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Kentucky–Louisville rivalry
Sports rivalry between the Universities of Kentucky and Louisville From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Kentucky–Louisville rivalry refers to the rivalry between the University of Kentucky Wildcats (Kentucky) and the University of Louisville Cardinals (Louisville). It is considered one of the most intense and passionate rivalries in the NCAA, especially in men's college basketball. The intensity of the rivalry is captivated by the proximity of the two schools and the commonwealth of Kentucky's interest in college sports.
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Men's basketball
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The Kentucky–Louisville rivalry has been ranked the 2nd best rivalry in college basketball by Bleacher Report and 3rd best rivalry in all of college sports by Basketball Hall of Fame contributor Dick Vitale.[1] Kentucky and Louisville first played against each other in 1913 but stopped playing each other in the 1920s, playing only twelve times between 1913 and 1983. The rivalry went dormant after UK coach Adolf Rupp wanted to stop playing Louisville. Louisville tried numerous times to revive the rivalry to no avail. It wasn't until they were forced to meet in the NCAA Tournament in 1983 dubbed "The Dream Game" which Louisville won that the series was revived. 1983 NCAA tournament. Since then, the two teams have met each year in late December or early January. 2025 will mark the first time that the rivalry game will be the season opener for both teams.
Much like the Iron Bowl, the Kentucky–Louisville rivalry is all the more intense because the two schools have consistently been among the nation's elite men's basketball teams for most of the last 50 years. Both schools are also two of the most victorious programs in NCAA men's basketball history; Kentucky is #1 on the list of all-time winningest programs in Division I Men's Basketball and Louisville #30. Kentucky has eight national championships and Louisville three, one having been vacated by the NCAA. Both schools also sit in the top ten of men's basketball teams that have had athletes to be picked in the first round of the NBA draft. Kentucky has had 46 players selected in the first round, while Louisville has had 24.
Two more aspects of the rivalry add even more fuel. Unlike conference rivalries such as Duke–North Carolina, UK and U of L only play once each season. Also, the two schools did not play in the regular season for more than 60 years. According to local Louisville journalist Rick Bozich,[2]
Unlike the Tobacco Road series, one of these programs (Kentucky) once had to be strong-armed into playing the other. I'm not sure how you measure bile but competitive animosity between U of L and UK ranks at the top of the charts — no matter how many times ESPN rolls its Tyler Hansbrough video. Any stories you have heard about folks in the U of L athletic department annually counting the column inches devoted to the U of L and UK football and basketball programs every week in The Courier Journal are absolutely true. So are the stories about folks at Kentucky asking why several Louisville TV stations chose red, not blue, as the color for their official station winter jackets.
History
The rivalry was fueled when Rick Pitino was hired as Louisville's head men's basketball coach in 2001. He served in that same role with Kentucky from 1989 to 1997.[3] In the time that Rick Pitino was the head coach at Louisville from 2001 to 2017, Kentucky has won 12 of its contests and Louisville has won 6 of its contests.[4] Kentucky leads the all-time series with Louisville 37–17, and Kentucky leads the modern series 28–14.[5] In six tournament meetings as of 2014, Kentucky leads the series four games to two with their most recent win coming in the 2014 sweet sixteen 74–69. The teams met in the 2012 Final Four, and Kentucky defeated Louisville with a score of 69–61 en route to the national title. This was the deepest ever tournament meeting between the two schools and their first tournament meeting since 1984.
Results
Rankings are from the AP Poll (1936–present)
| Kentucky victories | Louisville victories | Tie games | Vacated wins[n 1] |
Notes
A 1948 USA Olympic Trial Game
B 1951 NCAA Sweet Sixteen
C 1959 NCAA Sweet Sixteen
D 1983 NCAA Elite Eight
E 1984 NCAA Sweet Sixteen
F 2012 NCAA Final Four
G 2014 NCAA Sweet Sixteen
Wins by location
Game MVP
NOTE: The 2010 game was the inaugural year for the award. The Bluegrass Sports Commission (BSC) names the Most Valuable Player of the men's basketball game between the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville.
Broadcast history
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Football
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The football rivalry between Kentucky and Louisville started one year earlier than the basketball rivalry but also had a long dormant period. Kentucky and Louisville first played each other in football in 1912 – which was also Louisville's inaugural football season –. Kentucky dominated six meetings between the teams from 1912 until 1924, holding Louisville scoreless in all six games, after which the teams stopped playing. Despite Louisville's persistent efforts to revive the series, Kentucky showed little interest, according to The Courier-Journal. In 1994, with former Kentucky player Howard Schnellenberger coaching Louisville, the series was revived after a 70-year dormancy. Kentucky leads the series currently 19–16 but Louisville leads the Governors Cup series 16–13.
From 1994 to 2006 the annual matchup was the first game of the season for Kentucky and was the first game for all but two of those years for Louisville. In 2007 the game was moved to the third game of the season when played in Lexington but remained the first game when played in Louisville. Starting in 2014, which marked Louisville's inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Governor's Cup became the last game of the regular season for both teams to coincide with several other ACC-SEC same-state rivalries.[20]
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Other sports
- Women's basketball: Kentucky leads the series 35–24 as of the 2024–25 season. The series dates back to the 1911–12 season, long before Kentucky and Louisville's programs became varsity in 1974–75, from which the series has been continuously active.[21] Kentucky's program was halted by University Senate because it was viewed as a sport that was "too strenuous for girls". It wouldn't return to the University of Kentucky until 1974.[22]
- Women's volleyball: Most recently winning 3–0 in Lexington, Kentucky leads the series 37–29 as of 2025 in a series that initially was played every year from 1977 to 2005 except in 1981 and resumed in 2009 after a hiatus.[23][24]
- Men's soccer: The two men's soccer programs have met 37 times. Kentucky leads 18–17–5 as of 2025.[25] On February 21, 2020, it was announced that the two teams would play an exhibition game in the new Lynn Family Stadium. This is the new soccer stadium for Louisville City FC. The match was supposed to be played on April 18, the day of Thunder Over Louisville, however, it was cancelled due to growing concerns of COVID-19.[26]
- Baseball: As of 2025, Kentucky leads the series 66–50–1 in a series dating back to 1925.[27][28] UofL is currently 15–4 in the last 19 games. In 2017, Louisville won the season series 3–1, including a sweep of Kentucky in the NCAA tournament Louisville Super Regional.[28] On April 3, 2018, the Wildcats and Cardinals played their last game at Cliff Hagan Stadium. The Cats took that win to a record crowd of 4,798 with an 8–5 win. At the time, both teams were ranked in the top 25 with Louisville being #21 and Kentucky being #10.[29]
See also
References
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