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University of Louisville Athletics

Thursday, December 2
LOUISVILLE, KY
7 p.m. ET

University of Louisville

vs

MICHIGAN

No. 5 Louisville Hosts No. 9 Michigan in Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Thursday

December 01, 2021 | Women's Basketball

The Cardinals and Wolverines will tip off at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN and 790-AM WKRD.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 5 University of Louisville women's basketball hosts No. 9 Michigan in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Thursday night. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. ET and broadcast on ESPN and 790-AM WKRD.
 
Louisville is 5-1 on the season and is coming off a perfect 3-0 west coast road trip where they got wins at Washington, Cal Poly and Colorado State.
 
Overall, the Cardinals are on a five-game winning streak and during that winning streak have a plus-30.4 scoring margin. On the season, the Cardinals' scoring margin is plus-25.0, which ranks third in the ACC and 15th in the country.
 
Through six games, Louisville is limiting opponents to just 42.8 points per game, which leads the ACC and ranks second in the NCAA. Coastal Carolina leads the country with 41.7 points allowed per game. UofL is also holding opponents to 29.9 percent shooting, which ranks second in the ACC and fifth in the NCAA.
 
Louisville's opponents are averaging just 9.5 points in both the first and second quarter this season. In the third and fourth quarters, opponents are averaging 11.3 points.
 
UofL is 4-2 all-time in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and 2-1 at the KFC Yum! Center.
 
Kianna Smith has 980 points in her collegiate career, between both Louisville and California, and is just 20 points shy of reaching 1,000. She has 380 points in her career at Louisville. She leads the Cardinals with 10.2 points per game. She has scored in double digits in each of the last four games and twice has led the team in scoring.
 
Louisville head coach Jeff Walz, the winningest coach in program history with a 390-109 record, is coaching his 500th game at Louisville on Thursday.

ABOUT THE WOLVERINES
 
No. 9 Michigan enters Thursday's contest with a perfect 7-0 record. They are coming off two wins in the Daytona Beach Invitational last weekend, beating No. 16 Oregon State, 61-52, and Mississippi State, 64-48. Senior Naz Hillmon was named Big Ten Player of the Week after helping Michigan to a 3-0 week with three double-doubles. She is one of four players nationally to be averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. Michigan features a pair of double-figure scorers in Hillmon (21.8 ppg, 10.0 rpg) and Leigha Brown (14.3 ppg), with Emily Kiser (9.0 ppg, 8.6 rpg), Danielle Rauch (8.1 ppg) and Maddie Nolan (7.6 ppg) each averaging at least 7.5 points per game. Michigan ranks 29th in the NCAA in scoring defense, allowing 52.1 points per game.
 
Series History - Louisville is 4-1 all-time against Michigan and has won three straight. This marks the third time in the past five seasons that Michigan has visited the KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals won 74-49 in the preseason WNIT semifinals on Nov. 16, 2017 and 71-50 in the NCAA Tournament second round on March 24, 2019. Prior to those two meetings, the two teams had not squared off since Dec. 13, 1980, an 89-80 win for the Cardinals at Freedom Hall.
 
Last Meeting (March 24, 2019) - Asia Durr scored 24 points, including 12 in the first quarter to lead top-seeded Louisville past No. 8 Michigan 71-50 in the second round of the women's NCAA Tournament. Louisville's defense also came up big, holding the taller Wolverines to just 23 percent shooting in the second half and 43 percent overall. The Cardinals scored 28 points off 22 turnovers, forcing 17 by halftime alone. Jazmine Jones added 15 points while Sam Fuehring and Dana Evans each had 10. Kylee Shook had 10 rebounds and Arica Carter had seven after missing two games with a left knee injury.

GAME FACTS
Date: Thursday, Dec. 2
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Site: Louisville, Ky. | KFC Yum! Center (22,000)
TV: ESPN (Pam Ward, play-by-play; Stephanie White, analyst)
Radio: 790-AM WKRD (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Adrienne Johnson, analyst)
Last Meeting: W, 71-50 (March 24, 2019 at KFC Yum! Center)
Series History: 4-1 (W3, 4-0 home, 0-1 away, 0-0 neutral)
Next UofL Game: Sunday, Dec. 5 vs. Belmont

For the latest on Louisville women's basketball, visit GoCards.com, follow the team's Twitter account at @UofLWBB or on Facebook at facebook.com/UofLWBB.