END OF REGULATION- The Cardinals win 86-45 behind a great defensive performance! Thank you for following me tonight, stay tuned for a recap on tonight's game!
2nd (:35) - Stockman with the hook shot.
2nd (1) - Samford with the dunk then Snider with the jumper.
2nd (2) - Johnson hits a three point basket.
2nd (3) - Spalding with the first basket of his career.
2nd (3) - Timeout on the floor.
2nd (4) - Lee with a beautiful layup.
2nd (4) - Lee with another deep three.
2nd (5) - Spalding commits the foul despite it looking like Samford walked.
2nd (6) - Louisville with the foul now Adams is at the line. He bricks the free throw.
2nd (6) - Lee makes both free throws.
2nd (7) - Lee with another lay up.
2nd (7) - Cunningham makes the shot and is fouled. Timeout on the floor.
2nd (8) - Lee with a thunderous dunk after a steal from Louisville.
2nd (8) - Johnson makes a put back for the Bulldogs.
2nd (9) - Lee hits the wide open three.
2nd (10) - Rose hits a wide open three point shot.
2nd (10) - Mitchell hits another shot. He's looking impressive.
2nd (11) - Snider hits the wide open jumper.
2nd (11) - Timeout on the floor.
2nd (13) - Onuaku with the huge slam!
2nd (14) - Mitchell is fouled on the dunk attempt. He makes a single one.
2nd (14) - Foul on Shabazz and timeout on the floor.
2nd (15) - Johnson with the strong dunk from Onuaku.
2nd (16) - Johnson puts the ball back in after an air ball from Lee. Full timeout on the floor.
2nd (16) - Mitchell makes the contested lay up.
2nd (17) - Samford has another shot clock violation of the game.
2nd (18) - Samford converts the lay up. Then Onuaku returns the favor.
2nd (19) - Johnson makes a transition lay up.
2nd (20) - It's time for the second half! Samford has the ball.
Due to technical difficulties we are now at the half. Louisville is up 48-27 with Mitchell as the leading scorer
1st (1) - Timeout by Louisville.
1st (2) - Cunningham makes a jumper then Mathiang converts one as well.
1st (2) - Johnson with the putback tip in.
1st (2) - Another foul on the Bulldogs as Lewis makes one.
1st (3) - Johnson is headed to the free throw line. He misses both.
1st (3) - Louisville draws a charge, they now have ten fouls.
1st (3) - Snider makes the wide open three. Then the Cards force a turnover. Timeout on the floor.
1st (4) - Adel draws the foul and converts both free throws.
1st (4) - Lewis with the very deep three.
1st (6) - Samford makes both free throws.
1st (6) - Adel makes a single free throw.
1st (6) - Levitch with the three!
1st (7) - Lewis draws the foul as we have another timeout.
1st (8) - Adel is to the free throw line for the Cards. He makes one.
1st (8) - Cunningham makes the wide open jumper then Snider picks up the foul. Cunningham makes both.
1st (9) - Shabazz makes a shot finally for the Bulldogs.
1st (9) - Snider with the transition lay up. Then Mathiang gets a putback tip.
1st (10) - Mitchell with the ally oop slam from Snider.
1st (11) - Snider with the pretty up and over lay up.
1st (11) - The Bulldogs commit there eighth foul and there is a timeout on the floor.
1st (12) - Rose makes a put back lay up. Then Mathiang makes a put back lay up.
1st (12) - Foul on Peters so now they are in the bonus. Mitchell makes both free throws.
1st (12) - Rose makes another jumper to make it a two point game.
1st (13) - Mitchell makes his first shot of his career as a three pointer.
1st (14) - Rose converts the three pointer for the Bulldogs.
1st (15) - UofL forces the shot clock violation.
1st (15) - He makes the granny style free throw!
1st (15) - Onuaku makes the basket while being fouled. Here comes his granny style shot. Timeout on the floor.
1st (16) - Onuaku with the block then comes down and flushes the ball down for the slam.
1st (16) - Onuaku with the first basket for the Cards. Lee then picks up his 2nd foul.
1st (16) - Lewis with the big block in transition.
1st (18) - Lee with the foul and Gibson makes both.
1st (18) - Foul on Jones, Lewis makes one free throw.
1st (18) - Foul on Adams. UofL ball.
1st (19) - Both teams miss two shots and now a foul on Johnson.
1st (19) - The Cardinals get the tip and we are off to start the college basketball season!
Jaylen Johnson getting the surprising start here for the Cards.
In the last meeting between the two teams, Louisville won the game 80-54 in 2012.
Here come the Cardinals! 3 minutes until tip-off.
