Preview: Louisville Returns Home to Face SMU

The Cardinals hope to bounce back when they take on the Mustangs at the KFC Yum! Center.

Dec 16, 2025; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Louisville Cardinals forward Sananda Fru (13) moves the ball against the Tennessee Volunteers during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

SMU Mustangs (15-5, 4-3 ACC) at No. 20 Louisville Cardinals (14-6, 4-4 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, January 31 at 2:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: ESPN
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -7.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville Leads 9-2
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 98-73 on Jan. 21, 2025 (Dallas, Tex.)

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.)

SMU

• G Boopie Miller (6-0, 175, Sr.)
• G B.J. Edwards (6-3, 200, Sr.)
• G Jaron Pierre Jr. (6-5, 210, Sr.)
• F Corey Washington (6-6, 190, Sr.)
• C Samet Yigitoglu (7-2, 270, So.)

Comparison

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

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville men’s basketball will play its January finale on Saturday afternoon, hosting the SMU Mustangs. The Cardinals are looking to end the month on the right foot and bounce back from an 83-52 loss at Duke on Monday evening.
• Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 171-67 (.718) all-time in conference play as a head coach.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• Louisville led 59-15 at halftime against South Carolina State on Nov. 3. The 44-point halftime lead was the largest in program history. The Cardinals are 30-3 all-time under head coach Pat Kelsey when leading at halftime.
• 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 (1,722), Isaac McKneely (1,319) and J’Vonne Hadley (1,234).
• 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

SMU

• SMU is receiving votes in the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll while ranking No. 31 in the NCAA NET (Jan. 29). This is the eighth week the Mustangs have received votes in the polls with a high of No. 24 in the AP Top 25 and No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll on Jan. 5.
• SMU has five players averaging double figures in scoring: Boopie Miller (19.4, 7th ACC, 48th NCAA), Jaron Pierre Jr. (17.5, 8th ACC), B.J. Edwards (14.2, 22nd ACC), Corey Washington (11.2, 46th ACC) and Samet Yigitoglu (10.5, 53rd ACC).
• Yigitoglu is leading the Mustangs in blocks (1.6, 5th ACC, 74th NCAA) and rebounds (8.1, 7th ACC, 68th NCAA).
• Boopie Miller is second on the team in steals (1.8, 6th ACC, 93rd NCAA) and leads in assists (6.7, 1st ACC, 11st NCAA) with a 2.61 assist-to-turnover ratio (4th ACC, 78th NCAA).
• B.J. Edwards is averaging 5.4 assists (6th ACC, 47th NCAA), 5.9 rebounds (22nd ACC) and 2.6 steals (1st ACC, 9th NCAA) with a 2.45 assist-to-turnover ratio (7th ACC, 94th NCAA).
• From three-point range, Jermaine O’Neal Jr. is 42.9% (15-35), Boopie Miller is 37.4% (34-91) and Corey Washington 41.5% (22-53).
• The Mustangs are near the top of the ACC in scoring offense (87.3, 1st ACC, 18th NCAA), assists (17.8, 1st ACC, 21st NCAA), fastbreak points (12.9, 2nd ACC, 83rd NCAA), field-goal percentage (49.4%, 3rd ACC, 26th NCAA) and free-throw percentage (76.9%, 3rd ACC, 32nd NCAA).
• Boopie Miller is on the Oscar Roberston Trophy Midseason Watch List, the Lute Olson Award Early Season Watch List and was named The Athletic Midseason All-America honorable mention after being selected preseason All-ACC second team.
• LAST GAME (W, 83-80 vs Florida State on Jan. 24): Jaron Pierre Jr. had 28 points to help SMU hold off Florida State 83-80. Lajae Jones buried a 3-pointer to give Florida State a 72-69 lead with four minutes remaining.
• This is the 12th meeting between the two programs. Louisville won the only matchup in 2024-25 as ACC foes and had previoulsy won both meetings as American Athletic Conference opponents in 2013-14.
• B.J. Edwards has been named ACC Player of the Week three times. Edwards and Duke's Cameron Boozer (four times) are the only players to win ACC Player of the Week multiple times this season.
• Boopie Miller was an honorable mention selection on The Athletic Midseason AllAmerica Teams on January 21.
• SMU is averaging 17.8 assists (1st ACC, 21st NCAA) with Boopie Miller pacing at 6.7 assists (1st ACC, 11th NCAA) and B.J. Edwards dishing 5.4 per game (6th ACC, 47th NCAA). Last season, SMU was second in the ACC in assists at 15.9 (44th NCAA).
• SMU started 8-0, its best start since opening 8-0 for the 2019-20 season and tied for fourthbest in program history.

(Photo of Sananda Fru: Randy Sartin - Imagn Images)

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