Louisville Cardinals (7-5, 1-1) vs. Eastern Kentucky Colonels (6-6, 0-0)

Playing time: Midday

Location: KFC Yum Center: Louisville, Kentucky.

TV: The CW

Announcer: Eavan Lepier (play-by-play) and Seth Davis (analyst)

Officer: Bert Smith, Tony Henderson, Clare Aubry

Favorite: Louisville until May 18th

Series: Louisville leads 53-22

Last meeting: Louisville won 99-67 in Louisville on December 14, 2019

Series history:

Expected starting lineups:

Louisville

• G Chucky Hepburn (6-2, 190, Sr.)
• G J’Vonne Hadley (6-6, 215, 5th)
• G/FTerrence Edwards Jr. (6-6, 205, 5th)
• F Noah Waterman (6-11, 230, 6th)
• C James Scott (6-11, 220, Sun.)

Eastern Kentucky

• G George Kimble III (6-2, 184, Sun.)
• G Jackson Holt (6-4, 185, R-So.)
• G/F Devontae Blanton (6-6, 214, Sr.)
• F Mayar Wol (6-8, 196, Sun.)
• F Montavious Myrick (6-8, 208, Sr.)

Statistics:

Season so far at Eastern Kentucky:

Relevant videos:

About Eastern Kentucky:

Fresh off its first regular-season conference championship since 1979, Eastern Kentucky is off to a bit of a rocky start under seventh-year head coach AW Hamilton. The Colonels are 6-6, but the closest they’ve come to a win is a road win over 7-6 ETSU in the first week of the season.

The Colonels, upset in the first round of last year’s Atlantic Sun tournament, are led by the veteran’s two-pronged attack Devontae Blanton and newbie George Kimble.

Blanton, now in his fifth season at EKU, currently leads the team in points (16.4 ppg), rebounds (6.1 rpg) and assists (3.8 apg). Blanton isn’t a big outside shooter and at 6’3″ he’s undersized all around, but he’s incredibly strong and has a great feel for the game once he gets on the lane. Most nights the colonels walk like him.

Kimble is the less polished of the two players, but I think he is more naturally gifted. He still gets out of control from time to time, but he’s taking better care of the ball than he did earlier in the season. The 6-foot-2 sophomore has never seen a shot he didn’t like, and he’ll be starting early and often at the Yum Center on Saturday afternoon.

EKU plays a little slower than Hamilton teams of the past, but their general DNA is the same. They want to get up and down and shoot a lot of threes. Like Louisville, they are among the country’s leaders in three-point FGA per FGs, but unfortunately not among the country’s leaders in three-pointers made. The Colonels are hitting from distance at a rate of 31.9 percent, which is the 235th best in DI.

Defensively, Eastern Kentucky has struggled the most this season. The Colonels’ rallying cry when their opponents have the ball this season seems to be to play with reckless abandon. EKU ranks 28th nationally in steal percentage and 66th in forcing turnovers, but when they can’t find a takeaway, they take an insane amount of high-percentage shots right at the rim or from the perimeter. They also have the odd profile of being a great offensive rebounding team and a terrible defensive rebounding team.

If Louisville takes care of the basketball, it should have an impressive performance on offense for the third straight season. It would be a good afternoon again to take some free shots.

Notable:

—Louisville has won 15 straight games against Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels have not defeated the Cardinals since December 4, 1963. This game was the first game ever played at EKU’s McBrayer Arena.

– This will be Louisville’s first home game since December 11th. The Cardinals are 4-3 at the KFC Yum Center so far this season.

– EKU ranks fourth in the NCAA in offensive rebounds with 15.83 per game.

– Eastern Kentucky was picked to finish second in the Atlantic Sun preseason media poll.

– The Louisville-EKU series is the longest of any team on this year’s Cardinals schedule, with 75 games between the programs.

—Louisville has a 40-4 all-time record in home games against Eastern Kentucky.

– EKU is 0-2 against ACC opponents this season, losing to Clemson and Pittsburgh. The Colonels led both teams at times in the second half.

– Saturday’s game marks the final non-conference contest on Louisville’s 2024-25 regular season schedule.

– Louisville has a 257-83 record against non-conference opponents over the last 23 seasons (including postseason).

– Louisville has a 187-27 record in non-conference regular-season home games over the last 23 seasons. The Cardinals have a 111-18 record in non-conference home games over the last 14 seasons.

– At the KFC Yum Center, Louisville has a 107-18 record in non-conference games.

– Louisville has a 14-0 record over the last 10 seasons when limiting opponents to no more than a three-point field goal.

– Since 2004, Louisville is 130-0 when leading by more than 10 points at halftime.

–Louisville has a 115-0 all-time record when scoring 100 or more points in non-overtime games.

—Louisville has won 163 consecutive games while holding an opponent under 50 points.

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 86, Eastern Kentucky 69