2018–19 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

The 2018–19 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played its home games on Denny Crum Court at the KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville, Kentucky as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They were led by first-year head coach Chris Mack who was hired on March 27, 2018, after it was announced interim coach David Padgett would not be retained.[1][2] They finished the season 20–14, to finish in 7th place. In the ACC Tournament, they beat Notre Dame in the Second Round before losing to North Carolina in the Quarterfinals. They received a at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and received a 7th seed before losing to 10th seed Minnesota in the First Round.

2018–19 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
NCAA tournament, First Round
ConferenceAtlantic Coast Conference
Record20–14 (10–8 ACC)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Home arenaKFC Yum! Center
Seasons
2018–19 ACC men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 2 Virginia 16 2   .889 35 3   .921
No. 3 North Carolina 16 2   .889 29 7   .806
No. 1 Duke 14 4   .778 32 6   .842
No. 10 Florida State 13 5   .722 29 8   .784
No. 16 Virginia Tech 12 6   .667 26 9   .743
Syracuse 10 8   .556 20 14   .588
Louisville 10 8   .556 20 14   .588
NC State 9 9   .500 24 12   .667
Clemson 9 9   .500 20 14   .588
Georgia Tech 6 12   .333 14 18   .438
Boston College 5 13   .278 14 17   .452
Miami (FL) 5 13   .278 14 18   .438
Wake Forest 4 14   .222 11 20   .355
Pittsburgh 3 15   .167 14 19   .424
Notre Dame 3 15   .167 14 19   .424
2019 ACC tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll

Previous season

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The Cardinals finished the 2017–18 season with a record of 22–14, 9–9 in ACC play, finishing in a tie for 8th with Florida State, who they defeated in the second round of the ACC tournament before losing to Virginia in the quarterfinals. They received an invitation to the NIT, where they defeated Northern Kentucky in the first round and Middle Tennessee in the second round before being defeated in the quarterfinals by Mississippi State.

Offseason

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Departures

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Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure
Lance Thomas 1 F 6'8" 210 Freshman Norcross, Georgia Transferred to Memphis
Quentin Snider 4 G 6'2" 175 Senior Louisville, Kentucky Graduated
Ray Spalding 13 F 6'10" 215 Junior Louisville, Kentucky Declared for 2018 NBA draft
Anas Mahmoud 14 F 7'0" 215 Senior Cairo, Egypt Graduated; declared for 2018 NBA draft
Deng Adel 22 F 6'7" 200 Junior Melbourne, Australia Declared for 2018 NBA draft

Incoming transfers

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Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School
Akoy Agau 0 F 6'8" 240 Graduate Student South Sudan SMU
Christen Cunningham 1 G 6'2" 190 Graduate Student Georgetown, KY Samford University
Khwan Fore 4 G 6'0" 185 Graduate Student Huntsville, AL Richmond

2018 recruiting class

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No recruits.[3]

Roster

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2018–19 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
F 0 Akoy Agau 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 240 lb (109 kg) GS SMU
Omaha Central
South Sudan
G 1 Christen Cunningham 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) GS Samford
Henry Clay
Georgetown, Kentucky
G 2 Darius Perry 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Wheeler Marietta, Georgia
G 3 Jo Griffin (W) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So South Oldham LaGrange, Kentucky
G 4 Khwan Fore 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) GS Richmond
Lee High
Huntsville, Alabama
F/C 5 Malik Williams 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 245 lb (111 kg) So Snider Fort Wayne, Indiana
G/F 10 Wyatt Battaile (W) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Fr Pikeville Pikeville, Kentucky
G 12 Jacob Redding (W) 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Carroll Fort Wayne, Indiana
G/F 13 V. J. King 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Paul VI Cleveland, Ohio
C 23 Steven Enoch 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 260 lb (118 kg) RS Jr Connecticut
St. Thomas More
Norwalk, Connecticut
F 24 Dwayne Sutton 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) RS Jr UNC Asheville
duPont Manual
Louisville, Kentucky
G 30 Ryan McMahon 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) RS Jr Cardinal Mooney Sarasota, Florida
F 33 Jordan Nwora 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) So Vermont Academy Buffalo, New York
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster

