It will go down as Louisville basketball’s biggest missed opportunity of the season, squandering a nine-point halftime lead over then-No. 6 Duke on Jan. 6 at the KFC Yum! Center.
Less than three weeks later, Pat Kelsey’s No. 21 Cardinals (14-5, 4-3 ACC) have a chance for redemption today, when they face the fifth-ranked Blue Devils (18-1, 7-0) at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Pro: Star freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr., who did not play in the first meeting between these teams, has returned from an eight-game absence due to a lower back injury and went for a team-high 20 points and six assists during an 85-71 win over Virginia Tech last Saturday. Con: Due to Winter Storm Fern, UofL didn’t get to fly into Durham, North Carolina, until this morning.
“We’ll see how this thing all plays out, but looking forward to the challenge,” Kelsey said after the victory over the Hokies. “Obviously, we all know how good Duke is. It should be a big-time college basketball game.”
To Kelsey’s point: The Blue Devils’ winning streak has grown from three to seven games in a row since they beat Louisville earlier this month. The combined margin of victory of their past four: +73 points, roughly +18.3 per.
Projected top-five NBA draft pick Cameron Boozer hasn’t slowed down, either. The 6-foot-9 freshman forward is coming off of back-to-back games with 30 or more points and nine-plus rebounds. He scored 32 of Duke’s 90 on 20 of its 62 shot attempts during a 21-point win over Wake Forest last Saturday.
After the victory, coach Jon Scheyer’s team ranked fifth in both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency on KenPom.com. Per BartTorvik.com, the Blue Devils have had the country’s 15th-best offense (shooting 62.9% from inside the arc but only 31.2% from beyond it) and the eighth-best defense since they beat the Cards, who ranked 17th and 28th, respectively, during that stretch.
Here’s what you need to know to follow today’s game from home — then a score prediction:
Louisville vs Duke basketball start time
UofL and Duke are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. today inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
What channel is Louisville vs Duke basketball on?
The game between the Cards and the Blue Devils will air on ESPN, which is channel 602 on AT&T U-Verse; channel 206 on DirecTV; channel 140 on Dish; and channel 506 on Spectrum.
Louisville basketball vs Duke prediction
No. 5 Duke 83, No. 21 Louisville 79: The Cards’ most recent win over Duke came in overtime at Cameron Indoor Stadium — Feb. 27, 2021. With Brown back and firing on all cylinders, I think there’s a decent chance they emerge from one of the sport’s most intimidating venues with a victory. However, until I see a Kelsey-coached UofL team play a complete game against the Blue Devils, I’m going to side with Scheyer’s squad.
