Unbeaten No. 6 Louisville will attempt to ride one of the hottest offenses in the nation when it hosts NJIT on Wednesday night.
Louisville is averaging 97.2 points per game — ninth-best in the nation — and freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. (18.3 points and 5.8 assists per game) has been a standout early for the Cardinals (6-0), who have seven players averaging at least 8.2 ppg.
Louisville began the season ranked No. 11 and rose after a home victory over then-No. 9 Kentucky on Nov. 11.
Louisville enters Wednesday’s game after an 87-46 win Monday over Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals shot 48.4% (30 of 62) from the field while holding their opponent to 28.1% (16 of 57), including 19.4% (6 of 31) in the first half.
The Cardinals struggled early on offense but shot 63.3% from the field (19 of 30) after halftime and outscored the Eagles 54-29.
“I felt like we played really hard on the defensive end,” said Louisville coach Pat Kelsey. “They’re a strong physical team, and I was proud of our guys. I felt like we met that physical challenge tonight.”
Virginia transfer Isaac McKneely led the Cardinals with 17 points and shot 5-for-9 from 3-point range. Brown and reserve big man Aly Khalifa added 11 points each, with Khalifa shooting 3-for-4 from long distance.
With just one day off between the Eastern Michigan and NJIT games, Kelsey didn’t play anyone more than 27 minutes against the Eagles.
Kelsey acknowledged that the quick turnaround between matchups provides useful preparation for the postseason.
“It’s a little bit of a different process because your time’s so short and it’s diminishing returns if you try to go live and run through the other team’s plays and do all that stuff,” Kelsey said. “So it challenges your guys to be very efficient. We have a very mature team, and they’ll be terrific.”
NJIT (3-4) enters Wednesday’s contest on a three-game losing streak. The Highlanders, who have failed to reach double-digit wins since an 11-18 season in 2021-22, are near the bottom of the national rankings in scoring at an average of 66.2 points per game.
Guards David Bolden (13.4 ppg, 38.6% 3-point shooting) and Ari Fulton (12.1 ppg, 8.3 rebounds per game) are the two leading scorers on the team.
The Highlanders also will play on a short turnaround after a 94-67 loss at Cincinnati on Monday. NJIT connected on 12 of 31 shots from 3-point range (38.7%) but trailed by 14 points at halftime and never challenged in the second half.
Bolden scored 16 points — going 4-for-7 from deep — to pace the Highlanders. Also reaching double figures in scoring were Fulton with 10 points and reserve Sebastian Robinson with 10.
NJIT’s top three scorers this season are freshmen and sophomores.
“I’m excited about this group,” said third-year NJIT coach Grant Billmeier. “I think we have a lot of pieces that we haven’t had before.”
Jordan Rogers had a team-high nine rebounds Monday for NJIT, which will face Eastern Michigan on Friday.
Louisville’s next game after Wednesday will be Dec. 3 at No. 22 Arkansas.
–Field Level Media