Schedule and results

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Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record High points High rebounds High assists Site (attendance)
city, state
Exhibition
October 28, 2018*
2:00 pm, ACCN Extra
Bellarmine W 71–60 
 17  King   9  Nwora   5  Perry  KFC Yum! Center (14,377)
Louisville, KY
November 3, 2018*
7:00 pm, ACCN Extra
Simmons (KY) W 90–41[4] 
 16  Enoch   8  Williams   4  Tied  KFC Yum! Center (14,588)
Louisville, KY
Non-conference regular season
November 8, 2018*
7:00 pm, ACCN Extra
Nicholls State W 85–72  1–0
 15  Enoch   8  Enoch   2  Sutton  KFC Yum! Center (15,355)
Louisville, KY
November 13, 2018*
7:00 pm, ACCN Extra
Southern
NIT Season Tip-Off campus-site game
W 104–54  2–0
 20  Nwora   7  Tied   6  McMahon  KFC Yum! Center (14,939)
Louisville, KY
November 16, 2018*
7:00 pm, ACCN Extra
Vermont
NIT Season Tip-Off campus-site game
W 86–78  3–0
 22  Nwora   5  Nwora   4  Perry  KFC Yum! Center (15,977)
Louisville, KY
November 21, 2018*
5:00 pm, ESPN2
vs. No. 5 Tennessee
NIT Season Tip-Off semifinals
L 81–92  3–1
 23  Nwora   10  Nwora   8  Perry  Barclays Center (4,981)
Brooklyn, NY
November 23, 2018*
7:00 pm, ESPN2
vs. Marquette
NIT Season Tip-Off
L 74–77 OT 3–2
 16  Cunningham   7  Tied    3  Tied   Barclays Center 
Brooklyn, NY
November 27, 2018*
7:30 pm, ESPN
No. 9 Michigan State
ACC–Big Ten Challenge
W 82–78 OT 4–2
 24  McMahon   9  Nwora   5  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (15,477)
Louisville, KY
December 1, 2018*
12:00 pm, FOX
at Seton Hall W 70–65  5–2
 12  Sutton   9  Sutton   3  Cunningham  Prudential Center (8,505)
Newark, NJ
December 5, 2018*
7:00 pm, ACCN Extra
Central Arkansas W 86–41  6–2
 21  Nwora   9  Enoch   5  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (14,920)
Louisville, KY
December 8, 2018*
2:30 pm, FOX
at Indiana L 67–68  6–3
 24  Nwora   14  Nwora   3  Cunningham  Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (17,222)
Bloomington, IN
December 12, 2018*
7:00 pm, ACCRSN
Lipscomb W 72–68  7–3
 22  Nwora   13  Williams   3  Enoch  KFC Yum! Center (14,197)
Louisville, KY
December 15, 2018*
4:00 pm, ACCRSN
Kent State W 83–70  8–3
 17  Cunningham   10  Nwora   4  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (15,117)
Louisville, KY
December 21, 2018*
7:00 pm, ACCN Extra
Robert Morris W 74–59  9–3
 19  Nwora   13  Nwora   4  McMahon  KFC Yum! Center (16,249)
Louisville, KY
December 29, 2018*
2:00 pm, ESPN2
No. 16 Kentucky
Battle for the Bluegrass
L 58–71  9–4
 20  Cunningham   9  Enoch   4  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (20,882)
Louisville, KY
ACC Regular Season
January 6, 2019
6:00 pm, ESPNU
Miami (FL) W 90–73  10–4
(1–0)
 20  Nwora   11  Williams   9  McMahon  KFC Yum! Center (15,050)
Louisville, KY
January 9, 2019
8:00 pm, Raycom
at Pittsburgh L 86–89 OT 10–5
(1–1)
 23  Cunningham   11  Sutton   5  Cunningham  Petersen Events Center (6,290)
Pittsburgh, PA
January 12, 2019
12:00 pm, ESPN
at No. 12 North Carolina W 83–62  11–5
(2–1)
 17  Enoch   11  Enoch   7  Sutton  Dean Smith Center (21,243)
Chapel Hill, NC
January 16, 2019
7:00 pm, ACCRSN
Boston College W 80–70  12–5
(3–1)
 32  Nwora   10  Nwora   8  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (14,898)
Louisville, KY
January 19, 2019
4:00 pm, Raycom
at Georgia Tech W 79–51  13–5
(4–1)
 25  Nwora   8  Nwora   11  Cunningham  McCamish Pavilion (8,600)
Atlanta, GA
January 24, 2019
8:00 pm, Raycom
No. 23 No. 21 NC State W 84–77  14–5
(5–1)
 17  Cunningham   6  Nwora   4  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (16,322)
Louisville, KY
January 26, 2019
