The Rivalry game before the Rivalry game

I always thought Indiana and Louisville should play more and to Coach Pitino’s credit, he was always working to get these teams back together on the hardwood. Unlike that coward that coach’s that team up the road, Rick made it clear that he wasn’t afraid to play Indiana anytime and anywhere.

Louisville and Indiana renewed their rivalry in a game back in December of 2014 as part of the JimmyVClassic. That was a one-game contract. I will always remember that game as the night Montrezl Harrell became Louisville’s all-time dunk leader. That game also sparked up the rivalry enough that talks begin between the schools and an agreement was reached for the schools to meet up in a series on the Hardwood and the Gridiron. 

The team’s played the first in a three-game (neutral/home/home) agreement at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Dec. 31, 2016. Cards won that one 77-62. The second matchup came last season on Dec. 9, 2017, at the Yum Center. Cards won that one 71-62. The game in Bloomington on Saturday will be the final game of the renewed hardwood series.

Indiana and Louisville will kick off the football series part of the agreement at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Sept. 16, 2023, with seating split equally between the two schools. The second football game will be played in Cardinal Stadium in Louisville on Sept. 7, 2024, and the three-game series will be completed at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington on Sept. 6, 2025.

With the UofL and IU campuses only being separated by 107 miles this rivalry just makes sense and I really hope the hoops series will continue after this season. Coach Mack and Archie Miller have already had a pretty good rivalry together between Xavier and Dayton. Hopefully, the two will work to keep this new one between them going as well. 

Our Cardinals have won four straight over the Hoosiers but will face a pretty good team in Bloomington tomorrow and will be playing in front of a hostile crowd. One of the loudest opposing crowds they will play in front of this season. Dynamic Freshman guard Romeo Langford has really provided a spark to the Indiana offense this season scoring almost 18 points a game. But he also has a pretty good team around him. 

Senior Juwan Morga is averaging 15.6 points and 8.4 rebounds a game. He is on the top 50 list of all-time scores at IU. He and Langford provide a pretty good one-two punch for a Hoosiers offense that is sixth in the nation in field goal percentage shooting almost 52% a game. 

The Cardinals are doing pretty well on the offensive end of the floor as well and there is no shortage of scorers on this team. The scoring has been good enough to rank them 40th in the country offensively. It’s taking a little longer for things to come together on the defensive end of the court and this team will face one of its toughest tests to date on Saturday. 

The defense has been trending in the right direction ranking now 114th in FG% defense and 171st in 3pt FG% defense. You can see the light coming on for these guys. You will hear them talk about defensive Kills. That is a goal that Coach Mack has give his team every game they play. 8 defensive kills during a game according to what I’ve heard equals a win almost every time out. There are different criteria set up by Coach Mack to achieve these defensive kills. Just another example of him getting this team to buy in. 

I don’t know if they will get their 8 defensive kills in the game on Saturday but they will have to figure out a way to slow down the hot shooting Hoosiers.  

This game is the Rivalry game before the Rivalry with Kentucky coming to town in just a few weeks for the annual in-state showdown. This game will be a good test to see where our Cardinals stand and will be good for these guys as they get ready for the game on the 29th and as they prepare for a tough conference slate. I’m gonna enjoy this one. And I really do like our chances.

L’s Up!

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