Cincinnati–Louisville rivalry

This article is about the college sports rivalry. For the professional soccer rivalry between FC Cincinnati and Louisville City FC, see River Cities Cup.

The Cincinnati–Louisville rivalry is a college sports rivalry between the University of Cincinnati Bearcats and the University of Louisville Cardinals. The rivalry between these two schools, located about 100 miles (160 km) apart, dates to their first men's college basketball game in 1921, and has continued across all sports, with the football series gaining attention as well, having started in 1929. Both universities share common characteristics, both being over 200 year old institutions in urban settings. The schools have also shared conferences historically, with the rivalry stretching over the span of four conferences from the Missouri Valley Conference, to the Metro Conference to Conference USA, and more recently in the Big East Conference, which in 2013 was renamed to the American Athletic Conference. After the 2013–14 season, Louisville joined the Atlantic Coast Conference and since then the rivalry has been put on hiatus in football and basketball. Cincinnati officially joined the Big 12 conference in 2023. However, many other sports at the universities, such as baseball, continue to battle periodically.

Cincinnati–Louisville rivalry

Cincinnati Bearcats Louisville Cardinals
Sport	Football, basketball, others
First meeting	1921

75km
50miles

Louisville

Cincinnati

  

Locations of Cincinnati and Louisville

History

College Comparison

	Cincinnati	Louisville
Founded	1819	1798
Type	Public	Public
Location	Cincinnati, OH	Louisville, KY
Conference	Big 12	ACC
Students	46,710	23,043
School colors
Nickname	Bearcats	Cardinals
Stadium	Nippert Stadium	Cardinal Stadium
Arena	Fifth Third Arena	KFC Yum! Center

Both universities have traced parallel paths, from their early foundation in the early nineteenth century as municipal universities to their later growth into state sponsored institutions in the 1960s and 70s. Due to their close proximity, the universities became early athletic opponents as college athletics developed first facing off in 1921 in a men's college basketball game. Additionally, this proximity led to both schools being members of the Missouri Valley Conference, Metro Conference, Conference USA, and the Big East Conference historically. While the rivalry was represented annually in football from 1966 to 1992 and 1996 to 2013, the true intensity of the rivalry was felt on the basketball court. Legendary coaches Denny Crum, Bob Huggins, and Rick Pitino each played their part in famous wins for each program and fanning the flames of the matchup.

In the last year of the rivalry in football and basketball for the foreseeable future, the contests lived up to the pressure. In the battle for The Keg of Nails, Teddy Bridgewater led the No. 19 Cardinals to an overtime comeback at Nippert Stadium much to the ire of the Bearcat faithful. On the hardwood both teams would claim upset, ranked wins at their opponent's home court. Sean Kilpatrick lead the Bearcats to a 69–66 victory at the KFC Yum! Center while Russ Smith and the Cardinals would beat the Bearcats 58–57 at Fifth Third Arena in their last matchup as conference foes.

On April 30, 2019 John Brannen and Chris Mack exchanged tweets announcing a renewal of the Cincinnati–Louisville rivalry with the first game at Fifth Third Arena.^[1] The series was delayed first due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[2] Chris Mack later confirmed that the series would not be played during the 2021–22 season, putting the resumption of the rivalry into question.^[3]

Football

Main article: The Keg of Nails

See also: Cincinnati Bearcats football and Louisville Cardinals football

Men's basketball

Cincinnati–Louisville basketball rivalry

Cincinnati Bearcats Louisville Cardinals
Sport	College Basketball
First meeting	January 17, 1921 Cincinnati 36 – Louisville 16
Latest meeting	November 23, 2022 Cincinnati 81 – Louisville 62
Statistics
Meetings total	100
All-time series	Louisville leads, 53–44
Longest win streak	Louisville, 16 (January 19, 1977 – March 8, 1984)

Men's Basketball Comparison

	Cincinnati	Louisville
First season	1901	1911
NCAA championships	2	3*
NCAA tournament appearances	33	43*
Conference championships	29	23*
Conference tournament championships	12	19*
All-Americans	44	25
Consensus 1st Team All-Americans	8	7
Player of the Year	3	1
Conference Player of the Year	10	10

See also: Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball and Louisville Cardinals men's basketball

Cincinnati and Louisville were rivals, first playing in 1921, until the 2010–14 NCAA conference realignment put the contest on hiatus, as Louisville moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference on July 1, 2014.^[4] The teams have faced off 99 times in basketball series history, with Louisville leading the all-time series 53–43.^[5]

The Bearcats and Cardinals have played in eight conference tournaments, with the Bearcats and Cardinals tied at 4–4. Louisville won all 3 games in the Metro Conference with Cincinnati winning all 3 games in Conference USA. The teams split 1–1 in the Big East tournament.

