Louisville men's basketball opens season with 84-70 win over Chattanooga
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The gist
Louisville men's basketball beat Chattanooga 84-70 in its season opener at the KFC Yum! Center.
The Cardinals are rebuilding after a 27-win season that ended their NCAA tournament drought.
Background
Louisville's men's basketball team is coached by Pat Kelsey, who has leaned heavily on the transfer portal to make the Cardinals more physical in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference). The program is coming off a 2025-26 season in which it won 27 games — more than the previous three seasons combined — played for its first ACC Tournament title and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. The opener came on the same night the No. 7 Louisville women's team, coached by Jeff Walz in his 20th season, beat Bellarmine 119-47.
How it unfolded
- Jul 7, 2026Louisville scheduled two exhibition games at Baha Mar in The Bahamas, joining five other NCAA teams.
- Sep 8, 2026London Johnson was dismissed from the Louisville men's team for a violation of team rules and University policy.
- Oct 8, 2026Coach Pat Kelsey went deep into the transfer portal to boost the Cardinals' competitiveness in the ACC and against physical teams.
- Oct 21, 2026Louisville beat Kansas 89-83 in an exhibition game.
- Oct 28, 2026Louisville beat Mercyhurst 71-39 in an exhibition game.
- Nov 2, 2026Louisville opened the season at home against Chattanooga and won 84-70 at the KFC Yum! Center.
- Nov 6, 2026Guard De'Shayne Montgomery was reported out 4-6 weeks with a foot injury.
Key terms
- transfer portal
- An NCAA database that lets student-athletes publicly signal their desire to transfer between member schools.
- ACC
- A U.S. collegiate athletic conference with eighteen member universities competing in NCAA Division I sports.
- ACC Tournament
- The single-elimination conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Atlantic Coast Conference, whose winner gets an automatic NCAA bid.
Source: Wikipedia
Who’s saying what
- Analysts
- Dalton Pence of Locked On Louisville said the team has capable shooters but can't settle for jump shots when they stop falling, as it did against Chattanooga, and should attack the rim and get to the free-throw line.
- Analysts
- Mike Rutherford of SB Nation/Card Chronicle wrote that the 2026-27 season should feel overwhelmingly normal to Louisville fans and reignite feelings they forgot were there.