Louisville basketball, Cincinnati reportedly finalizing neutral-site series. What to know
Louisville basketball is reportedly adding another longtime rival to its 2025-26 schedule.
The Cardinals and Cincinnati are finalizing an agreement to play a two-year, neutral-site series beginning this season, according to a report Friday from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports on X, formerly Twitter.
Advertisement
This year's game, per Rothstein, will be played at Heritage Bank Center in downtown Cincinnati. UC called the arena home for more than a decade after it opened in 1975.
In 2026-27, the teams will play at Freedom Hall, U of L's old stomping grounds of 54 years. The last time the Cards took the court there before moving to the KFC Yum! Center was March 7, 2010, when they upset top-ranked Syracuse, 78-68.
Louisville has played Cincinnati 100 times, more than any opponent in its 111-year history. But they haven't met on the court since the 2022 Maui Invitational — the Bearcats won, 81-62.
Before that? You have to go all the way back to 2014, when both teams were members of the American Athletic Conference.
Advertisement
The Cards hold a 56-44 lead in the all-time series with UC, which dates back to 1921. This year's game will be a homecoming for coach Pat Kelsey, who grew up in Cincinnati and both played and coached at Xavier.
Cincinnati is coming off a 19-16 finish in 2024-25, which was coach Wes Miller's fourth season at the helm. Having missed out on the NCAA Tournament, the Bearcats participated in the inaugural College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas. They lost to UCF in the second round.
As of Friday, Louisville had confirmed three games on its 2025-26 nonconference schedule:
U of L has also reportedly agreed to play cross-state rival Indiana on Dec. 6 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Advertisement
Before Rothstein's report on the Cincinnati series, Louisville athletics director Josh Heird said during a Friday appearance on WLCL 93.9-FM that the Cards won't play St. John's and former coach Rick Pitino at Madison Square Garden this season. Pitino told reporters at the Final Four in April that the schools were in negotiations to make that happen.
Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball schedule 2025-26: UofL, Cincinnati add series
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Wright State baseball beats No. 1 Vanderbilt; loses nightcap to end season
The Wright State University baseball team's season came to an end Sunday in the Nashville Regional. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] They eliminated the No. 1 overall seed, Vanderbilt, 5-4, Sunday afternoon. Advertisement But the Raiders fell to Louisville, 6-0, Sunday night, at Hawkins Field. WSU was held to two hits against the Cardinals. TRENDING STORIES: Against Vanderbilt, Griffen Page went eight innings and held the Commodores to two runs on one hit. The Raiders scored four runs in the first inning against Vandy. Hunter Warren led the game off with a double, and he scored on a Gus Gregory groundout. Boston Smith and Luke Arnold each hit home runs to extend the lead to 4-0. Gregory's RBI single in the third inning expanded it to 5-1. The Commodores scored 3 runs in the top of the ninth to cut the deficit to 5-4. But Cam Gilkerson flew out to right and sent Wright State to the regional final. Advertisement In the nightcap, Louisville scored two runs in the first inning and never looked back. Ethan Eberle held the Raiders to two hits over 6.2 innings, walking three and striking out 11. Wright State's best scoring chance against Louisville came in the seventh, trailing 4-0. WSU had runners on second and third, but Conlan Daniel grounded out to end the rally. The Cardinals scored twice in the eighth inning to seal the game. This was the first regional final for WSU since 2016. The Raiders end the season at 40-21. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Brewers visit the Reds on 4-game road win streak
Milwaukee Brewers (32-28, third in the NL Central) vs. Cincinnati Reds (29-31, fourth in the NL Central) Cincinnati; Monday, 7:10 p.m. EDT PITCHING PROBABLES: Brewers: Aaron Civale (0-1, 6.00 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, nine strikeouts); Reds: Brady Singer (6-3, 4.60 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 49 strikeouts) BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Reds -121, Brewers +101; over/under is 9 runs BOTTOM LINE: The Milwaukee Brewers will try to keep a four-game road win streak alive when they face the Cincinnati Reds. Cincinnati is 29-31 overall and 14-14 in home games. Reds pitchers have a collective 3.76 ERA, which ranks fifth in the NL. Milwaukee has gone 14-18 on the road and 32-28 overall. The Brewers have the ninth-ranked team on-base percentage in the NL at .317. Monday's game is the fifth time these teams square off this season. The Brewers hold a 3-1 advantage in the season series. TOP PERFORMERS: Gavin Lux has 14 doubles, a triple, a home run and 22 RBIs for the Reds. Elly De La Cruz is 12 for 38 with two doubles and four home runs over the past 10 games. Christian Yelich has five doubles, 12 home runs and 39 RBIs while hitting .233 for the Brewers. Sal Frelick is 15 for 42 with a double over the last 10 games. LAST 10 GAMES: Reds: 4-6, .251 batting average, 5.13 ERA, outscored by five runs Brewers: 8-2, .288 batting average, 3.36 ERA, outscored opponents by 25 runs INJURIES: Reds: Austin Hays: 10-Day IL (foot), Carson Spiers: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Tyler Callihan: 60-Day IL (forearm), Noelvi Marte: 10-Day IL (side), Jeimer Candelario: 10-Day IL (back), Christian Encarnacion-Strand: 10-Day IL (back), Brandon Williamson: 60-Day IL (elbow), Rhett Lowder: 15-Day IL (forearm), Julian Aguiar: 60-Day IL (elbow) Brewers: Christian Yelich: day-to-day (hand), Connor Thomas: 60-Day IL (elbow), Blake Perkins: 60-Day IL (shin), Garrett Mitchell: 10-Day IL (oblique), Nestor Cortes: 60-Day IL (elbow), Brandon Woodruff: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Robert Gasser: 60-Day IL (elbow) ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
Levu's 3-run HR helps UCLA beat UC Irvine 8-5 to sweep Los Angeles Regional
Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mulivai Levu hit a three-run home run, Dean West and Payton Brennan added two RBIs apiece and UCLA jumped to a big lead and then held on to beat UC Irvine 8-5 on Sunday night and win the Los Angeles Regional. UCLA (45-16) clinched its first trip to the super regionals since 2019. UC Irvine (43-17) beat Arizona State 11-6 in a loser-out game earlier Sunday. The Anteaters made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since they went to six straight tourneys from 2006-11. Roman Martin's RBI single off Finnegan Wall (0-1) in the first inning made it 1-0 and the Bruins led the rest of the way. Cashel Dugger hit a single in the second that drove in Brennan, who doubled to lead off the inning, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Roch Cholowsky to make it 3-0. Dugger and Phoenix Call drew back-to-back walks to lead off the fourth and West followed with a bunt single to load the bases. Dugger scored on another sacrifice fly by Cholowsky and, after Levu's homer, Brennan added a sacrifice fly to make it 8-0. James Castagnola and Alonso Reyes each had an RBI for the Anteaters in the fourth, Anthony Martinez hit a two-run double in the fifth and Reyes hit a lead-off home in the sixth to cap the scoring. Chris Grothues (3-1) came on in relief of starter Wylan Moss with one out and the bases loaded in the fourth. Grothues got Reyes to groundout, driving in Martinez, and struck out Blake Penso to limit the damage. Easton Hawk pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save of the season. ___ AP college sports: in this topic