The teams have also met twice in the NCAA Tournament, tied overall at 1–1.

Notable games

March 21, 1959: The Bearcats met the Cardinals on their home court, Freedom Hall, for the Third Place game of the NCAA tournament. Oscar Robertson would score 39 points, earning the first triple double in Final Four history, leading his Bearcats to a 98–85 victory.^[6]

January 21, 1967: The No. 2 Cardinals led by eventual All-American Wes Unseld visited the Armory Fieldhouse to take on the Bearcats. Despite the difference in talent, the entire game was close. With two seconds remaining, Bearcat Gordie Smith threw in a fifteen-foot jumper to win the game 59–58 for UC.

March 20, 1975: The No. 3 Cardinals collided with the No. 12 Bearcats in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. Louisville took a solid lead in the first half which proved too much for the Bearcats to overcome, seeing the Cardinals win 78–63. Louisville would go on to finish 3rd overall in the tournament.^[7]

January 7, 1978: The Bearcats entered the matchup, tied for the longest home winning streak in the nation at 60 games. The first matchup at Riverfront Coliseum, No. 10 Louisville would snap the Cincinnati streak, winning 78–75.^[8]

March 8, 1981: The reigning National Champion Cardinals took on the Bearcats in the final of the Metro Conference tournament at Freedom Hall. In an ugly, low-scoring affair, the Cardinals were triumphant in the game to a score of 42–31.^[9]

January 20, 1986: The Bearcats headed to Freedom Hall to take on the No. 18, and eventual national champion, Cardinals. With Louisville pulling ahead their lead, Bearcat Roger McClendon would score 24 of his 35 points in the second half to gain an 84–82 victory for Cincinnati.^[10]

March 8, 1996: In 1991 Cincinnati left the Metro Conference to form the Great Midwest Conference, putting the rivalry on a five-year hiatus. In 1995, the Great Midwest and Metro combined to form Conference USA bringing the Bearcats and Cardinals back into the same conference. No. 21 Louisville took the first game 72–66 at the Shoemaker Center in February, but with revenge on their mind the Bob Huggins lead No. 8 Bearcats defeated No. 22 Louisville in the Conference tournament Quarterfinals 92–81. In the NCAA tournament the Bearcats advanced to the Elite Eight and the Cardinals made it to the Sweet Sixteen.

February 22, 2003: No. 4 Louisville traveled to Cincinnati and were stunned by the 31 point performance of Leonard Stokes that would help navigate the Bearcats to the 101–80 upset of the Cardinals. The Bearcats would also set a school record, shooting 42-of-58 on free throws in the game.^[11]

March 11, 2004: Cincinnati and Louisville faced off in the 2004 Conference USA men's basketball tournament hosted at US Bank Arena in Cincinnati. After splitting the regular season matchups, the Bearcats proved too much for Rick Pitino's Cardinals winning 64–62 after Armein Kirkland banked a shot in for the Bearcats with only 16.9 seconds remaining. The No. 13 Bearcats would go on to win the conference tournament. This game was Huggins's last victory in the matchup.^[12]

March 10, 2012†: In an unlikely Big East tournament championship game, Louisville and Cincinnati faced off, with Mick Cronin coaching against his former boss Pitino. Cincinnati fought their way past No. 13 Georgetown in double overtime and No. 2 Syracuse while Louisville beat No. 9 Marquette and No. 23 Notre Dame. Louisville ended up winning the tilt 50–44, in what was the lowest scoring championship game in Big East history. Both teams made runs in the NCAA tournament with Cincinnati advancing to the Sweet Sixteen and Louisville making it to the Final Four.^[13]

February 22, 2014†: In the last matchup between rivals before Louisville left for the Atlantic Coast Conference the teams met at Fifth Third Arena. No. 7 Cincinnati and No. 11 Louisville played in a memorable, blow-for-blow game which would see Sean Kilpatrick record 28 points. However, in the dwindling seconds of the second half, Russ Smith scored with 3 seconds remaining, earning Louisville a 58–57 victory.^[14]

