Preview: Louisville Travels to Pitt for Road Showdown

The Cardinals hit the road to face the Panthers in the Steel City.

Jan 13, 2026; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Ryan Conwell (3) dribbles around the screen of forward Sananda Fru (13) against Virginia Cavaliers guard Dallin Hall (30) during the first half at KFC Yum! Center. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images | Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

No. 20 Louisville Cardinals (12-5, 2-3 ACC) at Pitt Panthers (8-9, 1-3 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, January 17 at 8:00 p.m. EST
- Location: Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pa
- How To Watch: ESPN2
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -6.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville Leads 23-11
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 79-68 on Mar. 1, 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.)

Pitt

• G Damarco Minor (6-0, 190, 5th)
• G Omari Witherspoon (6-4, 190, Fr.)
• G/F Barry Dunning Jr. (6-6, 195, Sr.)
• F Roman Siulepa (6-6, 220, Fr.)
• F Cameron Corhen (6-10, 235, Sr.)

Comparison

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

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville men’s basketball hopes to get back in the win column on Saturday evening when it
• takes on conference foe Pittsburgh at the Petersen Events Center. Louisville has fallen in three of its last four contests, most recently to No. 16 Virginia on Tuesday night.
• Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 169-66 all-time in conference play as a head coach. He has a 79-39 record all-time in away league games, for a winning percentage of 66.9% on the road.
• Kelsey reached his 300th career win on Jan. 10 with a victory over Boston College. He has achieved 39 of those wins as the head coach at UofL.
• 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 39-0 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.
• 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.
• Both Ryan Conwell and Mikel Brown Jr. represent Louisville on the preseason Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Watch List. Conwell is also on the Lute Olsen Early Season List while Brown is on the Midseason List for the John Wooden Award.
• 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.
• With two 50-point victories on the season, it marks the first time Louisville has had two 50 point victories in one season since 2004-05.
• Louisville's back-to-back 40-point wins over Eastern Michigan & NJIT was the program's first set of back-to-back 40-point victories since 2012-13.
• 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
• Freshman Mikel 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 (1,665), Isaac McKneely (1,294) and J’Vonne Hadley (1,192).

Pitt

• Pitt is coming off of an 89-66 win at Georgia Tech. The 23-point margin was the seventh-largest road conference victory in Panthers’ history. Five different players scored in double figures for Pitt, led by Brandin Cummings with 23, his second consecutive 20-point game.
• Pitt’s start to ACC play has mirrored what the Panthers did a year ago when the team lost eight regular season ACC games in “close” fashion. In 2024-25, Pitt led, was tied or was within one possession in the final six minutes of regulation in eight of its 12 ACC losses. This year, both of the first two games in league action were “close” by that definition.
• After averaging 11.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in 2024-25, Cameron Corhen has taken the next step in his game in 2025-26. This year, he averages 13.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Corhen also leads the team with a field goal percentage of 54.1 percent and has made 7-of-19 three-pointers (36.8 percent).
• Freshman Omari Witherspoon was thrust into a starting role right out of the gate. Initially, he struggled to play an efficient style of basketball, but over the past five games, he has turned it up a notch. Witherspoon started the first 10 games of the season, but a move to the bench was a catalyst for improved play. After coming off the bench for four consecutive games, Head Coach Jeff Capel moved him back into the starting lineup against Syracuse.
• Freshman Roman Siulepa plays with a bruising style that complements his rugby background. He has a pair of 20-point games this year, tied for the most on the team in 2025-26. Siulepa has found a consistent groove over the past six games. He has scored in
  double-figures in each contest, averaging 14.3 points per game in the stretch. And he is doing it while shooting 58.9 percent from the floor and 42.1 percent from three-point range.
• Early in the year, Pitt struggled with turnovers, averaging 13.1 over the first seven games of the season. The Panthers had at least 12 turnovers in six of those seven games. Pitt turned over a new leaf in game eight against Ohio State, posting a season-low five turnovers. Since that point, Pitt has not had more than 12 turnovers in a game and is averaging just 9.7 per contest (the past ten games).
• In each of the last seven games, Pitt has shot better from three-point range in the first half (38/80, 47.5 percent) than they have in the second half (23/87, 26.4 percent) of each contest.
• Teams are shooting 33.5 percent from three-point range this year against the Panthers. But the split between wins and losses has been stark. Opponent three-point shooting has been a critical factor in determining Pitt’s games. The Panthers are holding opponents to just 29.7 percent from three in their eight wins but opponents are shooting 37.6 percent in the team’s nine losses.
• Pitt has been outrebounded in a game six times this season and has won the rebounding battle in seven of its eight victories this year. The Panthers’ only win this year when being outrebounded came against Georgia Tech Wednesday. In fact, Pitt is +8.2 on the boards in its eight wins and -1.8 in the nine losses.
• Brandin Cummings has scored 52 points combined in Pitt’s last two games, doing so while coming off the bench. In his 45-game career, he has two other 30+ point games when playing as a non-starter.
• Fifth-year point guard Damarco “Polo” Minor has taken the long road to get to Pitt, but is leading the Panthers in 2025-26. Minor began his collegiate career in junior college at South Suburban College for the 2021-22 season and then spent two years at SIU Edwardsville, culminating in First Team All-OVC honors. He transferred to Oregon State for the 2024-25 season.

(Photo of Ryan Conwell: Jamie Rhodes - Imagn Images)

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