Who’s Playing
Eastern Kentucky Colonels @ Louisville Cardinals
Current Records: Eastern Kentucky 6-6, Louisville 7-5
How To Watch
- When: Saturday, December 28, 2024 at 12 p.m. ET
- Where: KFC Yum! Center — Louisville, Kentucky
- TV: The CW Network
- Follow: CBS Sports App
- Online streaming: fuboTV (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
What to Know
After two games on the road, Louisville is heading back home. They will finish 2024 at home by hosting the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday at KFC Yum! Center. The Cardinals have been getting the ball to fall more lately as they’ve increased their point totals each of their last four games.
Louisville will bounce into Saturday’s matchup after (finally) beating Florida State, who they had gone 2-8 against in their ten prior meetings. Louisville walked away with a 90-76 victory over Florida State on Saturday. The Cardinals’ season wasn’t pretty last year but it’s starting to look like struggles are in the rearview.
Louisville got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Reyne Smith out in front who went 6 for 9 from beyond the arc en route to 27 points. Another player making a difference was Terrence Edwards Jr., who had 19 points plus eight assists and seven rebounds.
Even though they won, Louisville struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only five offensive rebounds. That’s the fewest offensive rebounds they’ve posted since back in February.
Meanwhile, Eastern Kentucky entered their match against Jax. State on Saturday without any home losses, but there’s a first time for everything. Eastern Kentucky fell 91-80 to Jax. State. The game was a 33-33 toss-up at halftime, but the Colonels couldn’t quite close it out.
Eastern Kentucky’s loss came about despite a quality game from Devontae Blanton, who scored 36 points along with two steals. With that strong performance, Blanton is now averaging an impressive 21.2 points per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Montavious Myrick, who scored six points in addition to ten rebounds and two blocks.
Louisville’s victory ended an eight-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 7-5. As for Eastern Kentucky, their defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 6-6.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Louisville hasn’t had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 78 points per game. However, it’s not like Eastern Kentucky struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging 77. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Everything came up roses for Louisville against Eastern Kentucky in their previous meeting back in December of 2019, as the squad secured a 99-67 win. Does Louisville have another victory up their sleeve, or will Eastern Kentucky turn the tables on them? We’ll have the answer soon enough.
Series History
Louisville has won both of the games they’ve played against Eastern Kentucky in the last 8 years.
- Dec 14, 2019 – Louisville 99 vs. Eastern Kentucky 67
- Dec 17, 2016 – Louisville 87 vs. Eastern Kentucky 56
