1988–89 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

During the 1988–89 season, the Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team scored 24 wins and 8 losses. They played in the Metro Conference and finished in the "Sweet Sixteen" of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Their player Pervis Ellison won several individual awards.

1988–89 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Metro Conference tournament championship
NCAA men's Division I tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Metro Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 13
AP	No. 12
Record	24–9 (8–4 Metro Conference)
Head coach	Denny Crum (18th season)
Assistant coaches	Wade Houston Jerry Jones Scooter McCray
MVP	Pervis Ellison (2nd year)
Home arena	Freedom Hall
Seasons ← 1987–88 1989–90 →

1988–89 Metro Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 16 Florida State	9	–	3		.750			22	–	8		.733
No. 12 Louisville †	8	–	4		.667			24	–	9		.727
Memphis State	8	–	4		.667			21	–	11		.656
South Carolina	8	–	4		.667			19	–	11		.633
Cincinnati	5	–	7		.417			15	–	12		.556
Virginia Tech	2	–	10		.167			11	–	17		.393
Southern Miss	2	–	10		.167			10	–	17		.370
† 1989 Metro Conference tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Roster

1988–89 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown SF 21 Kenny Payne 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Northeast Jones Laurel, Mississippi SG 23 LaBradford Smith 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Bay City Bay City, Texas PF 43 Pervis Ellison 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Sr Savannah Savannah, Georgia C 50 Felton Spencer 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 255 lb (116 kg) Jr Eastern Louisville, Kentucky	Head coach Denny Crum (UCLA) Assistant coach(es) Wade Houston Jerry Jones Scooter McCray Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

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Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 18, 1988*	No. 4	at Xavier	L 83–85	0–1	Riverfront Coliseum  Cincinnati, OH
Nov 30, 1988*	No. 13	at Vanderbilt	L 62–65	0–2	Memorial Gymnasium  Nashville, TN
Dec 3, 1988*	No. 13	vs. Indiana	W 101–79	1–2	RCA Dome  Indianapolis, IN
Dec 6, 1988*	No. 15	Murray State	W 83–51	2–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Dec 8, 1988*	No. 15	at Western Kentucky	W 81–69	3–2	E.A. Diddle Arena  Bowling Green, KY
Dec 10, 1988*	No. 15	Dayton	W 95–68	4–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Dec 17, 1988*	No. 15	Oklahoma State	W 92–90	5–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Dec 21, 1988*	No. 14	Eastern Kentucky	W 76–40	6–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Dec 31, 1988*	No. 14	Kentucky	W 97–75	7–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Jan 4, 1989*	No. 13	Virginia	W 74–71	8–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Jan 7, 1989*	No. 13	DePaul	W 81–67	9–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Jan 9, 1989	No. 13	at Virginia Tech	W 82–73	10–2 (1–0)	Cassell Coliseum  Blacksburg, VA
Jan 11, 1989	No. 9	South Carolina	W 75–52	11–2 (2–0)	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Jan 15, 1989*	No. 9	at No. 19 Georgia Tech	W 67–65	12–2	Alexander Memorial Coliseum  Atlanta, GA
Jan 22, 1989*	No. 4	No. 10 UNLV	W 92–74	13–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Jan 26, 1989	No. 3	at Southern Miss	W 95–76	14–2 (3–0)	Reed Green Coliseum  Hattiesburg, MS
Jan 29, 1989*	No. 3	No. 17 Ohio State	L 79–85	14–3	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Feb 1, 1989	No. 7	Virginia Tech	W 108–95	15–3 (4–0)	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Feb 4, 1989	No. 7	at Memphis State	W 101–85	16–3 (5–0)	Mid-South Coliseum  Memphis, TN
Feb 6, 1989	No. 7	No. 8 Florida State	L 78–81	16–4 (5–1)	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Feb 8, 1989	No. 4	at Cincinnati	W 69–66	17–4 (6–1)	Cincinnati Gardens  Cincinnati, OH
Feb 12, 1989*	No. 4	at UCLA	L 75–77	17–5	Pauley Pavilion  Los Angeles, CA
Feb 16, 1989	No. 10	at No. 7 Florida State	W 78–77	18–5 (7–1)	Donald L. Tucker Center  Tallahassee, FL
Feb 20, 1989	No. 10	Memphis State	L 67–72	18–6 (7–2)	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Feb 22, 1989	No. 8	Southern Miss	W 96–83	19–6 (8–2)	Freedom Hall  Chicago, IL
Feb 25, 1989	No. 8	at South Carolina	L 73–77	19–7 (8–3)	Carolina Coliseum  Columbia, SC
Mar 1, 1989	No. 14	Cincinnati	L 71–77	19–8 (8–4)	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
Mar 4, 1989*	No. 14	at Notre Dame	W 87–77	20–8	Joyce Center  Notre Dame, IN
Metro Conference tournament
Mar 10, 1989*	No. 16	vs. Memphis State Semifinal	W 71–70	21–8	Carolina Coliseum  Columbia, SC
Mar 11, 1989*	No. 16	vs. No. 14 Florida State Championship	W 87–80	22–8	Carolina Coliseum  Columbia, SC
NCAA Tournament
Mar 16, 1989*	(4 MW) No. 12	vs. (13 MW) Arkansas–Little Rock First round	W 76–71	23–8	RCA Dome  Indianapolis, IN
Mar 18, 1989*	(4 MW) No. 12	vs. (5 MW) Arkansas Second round	W 93–84	24–8	RCA Dome  Indianapolis, IN
Mar 24, 1988*	(4 MW) No. 12	vs. (1 MW) No. 4 Illinois Regional semifinal	L 69–83	24–9	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (33,560) Minneapolis, MN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. All times are in EST.

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Rankings

Main article: 1988–89 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP Poll	4	12	13	15	15	14	14	13	9	4	3	7	4	10	8	14	16	12
Coaches Poll	10	—	16	14	16	15	14	11	9	3	3	7	4	10	9	14	15	13

Awards and honors

• Pervis Ellison : Metro Conference tournament Most Outstanding Player

Individual All-America teams

• Pervis Ellison : 1989 Consensus All-America first team
• Pervis Ellison : First team All-American by NABC^[4] and USBWA^[5]
• Pervis Ellison : Second team All-American by Associated Press^[6] and UPI^[7]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1	1	Pervis Ellison	Sacramento Kings
1	19	Kenny Payne	Philadelphia 76ers

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See also

• 1989 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

References

1. "1988–89 Louisville Cardinals". Sports Reference. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
2. "1988–89 Louisville Cardinals Schedule and Results".
3. "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
4. All-America – Division I (1980's) Archived March 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
5. "USBWA Men's All-Americans". Archived from the original on April 21, 2022. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
6. AP All-America Teams
7. 2005 NCAA Basketball's Finest – All-Americans Archived 2009-07-21 at WebCite p.208
8. "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More". Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved May 7, 2009.