Louisville vs Miami: 2019-20 College basketball game preview, TV schedule
By Joey Loose
Louisville and Miami will meet in south Florida to begin the regular season; will the Cardinals get their season off to a hot start or is an upset in the works?
TV schedule: Tuesday, November 5, 6:30 pm ET. ACCN
Arena: Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida
As head coach Chris Mack begins his second season at Louisville, expectations are high for his Cardinals in the ACC this season. The team begins the year ranked #5 in the AP Top 25 and features a lot of talent coming back. Last season, Louisville exceeded expectations with a 20-14 season that ended in a surprise trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The player to watch is clearly junior forward Jordan Nwora (17.0 ppg, 7.7 rpg last season). He played a big role on this Louisville team last season, leading the way on the offense. He’ll be joined this season by transferring guard Lamarr Kimble (15.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg last season), who battled injuries at Saint Joseph’s but should contribute immediately with the Cardinals. Adding in freshman forward Aidan Igiehon and a few other new faces, this team could be developing the talent and depth to make a run this upcoming March.
While these are simply preseason projections at this point, Louisville does begin the season ranked 3rd in KenPom. This is a top 5 team in many projections, with the expectation that their offense and defense will both be top-tier moving forward. Louisville has historically been a top-tier defensive unit, though they’ll have to work better at forcing turnovers this season.
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On the other side of the court, Miami enters this season hoping to dig themselves out of the ACC basement. This unheralded squad limped to a 14-18 finish last year but were picked to finish 9th in the conference this upcoming season. Fortunately, the Hurricanes have scored quite the home game to open up the season and perhaps make a statement.
While three of their starters from last season are gone, junior guard Chris Lykes (16.2 ppg, 3.2 apg last year) returns looking to up his game. The short dynamic point guard will still have the services of Australian senior guard Dejan Vasiljevic (11.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg), though new faces will contribute greatly to this team. Eligible transfers Dustin McGusty, a former Oklahoma Big 12 All-Freshman, and Keith Stone, a tall forward who can shoot from outside, should slide nicely into this lineup.
The Hurricanes should take that step forward, but competing in the ACC will be difficult. They begin the season at 65th in KenPom, with many projections agreeing they are just outside the top 50 to start the year. This team should make a marked improvement, especially if they can work on free throw shooting, which has been a struggle in recent years for Miami.
For the Cardinals, this game is about getting the season started on the right foot by fitting Kimble and the rest of the new faces into this talented lineup. Let Nwora do his thing and force Miami to play at their pace. For the Hurricanes, it’s going to take quite an effort to score the early upset, and they’ll need Lykes to have a really impressive game.
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Louisville won the only matchup last season by 17 at home, though clearly this is a different game. With returning talent, both of these teams should take a step forward, though the result may be more of the same. I don’t see how the Hurricanes are going to stop this feisty Cardinals squad, and it truly will take great shooting efforts to hang in this game.