November 23, 2022: In their first matchup since 2014 the two rivals played in a 7th place game at the Maui Invitational. This game was not as memorable as the last as Cincinnati routed Louisville 81–62.^[15]

† Denotes game vacated by Louisville

Game results

Rankings are from the AP Poll (1936–present)

Cincinnati victories

Louisville victories

Tie games

Vacated wins[n 1]

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 January 17, 1921 Schmidlapp Gym Cincinnati 36–16 2 December 20, 1924 Schmidlapp Gym Cincinnati 29–18 3 December 21, 1938 Belknap Gymnasium Cincinnati 54–41 4 December 21, 1939 Schmidlapp Gym Cincinnati 62–17 5 January 12, 1946 Jefferson County Armory Louisville 59–40 6 January 22, 1946 Schmidlapp Gym Louisville 61–39 7 January 9, 1947 Schmidlapp Gym Louisville 60–39 8 January 25, 1947 Jefferson County Armory Louisville 71–52 9 March 21, 1959A Freedom Hall No. 5 Cincinnati 98–85 10 December 19, 1959 Freedom Hall Cincinnati 97–74 11 December 12, 1964 Armory Fieldhouse Cincinnati 67–57 12 January 19, 1965 Freedom Hall Louisville 82–803OT 13 January 22, 1966 Freedom Hall Cincinnati 67–65 14 February 5, 1966 Armory Fieldhouse No. 10 Cincinnati 56–54 15 January 21, 1967 Armory Fieldhouse Cincinnati 59–58 16 February 4, 1967 Freedom Hall No. 3 Louisville 65–57 17 January 20, 1968 Armory Fieldhouse Cincinnati 82–72 18 February 3, 1968 Freedom Hall Louisville 81–65 19 January 11, 1969 Armory Fieldhouse No. 19 Cincinnati 87–75 20 February 22, 1969 Freedom Hall No. 13 Louisville 72–68 21 January 10, 1970 Armory Fieldhouse No. 20 Louisville 64–63 22 February 21, 1970 Freedom Hall Cincinnati 53–52 23 January 20, 1971 Freedom Hall Louisville 85–72 24 February 24, 1971 Armory Fieldhouse Cincinnati 79–78 25 January 8, 1972 Armory Fieldhouse No. 7 Louisville 84–76 26 February 23, 1972 Freedom Hall No. 3 Louisville 93–73 27 February 5, 1973 Armory Fieldhouse Cincinnati 81–79 28 February 24, 1973 Freedom Hall Louisville 91–81 29 December 1, 1973 Freedom Hall Cincinnati 65–58 30 January 9, 1974 Armory Fieldhouse Cincinnati 77–70 31 January 7, 1975 Freedom Hall No. 3 Louisville 82–74 32 March 20, 1975B Pan American Center No. 3 Louisville 78–63 33 January 6, 1976 Armory Fieldhouse No. 15 Cincinnati 77–73 34 January 19, 1977 Freedom Hall No. 12 Louisville 83–77 35 January 7, 1978 Riverfront Coliseum No. 10 Louisville 78–75 36 February 4, 1978 Freedom Hall No. 9 Louisville 83–76 37 January 18, 1979 Riverfront Coliseum No. 7 Louisville 82–77 38 February 3, 1979 Freedom Hall No. 6 Louisville 88–85 39 February 6, 1980 Freedom Hall No. 3 Louisville 88–73 40 February 16, 1980 Riverfront Coliseum No. 3 Louisville 61–57 41 January 10, 1981 Riverfront Coliseum Louisville 83–68 42 February 23, 1981 Freedom Hall Louisville 81–67 43 March 8, 1981C Freedom Hall No. 17 Louisville 42–31 44 January 16, 1982 Freedom Hall No. 17 Louisville 74–56 45 February 13, 1982 Riverfront Coliseum Louisville 67–53 46 January 3, 1983 Freedom Hall No. 13 Louisville 65–58 47 February 2, 1983 Riverfront Coliseum No. 12 Louisville 79–73 48 January 7, 1984 Riverfront Coliseum Louisville 