Long season ahead, cards fall to the Jayhawks…

The University of Louisville Cardinals finally kicked off the 2025/2026 basketball season in an official, unofficial way. Louisville started the season pre-season ranked #11 against the #19-ranked Jayhawks of Kansas.

The Cards would start the game on a massive 0-6 shooting skid before getting their first points of the game from the stripe. They would score their first official field goal of the game when Ali Khalifa passed the ball down low.

Within the first six minutes, Khalifa would record two assists and a three-point bucket from deep. This is when the tide started to turn for the Cardinals as they would take a three-point lead, 12-9, with 12 minutes left.

11:42 to go in the first half, the Cards would cling to a 12-2 run before the Jayhawks would respond with a three-pointer.

The Jayhawks, led by freshman Peterson, playing like a senior, would drain a three from Curry range just before a tv timeout, giving the Jayhawks a 12-point lead with just over eight minutes to go in the half.

At this particular time out, the Cards were struggling from the field having only shot a measly 11% from three, and 36% from two. Finally, with 2:45 left, Isaac McKneely would hit just his first three as a Cardinal, cutting the lead to ten, 39-29.

Minus a few good moments during the first half, the Cardinals overall struggled against the Jayhawks, having only scored 30 points. Freshman star of Kansas, Patterson, would almost have the same amount as Louisville scored with 24.

The first half of this highly talked-about preseason matchup would have the Jayhawks leading by 16 points, 46-30.

Senior Ryan Conwell would kick the Cards off to a great start, scoring the first five points of the second half. What do you know, McKneely would drain a three, pushing the start to an 8-0 run.

With 13:10 to go in the game, freshman Michael Brown would hit his first shot from deep, cutting it to 57-46. Another sign of life from CardNation would be put on display, thanks to Adrian Woolley from three.

10 minutes to go, the Cards would trail by 12, and a not-so-pleasing stat would pop up with them having 14 turnovers at this point. And things would slowly pile up against the Cards, as the Jayhawks would go up by 18 points with eight minutes to go in the game.

Not much changed from the ten-minute mark to the 2:40 mark as even after a few good made shots from Louisville, Kansas would still be up by 13.

And what do you know in typical Cards fashion, the lead would be cut to within eight points, with 2:17 to go Kansas would make free throws pushing the lead back to ten.

One thing for sure to things for certain, the Cardinals still showed several moments of bursts of quality play. Ryan Conwell showed why Kelsey recruited him, the big Egyptian showcased his passing skills, freshman Brown made a few shots.

Good things can and will come from exhibition games being played against tough competition.

Final score :

Kansas Jayhawks 90

Louisville Cardinals 82