—NET Ranking Update (Men): 18th.
—NET Rankings Update (Women): 9th.
— Spread check: Louisville 8.5.
–The University of Louisiana women’s basketball team locked up its 13th straight victory against Stanford before visiting Alcatraz on Friday.
But that’s what happens when a top-10 team isn’t leading the charge offensively. They pressed, deflected, rebounded and rolled to win 84-66 on the road for their 13th straight victory, a performance that proved they don’t need to be perfect to win easily.
“Our offense wasn’t good — not at all,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. “But defense? That’s fun to watch. What if we had a night where everybody played well? Man, that would be really fun.”
This is the 16th consecutive season that Louisville (20-3, 10-0 ACC) has won 20 or more games, the fourth-longest winning streak in the nation. It also marked the 12th consecutive year of at least 10 wins in ACC play, a feat unmatched by any other program in the league.
And they’re just getting started. And it’s still getting better.
Louisville forced 22 turnovers, scored 26 points and led for nearly 40 minutes. They led by 18 points at halftime and 27 points in the fourth quarter before Walz cleared the bench and began thinking about Sunday’s next stop across the bay.
The headliner was Laura Ziegler, who scored a career-high 22 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and responded to every Stanford possession in the second half with a great shot or better decision.
“She put on a great performance tonight,” Walz said. “It doesn’t surprise me. The game was perfect for her — a big post was trying to guard her, and she was able to shoot, drive, face up, score from 15 feet. She made it really tough for people.”
Ziegler became the sixth Louisville player this season to score 20 points in a game, another example of the depth and selflessness of this team.
—The Athletic breaks down college basketball’s national title contenders into different classes, but it doesn’t include Louisville.
advertise
— Matt McGavich of The Louisville Report predicts Louisville will beat SMU by four points on Saturday afternoon.
—On3 provides an offseason preview of the Louisville defensive line.
——If an emergency occurs, be sure to rescue Grif.
—Teddy Bridgewater Learn about video game balls.
—The latest episode of the From the Pink Seat podcast is here.
— ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips spoke with The Athletic this week, reflecting on his first five years on the job.
Where do you see the ACC in five years?
I hope to continue to be a conference about innovation, creativity, being at the top of the competition, being financially stable and thriving, just like I feel now. It’s important for the conference to stay healthy and continue on this trajectory. This is a meeting that has been held since May 8, 1953. This meeting was important for many things. That’s what we do and continue to do every day, is protect and advance the ACC, and that’s what we will do going forward. But I’m very excited about the future of conferences.
—Athlon It’s premature to have Louisville ranked No. 2 in the 2026 ACC Football Power Rankings.
— Louisville baseball players and coaches spoke to the media Friday morning.
advertise
—Cauryn Lacy Still doing Caulin Lacy things.
— A recent study found that Los Angeles college athletics generates an average annual economic impact of $1.28 billion.
—The top 10 Louisville swimming and diving team will face off against Indiana and Cincinnati this weekend.
—Houston DL transfer Joshua Donals has officially signed, becoming the 30th member of Louisville’s 2026 transfer portal class.
— Trey Richardson is locked in.
—Mike DeCourcy ranks Louisville and Saturday’s opponent, SMU, as No. 7 seeds in the latest Bracketology on Fox Sports.
—CJ rounds up Louisville’s 14 most romantic restaurants.
–Here’s a preview of tomorrow afternoon’s game between L.A. and SMU.
advertise
– This movie is going to suck.
—This is the standard AP preview of Louisville vs. SMU.
— The Mike Rutherford Show wraps up the week today from 2:30-5:30 PM on 1450/96.1 The Big X. You can watch it on YouTube.
——Finally, beat SMU.