Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Texas Longhorns

No. 5 Louisville Cardinals (24-11, 12-6 ACC) vs. No. 4 Texas Longhorns (26-9, 14-4 Big 12)

- Tipoff: Monday, March 20 at 7:00 p.m. EST
- Location: Moody Center in Austin, Tex.
- How To Watch: ESPN
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Texas: -8.0
- All-Time Series: Texas leads 2-1
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 71-63 on Nov. 20, 2022 (Battle 4 Atlantis - Paradise Island, Bahamas)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

G Chrislyn Carr (5-5, Gr.)
G Hailey Van Lith (5-7, Jr.)
G Mykasa Robinson (5-7, Gr.)
F Nyla Harris (6-2, Fr.)
F Olivia Cochran (6-3, Fr.)

Texas

G Rori Harmon (5-6, So.)
G Shaylee Gonzales (5-10, Gr.)
G Shay Holle (6-0, Jr.)
F DeYona Gaston (6-2, Jr.)
F Khadija Faye (6-4, Jr.)

Comparison

Louisville	Texas
Points Per Game	48th (73.1)	44th (73.5)
Opp. Points Per Game	163rd (63.7)	27th (57.0)
Scoring Margin	52nd (9.3)	11th (16.5)
FG Percentage	28th (45.0)	33rd (44.8)
Opp. FG Percentage	169th (40.1)	45th (37.3)
3PT Percentage	52nd (34.5)	55th (34.4)
Opp. 3PT Percentage	303rd (33.6)	302nd (33.5)
FT Percentage	58th (75.3)	265th (67.8)
Rebounds Per Game	108th (37.77)	52nd (39.77)
Rebound Margin	60th (4.7)	22nd (7.6)
Assists Per Game	57th (15.2)	34th (15.8)
Turnovers Per Game	143rd (15.1)	152nd (15.3)
Turnover Margin	79th (2.31)	22nd (4.94)
Assist/Turnover Ratio	87th (1.00)	69th (1.04)
Steals Per Game	103rd (8.5)	65th (9.1)
Blocks Per Game	90th (3.6)	3rd (6.0)

Game Notes

Louisville

At 24-11 this season, Louisville is a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in program history. The other time Louisville was the No. 5 seed was the 2013 tournament when the Cardinals knocked off No. 1 seed Baylor in the Sweet Sixteen and No. 2 seed Tennessee in the Elite Eight en route to the program’s second Final Four at the time. The Cardinals advanced to the championship game after defeating No. 2 California in the national semifinals.
Louisville is making its 25th NCAA Tournament appearance and 14th in 15 tournaments under head coach Jeff Walz. The Cardinals are playing in their 12th-straight NCAA Tournament. Louisville is 42-24 all-time. They were 4-11 in their first 11 appearances and are 38-13 in their 14 appearances with Walz. They have moved on to the Sweet 16 11 times, the Elite Eight seven times, Final Four four times (2009, 2013, 2018, 2022) and twice advanced to the title game.
Eight ACC teams (Virginia Tech, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State and Notre Dame) were selected to compete in the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, the most of any conference. It marks the fifth-consecutive NCAA Tournament that the ACC has had eight teams selected, leading all conferences or tied for the conference lead each year. In the last six NCAA Tournaments, ACC teams have earned 47 selections to compete in the field, also the most of any conference. It is the ninth-straight year the ACC has had at least one No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Six teams advanced to the second round of the tournament, tied for the most by any conference.
The Cardinals inserted some new starters ahead of the Jan. 29 matchup against Syracuse and they are 9-3 since that game. Hailey Van Lith has led the team with 18.5 points per game and has averaged 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.7 steals in the last 12 games. Van Lith has scored 15 or more points in 11 of her last 12 games. Chrislyn Carr is second on the team with 11.9 points per game over the previous 12 games. She scored the second-most points by a Cardinal player in the ACC Tournament in school history with 27 against No. 3 seed Virginia Tech. Mykasa Robinson has led the team in a several categories since she has been in the starting lineup. She is first on the squad with 6.7 assists, 7.3 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game while she has scored 8.0 points per game. Nyla Harris has also done well in the starting five as she has set career-highs in points against Syracuse (18) and rebounds against North Carolina (12). Liz Dixon has tallied two doubles-doubles off of the bench in the wins over Boston College and Miami. Merissah Russell scored a career-high 13 points in the win over Boston College and had 12 points at home against #10 Notre Dame.
Hailey Van Lith took over for the Cardinals in their opening round win over No. 12 seed Drake. She scored a gamehigh 26 points, her career-best in an NCAA Tournament game. The 26 points ranks tied for eighth in program history for the most points in an NCAA Tournament game. Van Lith scored nine of the last 11 points for the Cardinals to secure the win. Mykasa Robinson also carried the Cards with a team-best seven assists in the win. Her seven assists ranks tied for seventh all-time for most assists in an NCAA Tournament game in program history. Robinson had a career-best 14 points in the win.
Louisville is 10-2 all-time in second round games under Coach Walz. The Cardinals are 10-6 all-time in the second round and were 0-4 prior to Walz’s arrival. Under Walz, UofL is now 14-0 in first round games with +24.8 scoring margin.
Mykasa Robinson has played a team-high 14 NCAA Tournament games and is the only player entering her fourth NCAA Tournament at Louisville. This is the fourth overall NCAA Tournament for Morgan Jones, as she made the tournament three times while at Florida State. For Josie Williams, this is her second appearance in the NCAA Tournament after appearing with Utah Valley in 2021. Hailey Van Lith, Olivia Cochran and Norika Konno have all played in 10 career NCAA Tournament games.
For the first time since the 2015 NCAA Tournament, the Cardinals are on the road for the first and second rounds. The Cardinals have had a lot of success away from home in the first two rounds under head coach Jeff Walz. Louisville is 13-2 under Walz on the road in the first two rounds of the tournament.
Louisville guard Hailey Van Lith is having one of the best seasons by a player in the Power Five conferences this season. She is one of two players (Caitlin Clark) to average at least 19 points, four rebounds and three assists per game this season. This past week, Van Lith was named an Honorable Mention All-American by the AP and USBWA and she is also a Second Team Academic All-American by the College Sports Communicators.

