Has the main edge UK basketball has long held over U of L flipped to the Cards?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK leads the series decisively, holding 40-17 overall and 31-14 modern.
- Kentucky guards have produced high-level performances that overwhelmed Louisville.
- Louisville’s 2025 recruit Mikel Brown Jr. could flip the guard advantage for U of L.
One thing I have respected about Pat Kelsey since his arrival in the commonwealth is that the second-year Louisville men’s basketball coach has kept it real about the status of the rivalry between U of L and Kentucky.
Prior to coaching against UK for the first time last season, Kelsey said, “Unless you start winning one every once in a while, it kind of stops being a big rivalry. And I am well, well, well aware of that.”
As we count down to Tuesday’s way, way, way too-early renewal of the Kentucky-Louisville men’s hoops grudge fest, it is incumbent on Kelsey and U of L to reinvigorate a “rivalry” that has lost luster due to a lack of competitive balance.
From any vantage point from which one views the Wildcats-Cardinals men’s hoops series, the Cats have dominated the Cards.
UK leads the all-time series with U of L 40-17. The Wildcats hold the edge in the modern rivalry (starting with the famed “Dream Game” in the 1983 NCAA Tournament) 31-14.
Kentucky will enter the KFC Yum Center for Tuesday’s 7 p.m. tipoff having won six of the past seven meetings and 14 of the past 17 games against Louisville.
One does not need the basketball acumen of Sam Presti to identify the one consistent edge UK has held over U of L during its recent run of dominance. In head-to-head meetings with Louisville, consistently elite Kentucky guard play has overwhelmed the Cardinals.
However, going into this season’s meeting, it is far from apparent that UK still holds that edge over U of L.
When you review the history, the number of high-level performances by Kentucky backcourt players against Louisville is stunning.
High-profile UK freshman guards have owned the series with U of L:
• 2009-10: John Wall went for 17 points and four assists in a 71-62 win over Louisville;
• 2010-11: Brandon Knight dropped 25 points and four assists in a 78-63 victory in the first UK-U of L game played at the KFC Yum Center;
• 2017-18: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came off the Wildcats bench to record 24 points and four assists in a 90-61 win;
• 2018-19: Tyler Herro hung 24 points on Louisville in a 71-58 road win;
• 2019-20: Tyrese Maxey went for 27 points and hit 4 of 5 3-point shots in a 78-70 overtime victory;
• 2023-24: Reed Sheppard produced a double-double, 11 points and 11 assists, in a 95-76 road blowout.
Meanwhile, Kentucky veteran guards have also had their way with Louisville:
• 2015-16: Sophomore point guard Tyler Ulis hung 21 points and eight assists on U of L in a 75-73 win;
• 2023-24: Super-senior Antonio Reeves hit 10 of 16 shots, 4 of 5 treys, and scored 30 points in a 95-76 rout at the Yum Center;
• 2024-25: In what was the greatest individual performance in the modern history of the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry, super-senior point guard Lamont Butler hit 10 of 10 shots, 6 of 6 3-pointers and scored 33 points while dishing out six assists in a 93-85 win.
Butler’s stellar showing gave Mark Pope the win over Kelsey in what was the first meeting between the Cats and the Cards in which both teams had first-year head coaches.
In breaking down Tuesday night’s renewal of UK vs. U of L, it is, for once, not Kentucky that has the freshman point guard adored by the NBA mock drafts.
Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr. is projected to go No. 5 in the 2026 NBA draft by CBSSports.com and SI.com and No. 6 by NBAdraftroom.com.
A 6-foot-5, 180-pound product of Orlando, Florida, Brown will be surrounded by a pair of veteran wings. Ryan Conwell averaged 16.5 points and made 41.3% of his 3-point attempts last season for Xavier. Isaac McKneely averaged 14.4 points a contest and hit 42.1% of his trey tries last season for Virginia.
Kentucky will counter with returning standout Otega Oweh (16.2 points, 35% 3-pointers in 2024-25), former Florida super-sub Denzel Aberdeen (7.7 points for last season’s NCAA champions) and ex-Pittsburgh point guard Jaland Lowe (16.8 points, 26.6% 3-pointers last season).
As a two-year player at Pitt in the ACC, Lowe has already played against Louisville four times in his college career. While the Panthers went 2-2 against the Cardinals, Lowe averaged 14.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
However, the 6-1, 170-pound junior from Missouri City, Texas, has not been an efficient scorer in his prior contests against U of L. In the four games, Lowe shot 33.3% overall (17 of 51) and 28.8% on 3-point tries (6 of 21).
In what is an intriguing rivalry twist, the outcome of this season’s Cats-Cards showdown might depend on whether Louisville prized recruit Brown can do for Kelsey and U of L what so many lavishly hyped UK freshman guards did for the Wildcats throughout the John Calipari coaching era.