2:00 pm, Raycom
No. 23 Pittsburgh W 66–51  15–5
(6–1)
 17  Nwora   11  Enoch   7  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (16,929)
Louisville, KY
January 30, 2019
8:00 pm, Raycom
No. 15 at Wake Forest W 82–54  16–5
(7–1)
 20  Nwora   10  Sutton   4  Sutton  LJVM Coliseum (7,031)
Winston-Salem, NC
February 2, 2019
2:00 pm, ESPN
No. 15 No. 9 North Carolina L 69–79  16–6
(7–2)
 19  Sutton   8  Sutton   9  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (19,985)
Louisville, KY
February 4, 2019
7:00 pm, ESPN
No. 16 at No. 11 Virginia Tech W 72–64  17–6
(8–2)
 17  Tied   9  Sutton   6  Cunningham  Cassell Coliseum (9,275)
Blacksburg, VA
February 9, 2019
4:00 pm, ESPN2
No. 16 at No. 22 Florida State L 75–80 OT 17–7
(8–3)
 20  Cunningham   7  Williams   6  Cunningham  Donald L. Tucker Civic Center (11,675)
Tallahassee, FL
February 12, 2019
9:00 pm, ESPN
No. 16 No. 2 Duke L 69–71  17–8
(8–4)
 23  Nwora   12  Nwora   12  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (22,046)
Louisville, KY
February 16, 2019
12:00 pm, ESPN
No. 16 Clemson W 56–55  18–8
(9–4)
 18  Cunningham   7  Williams   5  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (16,043)
Louisville, KY
February 20, 2019
7:00 pm, ESPN
No. 18 at Syracuse L 49–69  18–9
(9–5)
 11  Nwora   8  Sutton   3  Cunningham  Carrier Dome (22,988)
Syracuse, NY
February 23, 2019
12:00 pm, Raycom
No. 18 No. 3 Virginia L 52–64  18–10
(9–6)
 17  Nwora   11  Sutton   6  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (17,529)
Louisville, KY
February 27, 2019
9:00 pm, ACCRSN
at Boston College L 59–66  18–11
(9–7)
 22  Enoch   12  Nwora   6  Cunningham  Conte Forum (4,250)
Chestnut Hill, MA.
March 3, 2019
1:30 pm, CBS
Notre Dame W 75–61  19–11
(10–7)
 20  Nwora   13  Williams   4  Cunningham  KFC Yum! Center (16,911)
Louisville, KY
March 9, 2019
4:00 pm, ESPN
at No. 2 Virginia L 68–73  19–12
(10–8)
 19  Nwora   11  Enoch   3  Fore  John Paul Jones Arena (14,629)
Charlottesville, VA
ACC Tournament
March 13, 2019
7:00 pm, ESPN2
(7) vs. (15) Notre Dame
Second Round
W 75–53  20–12
 24  Nwora   10  Sutton   5  McMahon  Spectrum Center (11,884)
Charlotte, NC
March 14, 2019
7:00 pm, ESPN
(7) vs. (2) No. 3 North Carolina
Quarterfinals
L 70–83  20–13
 14  Sutton   13  Williams   7  Cunningham  Spectrum Center (19,691)
Charlotte, NC
NCAA tournament
March 21, 2019
12:15 pm, CBS
(7 E) vs. (10 E) Minnesota
First Round
L 76–86  20–14
 22  Cunningham   11  Nwora   4  Tied   Wells Fargo Arena (16,512)
Des Moines, IA
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
E=East.
All times are in Eastern Time.

Source:[5][6][7]

Rankings

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
Week
PollPre123456789101112131415161718Final
APRVRVRVRVRVRVRVRVRV2315161618RVNot released
CoachesRVRVRVRVRVRV241617202224RVRV

*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings

References

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  1. ^ Daniels, Evan (March 21, 2018). "David Padgett, Louisville part ways". 247sports.com. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  2. ^ Greer, Jeff (March 27, 2018). "Louisville hires Chris Mack as new men's basketball coach". Courier Journal. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  3. ^ "College Basketball Recruiting Schools - ESPN". ESPN.com.
  4. ^ "University of Louisville" (PDF). gocards.com.
  5. ^ "Louisville basketball's 2018-19 schedule taking shape". The Courier-Journal.
  6. ^ "ACC Announces Conference Matchups for the 2018-19 Season".
  7. ^ "2018-19 Men's Basketball Schedule". gocards.com. University of Louisville Athletics. Retrieved January 24, 2019.