For this version of ‘Louisville week,’ UK basketball fans face a big challenge

During the vintage days of the Kentucky-Louisville men’s basketball rivalry, the very thought that UK might lose to U of L started pumping anxiety into the stomachs of Wildcats backers from the exact second that game week commenced.

This year, the Big Blue Nation faces a Herculean challenge in finding some good old-fashioned “rivalry dread.”

UK (8-2) will enter Thursday’s annual intrastate hoops battle with U of L fresh off a scintillating 87-83 victory Saturday over then-No. 9 North Carolina before a sold-out crowd of 17,058 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The 15th of John Calipari’s Kentucky teams is deep, talented, balanced — and is playing a ridiculously fun-to-watch brand of basketball.

Meanwhile, Louisville (5-6) — even after performing well in Sunday’s unexpectedly decisive 85-63 rout of Pepperdine — has gone 9-34 to start the Kenny Payne coaching era. Louisville’s effort appeared so lackluster in a 75-63 loss to Arkansas State last Wednesday that rumors were rampant Payne’s job was in imminent jeopardy.

On paper (or computer screen), how big a mismatch is this?

Through Sunday’s games, UK was No. 27 in the NCAA NET Rankings; U of L was No. 268.

Where this season’s Louisville game is concerned, it might seem the only thing Kentucky backers have to fear is the absence of fear itself.

So if the lack of dread threatens to disorient your “rivalry week,” try this:

Because Kentucky has so thoroughly dominated its men’s basketball series with Louisville — the Cats lead overall 38-17 and hold a 29-14 advantage in the modern (since 1983) rivalry — most of U of L’s best moments vs. UK have come from unexpected victories.

If Wildcats freshman star Reed Sheppard wonders if a UK team with Final Four aspirations can turn up flat against Louisville and actually lose to a Cardinals squad in the midst of an uninspiring season, he need only ask his old man.

Jeff Sheppard, you might recall, was one of the stars of Kentucky’s 1997-98 NCAA championship team. In a game from early that season, he was also the leading scorer (18 points) when UK inexplicably, lost, 79-76, at Rupp Arena to a U of L squad that would go on to finish the season 12-20.

The current Cats should carry ample positive momentum into the KFC Yum Center from their performance in the CBS Sports Classic conquest of North Carolina.

In 2016-17, the same was true. After Malik Monk rifled in 47 points to lead UK to a 103-100 victory over UNC, the Wildcats were flying high entering their next game, vs. Louisville in the Yum Center.

Rather than the good vibes extending, however, U of L held Monk to 6-of-17 shooting and defeated the Cats 73-70.

With a 12-3 mark against Louisville as Kentucky head man, Calipari is the winningest coach in the history of the UK-U of L series.

Yet while Kentucky under Calipari is 7-0 vs. U of L at Rupp Arena and 2-0 against the Cardinals in NCAA Tournament contests played at neutral sites, the Cats under Cal are only 3-3 against the Cards at the Yum Center.

Though it seems like a gazillion years ago, U of L actually beat UK during the Wildcats’ most-recent visit to The Ville. That 62-59 victory for Chris Mack’s Cardinals came during Kentucky’s ill-fated slog (9-16) through the 2020-21 season.

So, UK backer, if you are looking for some pre-rivalry angst to get your “game face” on, that’s the best I can do to help.

One other facet that figures to give the 2023-24 Cats-Cards meeting a distinct flavor is what will happen in the stands.

Playing in the 22,090-seat KFC Yum Center, U of L’s largest announced attendance for a home game this season was 11,538 for Louisville’s 73-68 win over intra-city foe Bellarmine on Nov. 29. For its seven regular-season home contests so far, U of L’s announced average attendance is 10,662.

Merely from watching the Cardinals play via Internet streaming, the actual number of people in the stands at Louisville games has seemed substantially smaller than the announced attendance (which is based on the number of tickets distributed for each game).

Given that U of L fans are inhabiting such a small number of the overall seats available in the Yum Center, one would presume there will be an ample amount of blue getting in for Thursday’s 6 p.m. tipoff.

Will 50 percent of Thursday night’s crowd be rocking Kentucky blue? Will 70 percent of the fans attending the game be yelling “Go Big Blue?” Will 80 percent of the fans at Louisville’s home game be dropping “L’s down?”

Whatever the answer, it seems all but certain that no team in the modern history of the Kentucky-Louisville men’s basketball rivalry will ever have faced as substantial a “home-court disadvantage” in terms of fan support as Kenny Payne and his Cardinals will be greeted with Thursday night.

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