Preview: Louisville Travels to Duke for Ranked Rematch

The Cardinals have a short turnaround in store, heading to Durham for another shot at the Blue Devils.

Duke Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer (12) looks to pass as Louisville Cardinals guard J'vonne Hadley (1) at right pressures during ACC college basketball January 6, 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky. | Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

No. 23 Louisville Cardinals (14-5, 4-3 ACC) at No. 5 Duke Blue Devils (18-1, 7-0 ACC)

- Tipoff: Monday, January 26 at 7:00 p.m. EST
- Location: Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.
- How To Watch: ESPN
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Duke -9.0
- All-Time Series: Duke Leads 18-9
- Last Meeting: Duke won 84-73 on Jan. 6, 2026 (KFC Yum! Center)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

• G Mikel Brown Jr. (6-5, 190, Fr.)
• 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.)

Duke

• G Caleb Foster (6-5, 205, Jr.)
• G/F Isaiah Evans (6-6, 180, So.)
• G/F Dame Sarr (6-8, 190, Fr.)
• F Cameron Boozer (6-9, 250, Fr.)
• C Patrick Ngongba (6-11, 250, So.)

Comparison

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

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville men’s basketball hits the road to play its first repeat opponent of the season in the Duke Blue Devils on Monday night in Durham. The Cardinals moved to 4-3 in ACC play on Saturday after defeating Virginia Tech 85-71.
• UofL has a 66-89 record against Top 25 teams over the last 15 years.
• Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 171-66 (.722) all-time in conference play as a head coach, including an 80-39 (.672) record on the road in league action.
• As of Jan. 25, there are 25 players in DI shooting 41% or above from 3-point range in their career. No one in that group has made or attempted more 3-pointers than senior guard Isaac McKneely, who has made 287 on 695 attempts.
• Louisville is one of three DI teams with at least five victories of 40 points or more this season, joining Michigan (6) and High Point (6).
• Freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. returned to the floor on Jan. 24 against Virginia Tech after missing eight games due to injury. He was named the 2025 USA Basketball Men's Athlete of the Year on Jan. 6.
• Louisville is 41-0 under Kelsey when leading with five minutes to play.
• Louisville has had five 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. Louisville is one of six teams in 2025-26 as of Jan. 21 to have five games of at least 24 assists.
• 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 is one of 13 teams in DI this season to make at least 20 3-pointers against another DI team, as of Jan. 25.
• Kelsey reached his 300th career win on Jan. 10 with a victory over Boston College. He has now achieved 40 wins as the head coach at UofL.
• 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.
• Louisville's positive 38 rebounding margin against NJIT on Nov. 26 was the largest rebounding margin in program history. It was the third largest margin any DI team had against another DI team up to that point in the season.
• Freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. was named ACC Co-Player and Co-Rookie 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.
• The Cardinals landed two players on the Preseason All-ACC First Team, the only program to do so in 2025. Both Mikel Brown Jr., and Ryan Conwell earned the First Team nod. Louisville was picked second overall in the league by voting media members.
• UofL has three Cardinals on the roster that have scored over 1,000 DI points: Ryan Conwell (1,704), Isaac McKneely (1,313) and J’Vonne Hadley (1,223).
• 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.
• Of the 10 players who were on an NCAA DI roster in 2024-25, eight of them were on teams that played in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The roster has made 14 cumulative NCAA Division I Tournament appearances at their current/previous schools, playing in 10 NCAA Tournament games across their careers.

Duke

• No. 5 Duke plays No. 23 Louisville for the second time in January, hosting the Cardinals at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Monday at 7 p.m., on ESPN.
• Duke has won 29 of its last 30 games against conference opponents.
• The Blue Devils have won 26 consecutive home games, including 13 straight against conference opponents, while posting a 57-3 (.950) home record under Jon Scheyer.
• The Blue Devils have played seven nationally-ranked opponents this season (6-1 record).
• Duke has secured top-25 victories over No. 7 Michigan State, No. 15 Florida, No. 20 Louisville, No. 22 Arkansas, No. 24 SMU and No. 25 Kansas.
• Duke is third in NET rankings and tied as the national leader with eight Quad 1 wins. (Jan. 25)
• Duke is one of only two teams ranked in the top-eight nationally in both offensive efficiency (126.5, 5th) and defensive efficiency (92.8, 5th) ratings. (KenPom)
• The Blue Devils lead the ACC and are seventh nationally in scoring margin (+20.5).
• Duke tops the conference and ranks 11th in the country in rebounding margin (+9.6).
• The Blue Devils rank 19th in the nation and second in the ACC in scoring defense (65.3 ppg).
• Cameron Boozer is the nation’s leading scorer with 23.7 points per game, and ranks third in the ACC in rebounding (9.9 rpg), tied for third in steals (1.9 spg), 12th in assists (4.1 apg) and fifth in field goal percentage (.584).
• Boozer is the first Blue Devil with consecutive 30-point games since RJ Barrett in Feb. 2019.
• Boozer’s 32-point performance versus Wake Forest was his 10th game scoring 25 points or more, which is third among Duke freshmen all time.
• Maliq Brown (pictured) has been Duke’s top playmaker the past two games, having distributed a team-high five assists versus Wake Forest (Jan. 24) and at Stanford (Jan. 17).
• Isaiah Evans is the ACC’s seventh-leading scorer in conference play, averaging 18.9 points per game, and is tied for fourth in the league with 3.1 3-pointers per ACC contest.
• Evans has drained three or more 3-pointers in 10 games this season. Duke is 21-0 the past two seasons when the sophomore sharp-shooter hits three or more triples.
• Duke has won 11 of the last 14 meetings with Louisville, including eight straight, and leads the all-time series 18-9.
• The Blue Devils are 5-3 when hosting Louisville.
• The Blue Devils and Cardinals have played 12 times when both teams are ranked, with Duke holding a 7-5 edge.
• No. 1 Duke defeated No. 13 Louisville, 73-62, in the 2025 ACC Tournament championship game in Charlotte.
• Last Time Out: No. 5 Duke, fueled by a 32-point outing from Cameron Boozer, moved past Wake Forest, 90-69, on Saturday, Jan. 24. The Blue Devils outrebounded the Demon Deacons by a 43-22 margin, including a 16-6 effort on the offensive glass. Duke’s defense stifled an offense that entered the contest averaging nearly 81 points per game, including a stretch of nearly eight minutes in the second half when the Blue Devils’ defense did not allow a made shot.

(Photo of Sananda Fru, Cameron Boozer, J'Vonne Hadley: Matt Stone - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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