Louisville v UMBC: Betting Odds, Gametime, and Honoring Denny Crum

Louisville Basketball is back tonight against UMBC, Here’s what you need to know:

The Louisville Cardinals will finally get back to basketball for year 2 of the Kenny Payne era, and for the sake of the city of Louisville, things need to go smoothly. Things were looking up for year of Payne’s time here in Louisville, that was until the Cardinals lost to division II school Kentucky Wesleyan, 71-68. The Cardinals did win their other exhibition game by 40+ though, so it’s impossible to gauge this team. The team will face UMBC in the first game of the year tonight, and Louisville should win this game handily. However, they should have won a lot of games handedly last season, so I’m quick to pull the trigger on this game.

The Cardinals will also be celebrating and honoring the legacy of Cardinal head coach Denny Crum tonight, in what should be a heartfelt moment for the city of Louisville. Crum brought Cardinal basketball to glorious heights, and hopefully they can win to do the late coach justice. The Cardinal twitter page put this out last night to celebrate the former head coach:

Gameday information for tonight’s game against UMBC is as follows:

Gametime and Broadcast Information:

Gametime: 7:00 PM

Broadcast: ACCNX/ESPN+

Venue: KFC YUM! Center

Betting Odds:

Louisville -9.5

Over/Under: 143

Money Line: Louisville -425, UMBC +400

The Cardinals should win this matchup, but for what the basketball program has been like in the last 2 years, I wouldn’t expect a win or loss here. Payne needs to have his group fired up to play basketball in front of a decent amount of fans for the home opener.

If the team can’t get up to play for Denny Crum night then how could can they play for the rest of the season?

They need a win to boost their confidence, plus an above .500 record would be nice for the first time in 2 years.