Less than 10 minutes until the Cards and Bulldogs battle it out.
It's almost tip-off here at the KFC Yum! Center!
Follow this for live coverage on Friday’s game for the season opener of the college basketball season starting at 7 P.M EST.
Projected Score: Louisville 78 Samford 60 as Damion Lee shines for the Cardinals in his debut.
Samford vs. Louisville begins at 7:00 P.M EST in Louisville, Kentucky as the Cardinals take on the Bulldogs. This is the season opener for both teams and projects to be a good opening opponent for both teams. Follow along on this before the game starters for updated lineups and storylines.
The Cardinals could go two ways with their starters. They could start Quentin Snider instead of Adel and play smaller, but Pitino said in a press conference on Thursday that he is leaning towards starting freshman Deng Adel. Snider was the sixth man in one of their exhibition games but still logged the most minutes on the team. Either way, the Cardinals will be a lot bigger than the Samford Bulldogs.
Louisville Cardinals:
Guard- Trey Lewis 6'2" fifth-year senior
Guard- Damion Lee 6'6" fifth-year senior
Forward- Deng Adel 6'7" freshman
Forward- Mangok Mathiang 6'10" redshirt-junior
Center- Chinanu Onuaku 6'10" sophomore
Louisville Reserves- Quentin Snider- sophomore, Ray Spalding- freshman, David Levitch- junior, Jaylen Johnson- sophomore, Anas Mahmoud- sophomore, Donovan Mitchell- freshman, and Matz Stockman- sophomore.
The Bulldogs will be led by senior Darius Jones-Gibson who is their top scoring returning player. No starter will stand taller than 6'7" in the starting lineup, which would pose quite a bit of issues for Samford. Louisville is leaning towards starting three guys taller than 6'7" which would mean Samford could get dominated on the boards.
Samford Bulldogs:
Guard- Darius Jones-Gibson 6'1" senior
Guard- Christen Cunningham 6’2" sophomore
Forward- Jamal Shabazz 6'6" senior
Forward- Iman Johnson 6'5" freshman
Center- Eric Adams 6'7" sophomore
Samford Reserves- Marcus Johnson- senior, Matt Rose- freshman, Eric Adams- sophomore, Tanner Tapp- freshman, Alex Thompson- junior. Demetrius Dyson- junior, Gerald Smith- freshman.
But lets get back to the game that’s ahead. Most people would assume that Louisville vs Samford would be a blowout in the making. If Louisville plays smart and great defensively then it will be, but if Samford plays like they did last year early in the season against Pittsburgh, then this could be an intriguing game. Here are the projected line ups for both teams.
The most intriguing headline all year is the Louisville ongoing investigation with the hooker’s incident. The investigation has been moving along and it was found on Thursday that Katrina Powell is now talking to the NCAA despite reports that she wouldn’t talk unless she received immunity. It was also released that five former stripper’s that worked under Powell are filing a lawsuit against her because of accusing them of things they didn’t do. They said what it said in the book that they did was false and their names were used without consent. Louisville could be hit hard with these allegations and could possibly face a postseason ban, suspensions, or lose of a couple scholarships. But it was good to see five-star recruit V.J King sign his national letter of intent despite the allegations against the school.
Another headline is how Scott Padgett, the Samford head coach, played under Rick Pitino at the University of Kentucky. Padgett was on the all Final Four team as a freshman and played high school basketball in Louisville, Kentucky as well. This is the first time he has gone against coach Pitino and it might not be a pretty game. But it’s nice to see Padgett and Pitino on the same court again.
The two transfers are Trey Lewis (Cleveland State) and Damion Lee (Drexel). Lee was the fifth leading scorer in the country last season and was heavily sought after from other premier programs like Marquette and Arizona. Lewis actually played against Louisville last season and scored 24 points on the Cardinals. Lee broke his hand last season in a game where he scored 30 points but that injury ended his season and brought him to Louisville.
Louisville is a heavy favorite in their first game but that won’t be the case most of the season. For the first time in a couple seasons. But that’s what happens when Quentin Snider is the team’s leading returning scorer. They lost Rozier, Jones, Harrell and Blackshear last season, but were able to bring in two key fifth year transfers to make up for that gigantic loss. They were also able to add two five-star recruits in Deng Adel and Donovan Mitchell.
The Louisville Cardinals open up their 2015-2016 season with Samford University at home. The Cardinals are coming off a 27-9 season where they reached the Elite 8 in a surprise run with stars Terry Rozier and Montrezl Harrell. Samford finished last season 13-19 in the Southern Conference. No guy on their current roster stands taller than 6’9" which could be an intriguing storyline to watch heading into the game.