Louisville’s nonconference slate is loaded with heavyweight trips, name-brand opponents and one potentially fascinating reunion in Las Vegas.
The Cardinals’ 2026-27 schedule, announced Monday, sends them to Rupp Arena for the 59th meeting with Kentucky on Saturday, Dec. 12 and also includes games against defending national champion Michigan in Detroit, Texas in the ACC/SEC Challenge, Baylor in Indianapolis and Memphis on the road. Five of Louisville’s 11 guaranteed regular-season nonconference opponents played in last season’s NCAA Tournament.
The most intriguing wrinkle may come over Thanksgiving. Louisville opens the Players Era 16 against Texas Tech on Nov. 24, then draws either Oregon or St.
John’s on Thanksgiving Day in Las Vegas. If the Cardinals get St.
John’s, it would be their first meeting with former coach Rick Pitino since he left U of L in 2017. That matchup would also bring former Louisville point guard Peyton Siva back into the picture, as he is now an assistant on Pitino’s St.
John’s staff.
Louisville has one more Players Era game on Nov. 27, and a 3-0 run would send the Cardinals to the tournament championship game on Nov. 28.
The regular season starts Nov. 2 against Chattanooga at the KFC Yum! Center as part of a basketball doubleheader after the Louisville women’s game.
Morehead State comes to town Nov. 7, then Louisville hits the road for the first time Nov. 15 at Memphis. The Cardinals own a 55-36 edge in the 91-game series.
Stetson visits the Yum! Center on Nov. 19 before Louisville heads west for the Players Era event.
After that, the schedule keeps coming. Texas visits on Dec. 1 in the ACC/SEC Challenge, and the Longhorns reached the Sweet 16 last season after starting the NCAA Tournament in the First Four. Four days later, Louisville meets Michigan at Little Caesars Arena in a rematch of the 2013 national championship game.
Then comes Kentucky, which completes a brutal stretch that could feature Texas Tech, Oregon or St. John’s, Texas, Michigan and Kentucky in less than three weeks.
Louisville wraps up its December nonconference slate with home games against Long Island on Dec. 16 and Eastern Michigan on Dec. 19.
For the second straight year, the Cardinals will hold one nonconference game for later in the ACC calendar. Baylor is set for Jan. 23 in Indianapolis.
Louisville will play seven guaranteed nonconference home games at the KFC Yum! Center, including the Mercyhurst exhibition. The Cardinals’ road slate includes an exhibition at Kansas and regular-season trips to Memphis and Kentucky, plus neutral-site games in Las Vegas, Detroit and Indianapolis.
Game times and television assignments have not yet been announced.
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