Louisville Cardinals (5-0) vs. Eastern Michigan Eagles (3-2)
Location: KFC Yum Center: Louisville, Ky.
Announcers: Cooper Boardman (play-by-play) and Randolph Childress (analysis)
Favorite: Louisville by 33.5
Series: Louisville leads, 1-0
Only Meeting: Louisville won, 86-53, on Dec. 12, 2015 in Louisville
Projected Starting Lineups:
- G Mikel Brown Jr. (6-5, 190, Fr.)
- G Isaac McKneely (6-4, 195, Sr.)
- G Ryan Conwell (6-4, 215, Sr.)
- F J’Vonne Hadley (6-7, 210, 6th)
- F/C Sananda Fru (6-11, 245, Jr.)
- G Jon Sanders (6-2, 185, Sr.)
- G Carlos Hart (6-5, 215, R-Sr.)
- F Addison Patterson (6-7, 220, R-Sr.)
- F Godslove Nwabude (6-9, 220, So.)
- F Mohammad Habhab (6-9, 220, R-Fr.)
Eastern Michigan’s Season to Date:
Former South Florida head coach Stan Heath is in his fifth year at Eastern Michigan, and is still searching for his first winning season. The Eagles are coming off their most promising campaign under Heath to date, a 16-16 season where they went 9-9 in Mid-American Conference play and qualified for the league’s 8-team postseason tournament.
Compared to preseason expectations, EMU has overachieved a bit through the season’s first three weeks. They have double-digit wins over Georgia State and Detroit-Mercy, a good win over a solid Oakland team, and respectable losses to Pitt (78-66) and IU-Indy (90-83).
Still, Eastern Michigan will walk into the KFC Yum Center Monday night as a 30+ point underdog, and for good reason. There is a lack of size and skill on Heath’s roster that should make it difficult to compete against the team that appears to be the best on their 2025-26 schedule.
Top contributors Jalin Billingsley, Christian Henry, Da’Sean Nelson and Jalen Terry all left after last season, forcing Heath to rebuild a roster with nine newcomers for this year.
The team’s leader in scoring (16.0 ppg), rebounding (10.8 rpg) and assists (4.2 apg) through five games is Mohammad Habhab, a redshirt freshman transfer from Central Michigan who played sparingly for the Chippewas last season. Though he’s not much of a threat from the outside, the 6’9, 220-pound Habhab is remarkably skilled, and has produced a double-double in four of five games so far this season. The only team Habhab struggled slightly against was Pittsburgh, whose size frustrated him a bit on offense and limited him to just seven rebounds. Louisville will hope to pose similar problems for the Michigan native on the interior.
Carlos Hart (not Hurt), a senior guard from Miami who played at New Orleans last season, and Addison Patterson, a 6’7 senior transfer from Northwestern State, are the team’s two other double figure scorers. Patterson has shot the ball atypically well from the outside so far this season, but it’s Hart who is the bigger threat as a playmaker when the ball is in his hands on the perimeter.
EMU shoots the ball well enough from the outside to be respected, but their numbers dip tremendously when they’re taking contested shots. They don’t do anything exceptionally well or exceptionally poorly (outside of getting to the free-throw line), and they play at a pretty average pace relative to the rest of the country.
This is a better team than the two Louisville saw during the first week of the season, but it’s still not a squad that should give the Cards significant trouble in any area if the team’s focus, preparation and energy levels are all where they should be.
—Louisville is off to a 5-0 start for the first time since the 2019-20 season. The Cardinals are two wins away from a perfect November for the first time since that same season.
—Louisville has a 263-84 record against non-conference opponents over the last 24 seasons (includes postseason).
—Louisville has a 192-27 record in home regular season non-conference games over the last 24 seasons. The Cardinals are 116-18 at home in regular season non-conference games over the last 15 seasons.
—Inside the KFC Yum Center, Louisville has a 112-18 record in non-conference games.
—After going 59-0 in November home games from 1991 to 2021, Louisville has lost at least one November home game in each of the last four seasons.
—Before 2021, Louisville’s last November home loss had come in 1972.
—Pat Kelsey is the reigning ACC Coach of the Year and is one of 10 active DI head coaches that have earned a Coach of the Year honor in three or more DI conferences.
—Louisville is 32-0 under Kelsey when leading with five minutes to play.
—Louisville is 14-0 over the past 10 seasons when limiting opponents to no more than one three-point field goal.
—Louisville is 118-0 all-time when scoring 100 or more points in non-overtime games.
—Louisville has won 165 consecutive games when holding an opponent under 50 points.
Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 95, Eastern Michigan 68
