I am currently out of town with Holy Cross High School’s basketball team on a Christmas Tournament trip, so this will be a quick preview of the Louisville-UMKC game tonight. Something is better than nothing, right? OK, here we go…
About UMKC
Louisville plays the first of consecutive days in the KFC Yum! Center as the Cardinals face the University of Missouri Kansas City Kangaroos on Tuesday in is first of two games in the 14th Annual Billy Minardi Classic. UMKC (7-4) has won back-to-back games over Mississippi State (72- 67 on Dec. 12) and Rockhurst (71-60 on Dec. 19).
UMKC returns four starters from its team which finished 14-19 last season. Foremost among the returnees is Martez Harrison, the 2015 WAC Player of the Year who leads the ‘Roos in scoring (16.0 ppg) and is the 10th player in school history with 1,000 career points. Harrison had 16 points and five assists in UMKC’s victory over Rockhurst last Saturday.
UMKC is No. 126 in the ratings percentage index and 181 in the Sagarin Ratings through games of Dec. 20. Former UofL assistant coach Kareem Richardson is in his third season as the head coach at UMKC, inheriting a team that posted an 8-24 record in 2012-13 while Richardson was on the Cardinals’ national championship staff — his lone year with the Cardinals.
Kangaroos freshman forward Aleer Leek played with Louisville’s Deng Adel at Victory Rock Prep. UMKC is picked to finish third by the media in its second season in the Western Athletic Conference, a league which also includes former UofL assistant Marvin Menzies as the head coach at New Mexico State. Louisville has an 8-1 record against current members of the WAC, having faced four of its nine members (Chicago State 1-0, Grand Canyon 1-0, UMKC 2-0, New Mexico State 4-1). The Cardinals beat WAC member Grand Canyon 111-63 earlier this season on Dec. 5.
Billy Minardi Classic participant Utah Valley is also a member of the WAC. Louisville has won its only two previous meetings against UMKC, both in the KFC Yum! Center in consecutive years. The Cardinals won 90-62 in the last meeting (12-4- 13) as UofL’s Montrezl Harrell scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds. UofL beat UMKC 99-47 in the first matchup (12/8/12) as Russ Smith totalled 31 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals to lead the Cardinals.
Located in Kansas City, Mo., UMKC is the alma mater of Florida Governor Rick Scott, former Dallas Mavericks and four-year NBA guard Tony Dumas, and Donald Fehr, the executive director for the National Hockey League Players Association.
Game Notes
Date: Dec. 22, 2015
Time: 9:06 p.m.
Site: KFC Yum! Center/Crum Court, Louisville, Ky. (22,000) (88-13 in 6th yr.)
Television: Regional Sports Networks (Fox Sports South in Louisville) Tom Werme, play-by-play; Dan Bonner, analyst.
Radio: WHAS (840 AM) Paul Rogers, play-by-play; Bob Valvano, analyst (Sirius channel 119, XM 194)
Series History: UofL leads 2-0 (2-0 in Louisville)
Last Meeting: UofL 90, UMKC 62 (Dec. 4, 2013 in KFC Yum! Center)
UofL National Ranking: 15th USA Today, 16th Associated Press
Officials: Mike Eades, Trey Styons, Tim Ebersole
Next UofL Game: Dec. 23 vs. Utah Valley, KFC Yum! Center, 7 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
Probable Starting Lineups
Louisville
| Player | GP | MIN | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TPG | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Damion Lee | 10 | 29.8 | 18.3 | 4.7 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 1.4 | .517 | .872 | .400 |
| Trey Lewis | 10 | 29.1 | 13.8 | 3.9 | 3.0 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 2.0 | .471 | .875 | .413 |
| Quentin Snider | 10 | 28.4 | 10.4 | 2.9 | 4.7 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 1.2 | .421 | .667 | .389 |
| Chinanu Onuaku | 10 | 19.8 | 9.8 | 7.5 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | .616 | .533 | .000 |
| Raymond Spalding | 10 | 14.3 | 6.0 | 4.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.8 | .684 | .400 | .000 |
UMKC
| Player | GP | MIN | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | TPG | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Martez Harrison | 11 | 34.5 | 16.0 | 3.2 | 5.3 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 4.4 | .389 | .740 | .327 |
| LaVell Boyd | 11 | 31.8 | 14.8 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.3 | .483 | .833 | .457 |
| Kyle Steward | 11 | 19.1 | 5.7 | 3.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.8 | .357 | .824 | .429 |
| Darius Austin | 11 | 26.6 | 7.5 | 4.8 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.9 | .382 | .556 | .308 |
| Thaddeus Smith | 11 | 10.1 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.1 | .429 | .000 | .000 |
Team Schedules
Louisville
| DATE | OPPONENT | RESULT/TIME | RECORD/TICKETS |
| Fri, Nov 13 |
|
|
1-0 (0-0) |
| Tue, Nov 17 |
|
|
2-0 (0-0) |
| Sat, Nov 21 |
|
|
3-0 (0-0) |
| Tue, Nov 24 |
|
|
4-0 (0-0) |
| Sat, Nov 28 |
|
|
5-0 (0-0) |
| Wed, Dec 2 |
|
|
5-1 (0-0) |
| Sat, Dec 5 |
|
|
6-1 (0-0) |
| Sat, Dec 12 |
|
|
7-1 (0-0) |
| Wed, Dec 16 |
|
|
8-1 (0-0) |
| Sat, Dec 19 |
|
|
9-1 (0-0) |
UMKC
| DATE | OPPONENT | RESULT/TIME | RECORD/TICKETS |
| Fri, Nov 13 |
|
|
0-1 (0-0) |
| Sun, Nov 15 |
|
|
1-1 (0-0) |
| Tue, Nov 17 |
|
|
1-2 (0-0) |
| Sat, Nov 21 |
|
|
2-2 (0-0) |
| Wed, Nov 25 |
|
|
3-2 (0-0) |
| Sat, Nov 28 |
|
|
4-2 (0-0) |
| Tue, Dec 1 |
|
|
5-2 (0-0) |
| Sat, Dec 5 |
|
|
5-3 (0-0) |
| Tue, Dec 8 |
|
|
5-4 (0-0) |
| Sat, Dec 12 |
|
|
6-4 (0-0) |
| Sat, Dec 19 |
|
|
7-4 (0-0) |
Team Stats
Points Per Game
UofL: 86.0 14th
UMKC: 72.5 Tied-198th
Rebounds Per Game
UofL: 44.2 8th
UMKC: 35.5 246th
Assists Per Game
UofL: 15.1 Tied-88th
UMKC: 13.1 Tied-207th
Points Allowed
UofL: 55.6 2nd
UMKC: 73.0 Tied-217th
