Louisville-Cincinnati preview: Old rivals battle for 7th place in Maui

Louisville Cardinals (0-5) vs. Cincinnati Bearcats (3-3)

Maui Invitational 7th Place Game

Game Time: 7:30 p.m.

Location: Lahaina Civic Center: Lahaina, Maui, HI

Television: ESPNU

Announcers: John

(play-by-play) and Daymeon Fishback (analyst)

Favorite: Cincinnati by 8.5

Series: Louisville leads, 56-43

Last Meeting: Louisville won, 58-57, on Feb. 22, 2014 in Cincinnati

Series History:

Projected Starting Lineups:

Louisville:

Cincinnati:

Statistics:

Relevant Videos:

Cincinnati’s Season to Date:

About Cincinnati:

Unfittingly, Louisville and Cincinnati will play their 100th all-time contest against one another in the 7th place game at the Maui Invitational Wednesday night. The loser will be the only team in the event to leave the island without a victory.

The Bearcats were competitive in their opening round loss to Arizona Monday night, ultimately falling 101-93 in an entertaining affair. They were less so on Tuesday when Ohio State rolled to an 81-53 consolation bracket victory.

Louisville and Cincinnati have one common opponent on the young season in Chaminade. The Cardinals eeked out an 80-73 exhibition victory, while UC hammered the Silverswords, 98-55, in a game that counted on the official records of both teams.

Cincinnati is led by a name that should be familiar to Louisville fans. Landers Nolley was a freshman standout at Virginia Tech in 2019-20 before transferring to Memphis for the two subsequent seasons. He enters Wednesday night averaging 15.2 ppg and shooting 38.2 percent from beyond the arc. Nolley was held to 2-of-9 shooting and a season-low six points in his only career game against the Cards back in 2020.

Junior forward Jeremiah Davenport has been the team’s top outside threat so far this season, knocking down 2.2 made three-pointers per game. Senior guard David DeJulius (13.8 ppg), who started his college career at Michigan, and sophomore forward Viktor Lakin (10.8 ppg/7.2 rpg) round out UC’s four double figure scorers.

Even during its current three-game losing streak, Cincinnati has done two things exceptionally well: Take care of the basketball and create second chance opportunities off of offensive rebounds. If Louisville isn’t more aggressive on the glass than they have been pretty much all season, those second chance opportunities could easily be the difference between finally winning their first game and falling to 0-6.

Cincinnati will get out and run on occasion, but still plays at just the 275th-fastest pace in the country. Defensively, the Bearcats don’t force a ton of turnovers (thank god) and will try to run opponents off the three-point line. After going up against Texas Tech and Arkansas the last two days, it should be refreshing for Louisville to face a UC team that isn’t exactly a menace defensively ... should be.

Notable:

—This will be the 100th all-time meeting between old rivals Louisville and Cincinnati. The Bearcats are U of L’s most-played all-time opponent.

—Louisville is off to an 0-5 start for the first time since a 1940-41 season where they finished 2-14.

—Louisville has participated in the Maui Invitational three times before in 1989, 2000 and 2004. The Cardinals are 5-6 all-time in the event and 21-13 overall in the state of Hawaii after their two losses this week.

—Through five games, Louisville has 90 turnovers against 36 assists. The Cardinals are the first power conference team since 2011 to have more than 80 turnovers and fewer than 40 assists through their first five games of a season.

—Louisville has a 244-68 record against non-conference opponents over the last 21 seasons (includes post-season).

—Louisville is 217-13 over the last 20 seasons and 14-1 over the last three when scoring 80 points or more.

—Louisville’s loss to Wright State last week was its first in four seasons when shooting better than 50 percent from the field. U of L is 166-8 over the past 20 seasons when shooting 50 percent or better from the field.

—Louisville is 14-0 over the past 10 seasons when limiting opponents to no more than one three-point field goal.

—Since 2004, Louisville is 131-0 when leading by more than 10 points at halftime.

—Louisville has won 162 consecutive games when holding an opponent under 50 points.

—Louisville has won 156 consecutive games when scoring at least 85 points in regulation.

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Cincinnati 70, Louisville 65