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Fresh off a win in Tallahassee, the Duke Blue Devils (13-1, 2-0 ACC) soon return to the road to face the Louisville Cardinals (11-3, 1-1 ACC) in a Tuesday night clash at the 22,000-seat KFC Yum! Center. The game tips off at 7pm ET, to watch or stream on ESPN (streaming link, listen, live stats). Both teams are ranked in the AP poll: Duke at #6 and Louisville at #16. This is the first of two regular season matchups with the Cards; they'll play again in Cameron on January 26.
www.espn.com
Louisville is promoting Tuesday's game as a Stripe Out. (Please note the spelling; this is very different from the Strip Out promotions back when Rick Pitino was coaching there.) Fans in odd-numbered sections wear black, while those in even-numbered sections wear red. So it would look like this:
Maybe a little intimidating from a cardinal's eye view, but after the jump ball, we usually don't see the arena from overhead.
Head coach Pat Kelsey
is in his second season at the helm. He has returned from a West Coast trip last week in which his team beat California on Tuesday, but lost to Stanford on Friday (80-76: recap, box score, highlights, presser). The Cards were without starting point guard Mikel Brown Jr and reserve forward Kasean Pryor. Ryan Conwell led the team with 18 points, but shot an uncharacteristic 2-of-14 from outside. Adrian Wooley replaced Brown in the starting lineup, but collected 4 fouls in only 15 minutes of play.
Coach Kelsey: "It was a three-point game with a minute left. [Stanford] drove right to the basket, got an easy layup. You know, you have to be able to get stops and defend at a really high level to win on the road. Credit to Stanford, they were better tonight. We've got to get back home, rest, recover, and then have a couple of really good days of preparation for a terrific Duke team in a few days."
Here's a look at the Cardinals roster. It's uncertain whether Mikel Brown Jr (lower back injury, day-to-day) or Kasean Pryor (lingering knee issues, did not practice last week) will be available to play against Duke, based on recent comments from Coach Kelsey. ACC teams are now required to provide injury reports before each conference game, but we might not see them until game day, and even then, a designation like "Game Time Decision" does not definitively tell us anything.
PROBABLE STARTERS
6-4 senior guard Ryan Conwell #3 (19.6 pts, 4.7 reb, 2.4 ast, 1.4 stl)
6-5 freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr #0 (16.6 pts, 3.0 reb, 5.1 ast)
6-4 senior guard Isaac McKneely #10 (11.6 pts, 3.1 reb, 1.2 ast)
6-11 junior post Sananda Fru #13 (11.1 pts, 6.9 reb, 1.3 ast, 1.4 blk)
6-7 sixth-year guard J'Vonne Hadley #1 (10.3 pts, 5.5 reb, 1.5 ast)
KEY RESERVES
6-4 sophomore guard Adrian Wooley #14 (9.5 pts, 4.3 reb, 1.6 ast)
6-10 sophomore forward Khani Rooths #9 (6.4 pts, 4.4 reb, 1.2 ast)
6-3 redshirt senior guard Kobe Rodgers #11 (4.5 pts, 3.2 reb, 1.8 ast, 1.1 stl)
6-10 sixth-year forward Kasean Pryor #7 (3.1 pts, 2.6 reb, 0.4 ast)
7-0 redshirt senior center Aly Khalifa #15 (2.1 pts, 2.2 reb, 3.1 ast)
6-8 junior post Vangelis Zougris #53 (2.0 pts, 2.7 reb, 0.8 ast)
BENCH PLAYERS
5-11 senior guard Cole Sherman #4 (1.3 pts, 0.0 reb, 0.1 ast)
6-7 senior guard Spencer Legg #55 (0.6 pts, 0.4 reb, 0.3 ast)
6-4 freshman guard Will Hanke #33 (0.3 pts, 0.6 reb, 0.0 ast)
OTHER/INJURED
6-8 freshman forward Mouhamed Camara #12 -- will redshirt 2025-26; link
6-3 freshman guard London Johnson #5 -- G-League addition, will redshirt 2025-26; link
You'll notice that, when healthy, each of Louisville's starting five (a 4-guard lineup) averages between 10-20 points per game. Ryan Conwell is the ACC's most prolific 3-point shooter; he leads the league and is top 10 nationally in both 3-point attempts (139) and makes (52). Before the Stanford loss, he was hitting 50-of-125 from outside, or exactly 40 percent. Sananda Fru is a 23-year-old newcomer to college basketball, who was granted 2 years of NCAA eligibility after 4 years as a German pro. He is 6th in the nation in 2-point field goal percentage, making 78.9 percent of those inside shots. (Duke's Maliq Brown tops the nation in that category, with 87.2 percent.)
