Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey has completely revived the program in less than two seasons.
Ranked No. 6 in the country, the Cardinals are off to their first 5-0 start in six seasons. They’ll strive to remain unbeaten Monday night when they host Eastern Michigan.
Louisville is coming off a 74-64 win against Cincinnati Friday night, where it was held in check offensively and didn’t make a shot until more than 7 1/2 minutes into the game. The Cardinals fell behind 15-4 and trailed 32-28 at halftime.
But led by Ryan Conwell, who scored 17 of his 25 points and made three of his five 3-pointers in the second half, the Cardinals outscored the Bearcats 46-32 after the break.
They’ll look to recapture their electric offense that’s averaging 97.2 points per game and has scored 100-plus points three times already this season.
“It was a battle of two teams that really thrive in transition and I thought they got the better of us in the first half,” Kelsey said. “We talk so much about transition, rebounding, physicality and toughness, those four things we harped on a lot and I thought we were 0 for 4 on those in the first half, but I thought our guys responded. We came out in the second half, and I’d like to think we were 4 for 4 in the second half.
“We like to play in rhythm, we’re a very talented offensive team and they really disrupted us. I thought they were the aggressor on the offensive glass, but we ended up winning the rebounding battle. I liked how our guys responded.”
Conwell leads the Cardinals with 20.4 points per game and is shooting 45.2% from 3-point range. He’s joined in the backcourt by star freshman Mikel Brown Jr., who leads the Cardinals with 33 assists and is averaging 19.8 points per game.
Sanandra Fru (5.8 rebounds per game) and J’Vonne Hadley (6.3 rebounds) lead the Cardinals’ front court.
Eastern Michigan (3-2) has had multi-game losing and winning streaks through its first five games this season. Picked to finish ninth in the MAC preseason coaches’ poll, the Eagles are on a two-game winning streak entering Monday night’s game.
In their 97-91 home win over Oakland Friday night, redshirt freshman Mohammad Habhab finished one assist shy of a triple-double, with 24 points and 11 rebounds. It was his fourth double-double of the season.
“That was a fun basketball game,” Eagles coach Stan Heath said. “Our defense wasn’t great, but our offense carried us.
“Mo is just a terrific all-around player. He’s a force. For a young guy, a freshman who didn’t play last year, you know he’s talented, but you don’t know when it’s going to click. He’s started to click early.”
The Eagles feature a homegrown team with nine players from the state of Michigan.
Both teams are playing their second of three games in a six-day span, with the Eagles playing four games in an eight-day span.
Following Monday’s game, Louisville takes on NJIT Wednesday to close out November. What follows is a challenging month with games against Arkansas, Indiana, Memphis and Tennessee.
–Field Level Media
