardinals (11-4, 1-2 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, January 10 at 12:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: The CW Network
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -21.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville Leads 11-8
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 84-58 on Feb. 5, 2025 (KFC Yum! Center)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

• G Adrian Wooley (6-4, 200, So.)
• G Isaac McKneely (6-4, 195, Sr.)
• G Ryan Conwell (6-4, 215, Sr.)
• F J'Vonne Hadley (6-7, 210, 6th)
• F/C Sananda Fru (6-11, 245, Jr.)

Boston College

• G Fred Payne (6-1, 185, R-So.)
• G Luka Toews (6-1, 190, So.)
• G Donald Hand Jr. (6-5, 210, R-Jr.)
• F Jayden Hastings (6-9, 240, R-So.)
• F/C Boden Kapke (6-11, 255, Jr.)

Comparison

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

Game Notes

Louisville

• Both teams enter the game on a two-game conference skid as Louisville recently fell to No. 6 Duke on Tuesday evening while Boston College dropped a game to NC State.
• Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 168-65 all-time in conference play as a head coach.
• Louisville is one of five DI teams with at least four victories of 40 points or more this season, joining Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky and High Point.
• Freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. was recently named the 2025 USA Basketball Men's Athlete of the Year.
• There were 14 players returning to DI this season that had made at least 175 3-pointers with a career 3-point field goal percentage of 38% or more; Ryan Conwell and Isaac McKneely are two of those 14.
• Louisville is 38-0 under Kelsey when leading with five minutes to play.
• Louisville has had four games of at least 24 assists, the first time since 2010-11 that the program has had multiple games of 24+ assists; the Cardinals had five games of at 24+ assists that season.
• The late great Junior Bridgeman is the sixth player in Louisville men's basketball history to have their jersey number retired.
• Against Memphis on Dec. 13, Louisville had four different players with at least three 3-pointers apiece for the first time since Nov. 22, 2010 when the Cards played Chattanooga. It was the second time in program history that six different players made multiple 3-pointers, the first time being at WKU on Dec. 22, 2010.
• Senior guard Ryan Conwell is the only DI men's basketball player since at least 2010-11 to log at least 32 points, nine rebounds and six assists in 24 minutes or less, according to Sports Reference. He notched that stat line against NJIT on Nov. 26.
• A pair of Cardinals represent Louisville on the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Watch List and Oscar Robertson Trophy Preseason Watch List; both Ryan Conwell and Mikel Brown Jr. were named to the esteemed lists. Conwell is also on the Lute Olsen Early Season List while Brown is on the Midseason List for the John Wooden Award.
• Louisville netted 20 3-pointers against NJIT on Nov. 26, the second-most made 3's in a single game in program history. It's just the second time ever the Cardinals have made at least 20 3's in a game. UofL was the third team in DI this season to make at least 20 3-pointers against another DI team.
• Freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. was named to the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award Preseason Watch List while senior guard Ryan Conwell was named the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award Preseason Watch List.
• Freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. was named ACC Co-Player and CoRookie of the Week on Nov. 17 after averaging 24.0 ppg, 6.0 apg and shooting 48.1% from the floor in Louisville’s two Week 2 victories - a 96-88 win over Kentucky and 106-81 win over Ohio. Brown Jr. scored 29 points against Kentucky on Nov. 11, 2025, the fourth-most points in a game by a Louisville freshman ever.
• UofL has three Cardinals on the roster that have scored over 1,000 DI points: Ryan Conwell (1,651), Isaac McKneely (1,258) and J’Vonne Hadley (1,170). There are three additional Cards that have scored between 500 and 1,000 in their DI careers: Aly Khalifa (847), Adrian Wooley (763) and Kasean Pryor (552).
• There are 14 players who returned to DI this season that started the season with at least 175 made 3-pointers with a career 3-point field goal percentage of 38% or more; Ryan Conwell and Isaac McKneely are two of those 14 players.

Boston College

• Last time out: Boston College returned to Chestnut Hill for its ACC Home Opener against N.C. State. The Eagles fell 79-71. Fred Payne had a game and career-high 24 points with four assists. Jayden Hastings grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and Aidan
  Shaw added two rejections. BC moves to 0-2 in ACC play and 13-20 against N.C. State all-time
• Chase Forte secured 1,000 career points in BC’s ACC opener against Georgia Tech (1/3).
• Donald Hand Jr. is 104 points away from reaching 1,000 career points; all have come with Boston College.
• Aidan Shaw reached 100 career games played against Harvard (11/26).
• Caleb Steger and Marko Radunovic made their collegiate debuts in the season opener against FAU (11/3). Radunovic also scored his first career points in that game, while Steger claimed his in BC’s home opener against The Citadel (11/6).
• Boston College is making their mark nationally through the first 15 games this season. Defensively, the Eagles rank 25th in the nation and third in the ACC in blocks per game (5.1). Aidan Shaw (23) and Jayden Hastings (21) rank in the top ten in individual blocks.
• The team also holds the 45th best 3pt percentage defense (29.8) and 54th best scoring defense (67.4) in the country.
• BC is cleaning up the boards efficiently, collecting 39.2 boards per game, good for 72nd in the NCAA. The team is also taking care of the ball, allowing just 10.6 turnovers per game. That mark ranks 64th in the nation and sixth in the ACC.
• In his second full season with BC, Fred Payne has made improvements on both sides of the ball. Payne has seen increases in points (+6.3), rebounds (+1.1), assists (+1.5) across 15 games. The redshirt-sophomore has surpassed his total points tally (198) from last season in less than half of the season.
• The freshmen tandem of Radunovic and Steger have translated well, combining for 6.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game.
• Kapke, Chase Forte, Jason Asemota, and Aidan Shaw are making their presence known on Chestnut Hill. The quadruple is averaging a combined 23.6 points, 17.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 10.8 blocks and 7.3 steals per game.
• Redshirt junior Donald Hand Jr. was one of seven players to earn an ACC Preseason Player of the Year vote. The 2024-25 ACC Most Improved Player of the Year led the Eagles in points and rebounding last season. Hand Jr. is the first Boston College player since Ky Bowman (2018) to garner an ACC Preseason Player of the Year vote

(Photo of Donald Hand Jr., J'Vonne Hadley: Bob DeChiara - Imagn Images)

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