I'll have more to say about the Cardinals a bit later, but I thought I would get this thread started early, due to increased interest in the matchup between these two teams. Discuss Tuesday's game here.
#6 Duke vs. #20 Louisville 1/6/26 - Stream the Game Live - Watch ESPN
Stream the NCAA Men's Basketball Game #6 Duke vs. #20 Louisville live from ESPN on Watch ESPN. Live stream on Tuesday, January 6, 2026.
Louisville is promoting Tuesday's game as a Stripe Out. (Please note the spelling; this is very different from the Strip Out promotions back when Rick Pitino was coaching there.) Fans in odd-numbered sections wear black, while those in even-numbered sections wear red. So it would look like this:
Maybe a little intimidating from a cardinal's eye view, but after the jump ball, we usually don't see the arena from overhead.
Head coach Pat Kelsey
is in his second season at the helm. He has returned from a West Coast trip last week in which his team beat California on Tuesday, but lost to Stanford on Friday (80-76: recap, box score, highlights, presser). The Cards were without starting point guard Mikel Brown Jr and reserve forward Kasean Pryor. Ryan Conwell led the team with 18 points, but shot an uncharacteristic 2-of-14 from outside. Adrian Wooley replaced Brown in the starting lineup, but collected 4 fouls in only 15 minutes of play.Coach Kelsey: "It was a three-point game with a minute left. [Stanford] drove right to the basket, got an easy layup. You know, you have to be able to get stops and defend at a really high level to win on the road. Credit to Stanford, they were better tonight. We've got to get back home, rest, recover, and then have a couple of really good days of preparation for a terrific Duke team in a few days."
Here's a look at the Cardinals roster. It's uncertain whether Mikel Brown Jr (lower back injury, day-to-day) or Kasean Pryor (lingering knee issues, did not practice last week) will be available to play against Duke, based on recent comments from Coach Kelsey. ACC teams are now required to provide injury reports before each conference game, but we might not see them until game day, and even then, a designation like "Game Time Decision" does not definitively tell us anything.
PROBABLE STARTERS
6-4 senior guard Ryan Conwell #3 (19.6 pts, 4.7 reb, 2.4 ast, 1.4 stl)
6-5 freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr #0 (16.6 pts, 3.0 reb, 5.1 ast)
6-4 senior guard Isaac McKneely #10 (11.6 pts, 3.1 reb, 1.2 ast)
6-11 junior post Sananda Fru #13 (11.1 pts, 6.9 reb, 1.3 ast, 1.4 blk)
6-7 sixth-year guard J'Vonne Hadley #1 (10.3 pts, 5.5 reb, 1.5 ast)
KEY RESERVES
6-4 sophomore guard Adrian Wooley #14 (9.5 pts, 4.3 reb, 1.6 ast)
6-10 sophomore forward Khani Rooths #9 (6.4 pts, 4.4 reb, 1.2 ast)
6-3 redshirt senior guard Kobe Rodgers #11 (4.5 pts, 3.2 reb, 1.8 ast, 1.1 stl)
6-10 sixth-year forward Kasean Pryor #7 (3.1 pts, 2.6 reb, 0.4 ast)
7-0 redshirt senior center Aly Khalifa #15 (2.1 pts, 2.2 reb, 3.1 ast)
6-8 junior post Vangelis Zougris #53 (2.0 pts, 2.7 reb, 0.8 ast)
BENCH PLAYERS
5-11 senior guard Cole Sherman #4 (1.3 pts, 0.0 reb, 0.1 ast)
6-7 senior guard Spencer Legg #55 (0.6 pts, 0.4 reb, 0.3 ast)
6-4 freshman guard Will Hanke #33 (0.3 pts, 0.6 reb, 0.0 ast)
OTHER/INJURED
6-8 freshman forward Mouhamed Camara #12 -- will redshirt 2025-26; link
6-3 freshman guard London Johnson #5 -- G-League addition, will redshirt 2025-26; link
You'll notice that, when healthy, each of Louisville's starting five (a 4-guard lineup) averages between 10-20 points per game. Ryan Conwell is the ACC's most prolific 3-point shooter; he leads the league and is top 10 nationally in both 3-point attempts (139) and makes (52). Before the Stanford loss, he was hitting 50-of-125 from outside, or exactly 40 percent. Sananda Fru is a 23-year-old newcomer to college basketball, who was granted 2 years of NCAA eligibility after 4 years as a German pro. He is 6th in the nation in 2-point field goal percentage, making 78.9 percent of those inside shots. (Duke's Maliq Brown tops the nation in that category, with 87.2 percent.)
I'll have more to say about the Cardinals a bit later, but I thought I would get this thread started early, due to increased interest in the matchup between these two teams. Discuss Tuesday's game here.
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