51–37 49 January 18, 1984 Freedom Hall Louisville 78–64 50 March 8, 1984D Mid-South Coliseum No. 18 Louisville 62–55 51 January 29, 1985 Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati 56–54 No. Date Location Winner Score 52 February 6, 1985 Freedom Hall Cincinnati 69–63 53 January 20, 1986 Freedom Hall Cincinnati 84–82 54 February 13, 1986 Riverfront Coliseum No. 19 Louisville 74–58 55 March 7, 1986E Freedom Hall No. 11 Louisville 86–65 56 January 22, 1987 Freedom Hall Louisville 81–69 57 February 25, 1987 Riverfront Coliseum Louisville 81–69 58 January 20, 1988 Cincinnati Gardens Louisville 91–89OT 59 February 15, 1988 Freedom Hall Louisville 90–87 60 February 8, 1989 Cincinnati Gardens No. 4 Louisville 69–66 61 March 1, 1989 Freedom Hall Cincinnati 77–71 62 January 4, 1990 Freedom Hall Cincinnati 71–66 63 March 1, 1990 Shoemaker Center No. 21 Louisville 86–71 64 January 3, 1991 Shoemaker Center Cincinnati 72–64 65 February 28, 1991 Freedom Hall Louisville 68–61 66 February 22, 1996 Shoemaker Center No. 21 Louisville 72–66 67 March 8, 1996F Memphis Pyramid No. 8 Cincinnati 92–81 68 January 30, 1997 Freedom Hall No. 9 Louisville 81–70 69 January 18, 1998 Freedom Hall Cincinnati 71–57 70 January 29, 1998 Shoemaker Center No. 18 Cincinnati 67–61 71 March 5, 1998G Fifth Third Arena No. 14 Cincinnati 64–50 72 January 21, 1999 Freedom Hall No. 5 Cincinnati 81–55 73 February 21, 1999 Shoemaker Center No. 9 Cincinnati 91–78 74 January 27, 2000 Freedom Hall No. 1 Cincinnati 75–65 75 February 27, 2000 Shoemaker Center No. 3 Cincinnati 68–59 76 January 13, 2001 Freedom Hall Cincinnati 72–52 77 January 24, 2001 Shoemaker Center Louisville 63–54 78 January 19, 2002 Shoemaker Center No. 7 Cincinnati 77–50 79 February 27, 2002 Freedom Hall Louisville 74–71 80 February 5, 2003 Freedom Hall No. 5 Louisville 77–71 81 February 22, 2003 Shoemaker Center Cincinnati 101–80 82 January 21, 2004 Freedom Hall No. 5 Louisville 93–66 83 February 21, 2004 Shoemaker Center No. 17 Cincinnati 66–61OT 84 March 11, 2004H US Bank Arena No. 13 Cincinnati 64–62 85 January 15, 2005 Shoemaker Center No. 19 Louisville 69–66 86 February 2, 2005 Freedom Hall No. 9 Louisville 77–70 87 January 25, 2006 Freedom Hall No. 22 Louisville 67–50 88 February 6, 2006 Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati 74–68 89 January 31, 2007 Fifth Third Arena Louisville 69–53 90 January 1, 2008 Freedom Hall Cincinnati 58–57 91 February 21, 2009 Fifth Third Arena No. 7 Louisville 72–63 92 January 24, 2010 KFC Yum! Center Louisville 68–60 93 March 10, 2010I Madison Square Garden Cincinnati 69–66 94 February 16, 2011 Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati 63–54 95 February 23, 2012 Fifth Third Arena Cincinnati 60–56 96 March 10, 2012J Madison Square Garden Louisville† 50–44 97 March 4, 2013 KFC Yum! Center No. 8 Louisville† 67–51 98 January 30, 2014 KFC Yum! Center No. 13 Cincinnati 69–66 99 February 22, 2014 Fifth Third Arena No. 11 Louisville† 58–57 100 November 23, 2022K Lahaina Civic Center Cincinnati 81–62 Series: Louisville leads 53–44 † Vacated by Louisville.

