Louisville vs. Western Kentucky: 3 storylines to watch for 2020-21 matchup

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - FEBRUARY 08: Samuell Williamson #10, Aidan Igehon #22 and Quinn Slazinski #11 of the Louisville Cardinals reacts to their team defeating the Virginia Cavaliers during the final minuets of the game at KFC YUM! Center on February 08, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Silas Walker/Getty Images) /

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Taveion Hollingsworth Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

Tempo differences between the teams will be intriguing to watch

One of the key indicators of this matchup will be tempo. Western Kentucky likes to get up and down the floor quite a bit more than Louisville. Senior guards Taveion Hollingsworth and Josh Anderson especially love to get into transition and push the pace at times.

Meanwhile, Louisville places 323rd in adjusted tempo on KenPom. In their last contest against Prairie View the Cardinals only put up 46 field goal attempts, despite scoring 86 points. Louisville would prefer the total field goals attempted to be in the right around 100 or 105.

Whereas the Hilltoppers have put up an average of 61 attempts per game. If the total field goal attempts in this game march upwards of 120, the pendulum swings in Western Kentucky’s favor.

I would go so far as to say that the total shot attempts of this game will be a very telling barometer to who wins this game. You can’t control whether the shots go down; if you could, basketball would be immensely easy.

But, you can (indirectly) control the pace of the game and how many shots you get up. Expect WKU’s clever coach Rick Stansbury to dial up the intensity and pace from the get-go.