The Louisville Cardinals host the Miami (FL) Hurricanes at the KFC Yum! Center Sunday night. Louisville enters the game 9-4, a week removed from a 71-58 loss at home to Kentucky. Miami is 8-5 and 0-1 in ACC play. This is Louisville’s conference opener.
Miami has five players scoring in double figures, including 17.5 from its leading scorer Chris Lykes. They opened up ACC play with an 87-82 loss to NC State at home on Thursday night. Miami was picked one spot ahead of Louisville in the ACC preseason poll. The Hurricanes have no real wins of note, and they suffered four straight losses during December, which included three against Rutgers, Yale and Penn.
Louisville comes into ACC play with a decent non-conference resume, but this could arguably be their toughest conference schedule since joining the league in 2014-15. The Cards went 9-9 in the ACC last season after going 12-6 in their first three seasons in the conference.
Louisville struggled to get anything going on offense last week against Kentucky. Miami won’t be nearly as sharp on the defensive end, so we’ll see if the Cards can put together a more consistent offensive performance this week. Jordan Nwora continues to lead the team in both scoring and rebounding (17.8,8.4).
I think Louisville is better than Miami. Every one of Louisville’s losses has come to teams that are better than Miami. This is conference play, though. Nothing is going to come easily. Given the ferocity of the ACC slate this year, it is crucial that the Cards get off to a good start this season.
Prediction:
Louisville 80 Miami 75
