Louisville basketball: Three players to watch for Evansville
Louisville basketball will face off in their season opener against Evansville.
The Louisville basketball team will play host to Evansville in their season opener this Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 4 p.m. Eastern time. This will be the first time these two teams have met since the 2016-17 basketball season when Louisville won 78-47.
The Cardinals will be facing an Evansville team with a ton of roster turnover which means that there is a bunch of new names to know with their 2020 squad.
The Aces return just four players that played minutes from the team that defeated Kentucky just a little over a year ago. The three leading scorers for the Aces in that game have moved on elsewhere.
Despite having just one senior on their team for the 2019-20 season, Evansville lost their five leading scorers from a year ago and is looking at a possible rebuilding year.
The Aces started their season last year with a 9-4 record. That sounds all well and good. However, they lost 19 in a row to end their year.
While Evansville may not be the toughest challenge for Louisville this Wednesday, it is certainly worth noting a few players that the Cards and fans should be keeping an eye on heading into the matchup.
Let’s take a look at three Evansville players to watch for.
Evan Kuhlman, Forward
Bio:
Evan Kuhlman is a 6’8″ 220-pound senior from Liberty Township, Ohio. He got off to a slow start to his season in 2019-20 before finding himself as conference play wore on.
In the final 13 games of the season, Kuhlman averaged 9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and shot 38.9 percent from three-point range.
Why might this have happened? Evansville had a coaching change in the middle of January when Todd Lickliter replaced Walter McCarty.
Kuhlman’s minutes immediately increased and so did his role with the team.
How he can hurt Louisville
Kuhlman is a big that can really stroke it. If Louisville wants to win, Kuhlman may be the most important player to key in on.
He was starting games late in the Aces’ season and was clearly blossoming into a good player.
If Kuhlman has improved in any way, he will have a shot to be Evansville’s leading scorer and rebounder this season.
Louisville will be without Malik Williams for a large chunk of the season so that means big men Aidan Igiehon and Jae’Lyn Withers are going to have to step up to guard Kuhlman in this one.
Kuhlman could easily go off against these two inexperienced players for the Cardinals. I am interested to see how Chris Mack and the other coaches decide to match Kuhlman’s ability to stroke the three.