Notes

1. Louisville has vacated all of its victories from the 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 seasons. These 123 wins are not included in Louisville's all-time record, nor are the victories against Cincinnati during this span counted in the series record between the two teams.^[16]

^A 1959 NCAA Third Place Game
^B 1975 NCAA Sweet Sixteen
^C 1981 Metro Conference men's basketball tournament
^D 1984 Metro Conference men's basketball tournament
^E 1986 Metro Conference men's basketball tournament
^F 1996 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
^G 1998 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
^H 2004 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
^I 2010 Big East men's basketball tournament
^J 2012 Big East men's basketball tournament
^K 2022 Maui Invitational Tournament

Wins by location

Category	Cincinnati	Louisville
Cincinnati, OH	25	21
Lahaina, HI	1	0
Las Cruces, NM	0	1
Louisville, KY	16	30
Memphis, TN	1	1
New York, NY	0	1

Wins by venue

Category	Cincinnati	Louisville
Armory Fieldhouse	9	2
Belknap Gymnasium	1	0
Cincinnati Gardens	0	2
Freedom Hall	14	27
Jefferson County Armory	0	2
KFC Yum! Center	2	0
Lahaina Civic Center	1	0
Madison Square Garden	0	1
Memphis Pyramid	1	0
Mid-South Coliseum	0	1
Pan American Center	0	1
Riverfront Coliseum US Bank Arena	2	9
Schmidlapp Gym	3	2
Shoemaker Center Fifth Third Arena	11	6

Women’s basketball

See also: Cincinnati Bearcats women's basketball and Louisville Cardinals women's basketball

Louisville leads the all time contest in women's basketball 41–27. As with men's basketball and football, the teams have not played since Louisville departed for the Atlantic Coast Conference after the 2013–14 season.^[17]

Baseball

See also: Cincinnati Bearcats baseball and Louisville Cardinals baseball

One of the series that has continued since conference realignment has been games between the baseball teams. The teams have continued to play yearly, with the two having faced off 182 times in their history after first playing in 1924. Louisville leads the series all time, 100–82 as of the 2021 season.^[18][19]

In 2013, Cincinnati and Louisville played the first ever college baseball game at Great American Ballpark, the home of the Cincinnati Reds on April 6, 2013. The No. 9 Cardinals would defeat the Bearcats 4–1.^[20]

On March 21, 2017, the No. 1 Louisville Cardinals played the Cincinnati Bearcats at UC Baseball Stadium. Cincinnati pulled off an upset, beating Louisville 6–3 and handing the Cardinals their first loss of the season.^[21]

On March 30, 2021, the No. 5 Louisville Cardinals were again upset by the Bearcats, 13–12 in a walk-off 10th-inning win for Cincinnati.^[22]

References

1. Rauch, Jeremy [@FOX19Jeremy] (April 30, 2020). "Big college basketball news: UC will host Louisville on Friday, Nov. 13. A source really, really close to the situation told me to follow the tweets" (Tweet). Retrieved May 1, 2020 – via Twitter.
2. McGathic, Matthew. "Report:Louisville Finds Fourth Team For Non-Conference Bubble". SI Louisville Report. SportsIllustrated.com. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
3. McGathic, Matthew. "Mack: Louisville-Cincinnati Won't Take Place in 2021-22". SI Louisville Report. SportsIllustrated.com. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
4. "ACC votes to add Louisville in 2014". Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
5. "UC Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). GoBearcats. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
6. "Unforgettable March Madness Moments". ABC News. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
7. "Louisville vs. Cincinnati Box Score, March 20, 1975". Sports Reference. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
8. Perry, Michael (January 1, 2004). Tales from Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 116. ISBN 9781582617459.
9. Jeff Greer. "The history behind U of L's rout on Monday". Louisville Courier Journal.
10. Perry, Michael (January 1, 2004). Tales from Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 146. ISBN 9781582617459.
11. "Pitino ejected in second half of Cardinals' loss". ESPN. Archived from the original on December 10, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
12. "Kirkland scores with 16.9 seconds left". ESPN. Retrieved December 27, 2019.^{[dead link‍]}
13. "Louisville edges Cincinnati to win Big East tournament for 2nd time". ESPN. Retrieved December 27, 2019.^{[dead link‍]}
14. "Russ Smith's jumper in final seconds helps Louisville upend Cincy". ESPN. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
15. Crawford, Eric. "CRAWFORD | Cincinnati runs past Louisville 81-62; Cards lose 3rd straight in Maui, fall to 0-6". WDRB. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
16. . The Washington Post, 2018-02-20.
17. "2019-20 University of Cincinnati Women's Basketball Media Guide". issuu.com. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
18. "No. 6 Louisville Hits Road to Cincinnati Tuesday". GoCards. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
19. "2017 UC Baseball Media Guide" (PDF). GoBearcats. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
20. "No. 9 Cardinals Defeat Bearcats in Reds Collegiate Invitational". GoCards. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
21. "Baseball Beats No. 1 Louisville 6-3". GoBearcats. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
22. "Baseball Walks Off No. 5 Louisville, 13-12, In 10 Innings". GoBearcats. Retrieved May 9, 2021.