University of Louisville women’s basketball (No. 4/5, 9-0) continues its six-game home stand when it hosts in-state rival Kentucky (No. 19/19, 9-0) on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.

With the 102-62 win over UT Martin on Tuesday, the Cardinals moved to 9-0 on the year.

Date: Sunday, Dec. 9
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET
Site: KFC Yum! Center. Louisville, Ky. (22,000)
Radio: WKRD-790, Nick Curran, play-by-play; Adrienne Johnson, analyst
Video: ACCNE, Don Russell, play-by-play; Sara White, analyst
Promotion(s): Red Out | Kroger Pack the House | Family Scholar House Toy Drive
Last Meeting: W, 87-63 (Dec. 17, 2017 at Lexington)
Series History: 19-34 (13-11 Home, 5-20 Away, 1-3 Neutral)
UofL National Ranking: 5th Associated Press, 4th USA Today
Officials: Joseph Vaszily, Denise Brooks, Jeffrey Smith

For the second straight season, Louisville has started off with at least a 9-0 record. It marks the second best start under Walz, behind only the school-record start of 20-0 in 2017-18. Four times a Walz team has started off the season with wins in their first eight games (2014-15 8-0; 2012-13 8-0). It is the third best start in Louisville history, following last season and a 15-0 start in 2006-07.

UofL scored 107 points in the 107-52 win over TSU, which marked the sixth most points in program history, and followed that with 102 points in the 102-62 win over UTM. It marks first time since 2013-14 that they have scored 100-plus in two straight. They did it twice that season (11/9/13 vs. Loyola Chicago, W 101-54, 11/11/13 vs. Quinnipiac, W 100-82; 12/14/13 vs. Austin Peay, W 108-53; 12/17/13 at Ball State, W 105-67). It is third time this season they have scored 100-plus as they also did it in the opener at WKU (W, 102-80). Last year, they scored 100-plus points twice, a school-record 115 vs. Murray State on 11/24/17 (W, 115-51) and vs. Notre Dame on 1/11/18 (W, 100-67). UofL is 24-0 all-time when scoring 100-plus.

Louisville ranks eighth in the country and second in the ACC in scoring offense with 87.1 points per game. They have scored 100-plus three times, 90-plus four times, 80-plus six times and 70-plus in eight of nine games. In addition to scoring 100-plus in the previous two games, they have scored 80-plus in the last five, averaging 95.0 points per game during that stretch.

UofL leads the ACC and ranks 18th in the country with a +24.4 scoring margin. Eight wins have been by 17 or more points, five by 22-plus points, with the last two by 55 (W, 107-52 vs. TSU) and 40 (W, 102-62 vs. UTM).

In the last four games, UofL has forced 100 turnovers or 25.0 per game. They forced 27 against UTM and 29 vs. TSU, which is the most since they forced 31 vs. MTSU on 12/9/17. The Cardinals had 49 points off turnovers against TSU. On Nov. 20, 2014 vs. Belmont, they had 48 points off turnovers.

Promotions

 

Red Out: Put on all of the red Cardinals gear you can find and help create a sea of red for the Battle of the Bluegrass.

Kroger Pack the House: For the ninth consecutive season, Louisville will participate in the NCAA “Pack the House” Initiative. Fans can show their Kroger Plus Card at either ticket office location and receive a $4 ticket for the game

Family Scholar House Toy Drive: Fans can present a toy to the KFC Yum1 Center ticket office window and receive a $4 ticket for the game.

ABOUT THE WILDCATS

Last year, Kentucky finished a disappointing 15-17 overall and 6-10 in the SEC. Despite not receiving any votes in the AP preseason Top 25 poll, the Wildcats are off to a 9-0 start. They won 63-51 vs. Virginia on Nov. 15 and then swept play at the Paradise Jam at the Virgin Islands, downing South Florida (W, 85-63), UCLA (W, 75-74), and North Carolina (W, 85-75). Their scoring margin ranks 16th in the country at plus-24.7. They rank first in the nation in turnover margin at plus-13.8 and fourth in turnovers forced with 26.9 per game. Kentucky is led by three double-digit scorers in freshman Rhyne Howard (18.2 ppg), senior Maci Morris (17.4 ppg) and senior Taylor Murray (14.8 ppg). Howard, who Coach Walz coached on USA’s U-18 team this summer, is 25-50 (.500) from 3-pt range, which ranks 20th in the nation, while Morris is shooting 27-65 (.415) from deep.

Series History – UofL is 19-34 all-time against Kentucky. The Cardinals are 13-11 at home and 2-2 at the KFC Yum! Center. Head coach Jeff Walz is 5-6 against the Wildcats. Louisville has won the last two games, an 87-63 win last season in Lexington on Dec. 17, 2017 and a 69-67 overtime win at the KFC Yum! Center on Dec. 4, 2016. Prior to recording wins the last two seasons, UofL had lost five straight and six of seven. Only two other times has UofL won three or more consecutive games against UK. They won three straight in 1979 (W, 51-49, 1/8/79; W, 68-67, 2/6/79; W, 65-61, 3/3/79) and five straight from 2004 to 2008.

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@UofLSheriff50. Louisville native, University of Louisville Business School Grad c/o 2004. Co-Founder of TheCrunchZone.com

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