Texas

Texas earned a share of the Big 12 regular season championship, their first regular season championship since 2004. Head Coach Vic Schaefer was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year.
Texas is 22-0 on the season when they hold an opponent to 59 points or less. 26 times this season Texas has held an opponet to single digits in a quarter. Texas ranks 14th in the NCAA in turnovers forced per game and 3rd in the NCAA in blocked shots per game. Texas is the only team in the country with 20 games holding opponents under 60 points and undefeated in those games. The Longhorns set a new single season school record for blocks breaking the previous record of 199 and now have 210 for the season.
Sophomore All-American Rori Harmon was selected All-Big 12 First Team, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and to the All-Defensive Team. Harmon and Caitlin Clark (Iowa) are the only two players in NCAA DI women’s basketball that average at least 11.2 points per game, 7.5 assists per game and 5.0 rebounds per game. Harmon ranks 4th in the NCAA in assists per game. Earlier this season Harmon recorded the 4th triple double in Texas history with 17 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in a win over TCU on Jan. 4.
The Longhorns have faced adversity with several injuries to players this season. 52 combine games have been missed by Texas starters this season. Additionally they had to replace four starters and add three new assistant coaches coming into the season.
DeYona Gaston earmed All-Big 12 First Team honors. Gaston has scored 20 or more points in five games this season and ranks second in the Big 12 in field goal percentage at 51.6 percent. Gaston notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds vs. ECU in the NCAA First Round game.
Shaylee Gonzales reached 2,000 career points and Taylor Jones reached 1,000 career points in the Longhorns win over East Carolina in the NCAA First Round.
Texas has blocked 24 shots in their last two games. They rank 3rd in the NCAA at 6.0 blocks per game.
The 12 blocks vs. ECU is a Texas NCAA tournament record for blocks in a game.
Despite missing five games due to injury, Harmon ranks 7th in the NCAA in total assists on the season with 225 (7.5 per game). Harmon leads the Big 12 in assists per game.
Texas has held 32 of their 35 opponents under their season scoring average entering the game.
The Longhorns lead the Big 12 and rank 13th in the NCAA in offensive rebounds per game at 15.3. Texas is 20-6 on the season when they win the offensive glass.
6 different players have posted a double-double for Texas this season.
Rori Harmon became the seventh player in program history to reach 200+ assists for a season.

(Photo of Mykasa Robinson, Hailey Van Lith: Sam Upshaw Jr. - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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