Wednesday afternoon Cardinal news and notes

—Spread check (bowl game): Louisville by 1

—NET Rankings Update: No. 62

—Eric Crawford dives into his three biggest takeaways from Vince Tyra’s surprise mini-session with the media on Tuesday.

—In the biggest signing day stunner of all-time, cornerback Travis Hunter, the No. 1 overall player in the 2022 class, flipped at the last second from Florida State and signed with Deion Sanders and Jackson State.

—Good read here from Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney, who spent a month on the road with the Coppin State basketball team.

—The CJ is keeping tabs on where area high school football players are signing today.

—U of L game notes from the SE Louisiana win:

TEAM NOTES

• Louisville was victorious in its first ever meeting with Southeastern Louisiana.
• The Cardinals are now 56-3 against first-time foes since 2002-03.
• Louisville tallied a season-high 86 points in the victory, registering its 157^th consecutive victory when scoring at least 85 points in regulation.
• The Cardinals are 216-12 over the last 20 seasons and 13-0 over the last three when scoring 80 or more.
• The 26-point win was the largest of the season for the Cardinals and their biggest margin of victory since the 2020-21 season opener against Evansville.
• UofL shot 51.7 percent (30-for-58) as a team in the win, its second-highest shooting percentage of the season (56.0 percent vs. Navy).
• Louisville is 166-7 over the past 20 seasons when shooting 50 percent or better and 13-0 over the last three.
• Louisville set season highs in free throws made (19) and attempted (23).
• The Cardinals improved to 6-0 on the season when they win the battle on the boards, outrebounding SLU 40-33 on Tuesday.
• Louisville picked up a season best 44 points off its bench, the most bench points for the Cardinals since getting 44 against Tennessee on Nov. 21, 2018.
• Louisville also set a season high with 44 points in the paint.
• Southeastern Louisiana became the seventh Louisville opponent to shoot 40 percent or lower through 10 games, finishing 20-for-62 (32.3 percent) overall.
• The Cardinals played a season-high 14 players in the victory.

PLAYER NOTES

• Malik Williams notched his eighth career double-double and third this season with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
• Williams has scored in double figures in each of the last five games and grabbed at least 10 rebounds for the sixth time this season.
• Over the last seven games, Williams is averaging 13.3 points and 9.9 rebounds.
• Matt Cross finished with 13 points for his third consecutive game in double figures.
• El Ellis scored 13 points, reaching double figures for the third time in the last four games.
• Ellis is averaging 12.0 points per game over the last four.
• Mason Faulkner tallied 12 points, his most in a Louisville uniform.
• Tuesday was Faulkner’s 60^th career game with at least 10 points.
• Jarrod West dished out five assists, his fourth game this season with at least five.
• Samuell Williamson notched seven points after being held scoreless over the last three games.
• Roosevelt Wheeler scored a career high six points in six minutes of action.
• JJ Traynor saw his first game action since Nov. 12 against Furman and knocked down a three-pointer on his only shot attempt.

—Highlights from the win over the Lions can be viewed here.

—Travel packages are now available for Louisville’s trip to the Maui Invitational next November. The 2022 field will feature the Cards, Arkansas, Arizona, Cincinnati, Creighton, Ohio State, San Diego State and Texas Tech.

—Two former Cardinals make ESPN’s list of the 20 greatest transfers in college basketball history.

10. Luke Hancock

George Mason, 2009-11

Louisville, 2012-14

The MOP of the 2013 Final Four, Hancock totaled 42 points off the bench in Louisville’s close wins over Wichita State and Michigan. In the national title game, the 6-6 junior engaged in a scoring duel with UM All-American Trey Burke and walked off the floor that night with 22 points on 5-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. It was a remarkable showing from a player who began his career as a freshman reserve for Jim Larranaga at George Mason.

...

18. Cliff Rozier

North Carolina, 1990-91

Louisville, 1992-94

After starting his college career in the same North Carolina recruiting class as Eric Montross, the 6-11 Rozier transferred to Louisville and averaged double-doubles in his sophomore and junior seasons. He won back-to-back Metro Conference POY awards, and in 1994 the Cardinals earned a No. 3 seed and reached the Sweet 16. That was the year Rozier was named a first-team All-American alongside the likes of Glenn Robinson, Grant Hill and Jason Kidd. Sadly, he suffered a heart attack and died in 2018 at the age of 45.

—Louisville basketball toughened up inside on Tuesday night, but the Cards know two much tougher in-state challenges lie right around the corner.

—The ACCDN previews the First Responder Bowl in video form here.

—Our own Keith Wynne is the guest on the latest episode of the From the Pink Seats podcast.

—The Cards are in Columbus.

—Dani Busboom Kelly’s former teammates are happy to be a part of this ride towards perfection.

—Last night in ACC hoops:

No. 2 Duke 103, South Carolina State 62
Wake Forest 77, VMI 70
North Carolina 74, Furman 61
Clemson 89, Miami (OH) 76

Just one game on the docket this evening, as Florida State will host Lipscomb at 9 p.m. on the ACC Network.

—The Clarion Ledger reacts to Chris Bell picking Louisville over Mississippi State.

—Jack Harlow announced last night at the first of his five sold out Louisville shows that he’ll be headlining Forecastle this summer.

—I don’t believe I’ve ever seen this before.

—The latest episode of the Cardinal Sports Zone podcast is here.

—Here’s the official Southeastern Louisiana recap of last night’s game.

—And finally, today’s Mike Rutherford Show is reacting to last night’s win as well as National Signing Day madness from 3-6 this afternoon on 1450 The Big X. Keith Wynne will join at 4:30 to break down U of L’s 2022 class. You can stream the show here.