# 2018–19 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team

The 2018–19 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cardinals, led by 12th-year head coach Jeff Walz, played their home games at the KFC Yum! Center in their fifth year in the Atlantic Coast Conference. They finished the season 32–4, 14–2 in ACC play to win a share of the regular season title. They advanced to the championship game of the ACC women's tournament where they lost to Notre Dame. They received the at-large bid to the NCAA women's tournament as a No. 1 seed in the Albany region where they defeated Robert Morris and Michigan in the first and second rounds, Oregon State in the sweet sixteen before losing to Connecticut in the elite eight.

## Previous season

The Cardinals finished the 2017–18 season at 36–3, 15–1 in ACC play to finish in a tie for first place. They won the ACC women's tournament. They received an automatic bid for the NCAA women's tournament as a number one seed. In the tournament, they advanced to the Final Four where they lost to Mississippi State.

## Off-season
### Recruiting Class

Source:
US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Mykasa Robinson G | Ashland, KY | Ashland Blazer | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 97 ||||||
| Seygan Robins G | Harrodsburg, KY | Mercer County | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 97 ||||||
| Molly Lockhart F | Louisville, KY | Butler | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | N/A |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: ||||||

## Rankings

Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll and AP does not release a final poll.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 6, 2018* 7:00 pm | No. 5 | at Western Kentucky | W 102–80 | 1–0 | E. A. Diddle Arena (3,476) Bowling Green, KY |
| November 9, 2018* 7:00 pm | No. 5 | at Chattanooga | W 75–49 | 2–0 | McKenzie Arena (1,147) Chattanooga, TN |
| November 19, 2018* 9:00 pm | No. 5 | at Boise State | W 74–55 | 3–0 | Taco Bell Arena (4,125) Boise, ID |
| November 23, 2018* 5:30 pm | No. 5 | vs. No. 19 Arizona State South Point Thanksgiving Shootout | W 58–56 | 4–0 | South Point Arena (1,276) Enterprise, NV |
| November 24, 2018* 3:00 pm | No. 5 | vs. Hartford South Point Thanksgiving Shootout | W 86–69 | 5–0 | South Point Arena (989) Enterprise, NV |
| November 26, 2018* 7:00 pm | No. 5 | Miami (OH) | W 95–73 | 6–0 | KFC Yum! Center (7,544) Louisville, KY |
| November 29, 2018* 7:00 pm | No. 5 | Nebraska ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge | W 85–68 | 7–0 | KFC Yum! Center (7,363) Louisville, KY |
| December 2, 2018* 2:00 pm | No. 5 | Tennessee State | W 107–52 | 8–0 | KFC Yum! Center (7,762) Louisville, KY |
| December 4, 2018* 7:00 pm | No. 5 | UT Martin | W 102–62 | 9–0 | KFC Yum! Center (7,004) Louisville, KY |
| December 9, 2018* 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 5 | No. 19 Kentucky Battle for the Bluegrass | W 80–75 | 10–0 | KFC Yum! Center (13,786) Louisville, KY |
| December 15, 2018* 11:30 am | No. 4 | Northern Kentucky | W 92–59 | 11–0 | KFC Yum! Center (7,781) Louisville, KY |
| December 20, 2018* 7:00 pm | No. 3 | at Central Michigan | W 72–68 | 12–0 | McGuirk Arena (2,833) Mount Pleasant, MI |
| January 3, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 3 | North Carolina | W 73–66 | 13–0 (1–0) | KFC Yum! Center (8,506) Louisville, KY |
| January 6, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 3 | at Duke | W 73–51 | 14–0 (2–0) | Cameron Indoor Stadium (4,148) Durham, NC |
| January 10, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN | No. 2 | at No. 1 Notre Dame | L 68–82 | 14–1 (2–1) | Edmund P. Joyce Center (9,149) Notre Dame, IN |
| January 13, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 2 | Georgia Tech | W 61–44 | 15–1 (3–1) | KFC Yum! Center (10,514) Louisville, KY |
| January 17, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 4 | Virginia | W 91–43 | 16–1 (4–1) | KFC Yum! Center (7,834) Louisville, KY |
| January 20, 2019 1:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 4 | at Wake Forest | W 73–49 | 17–1 (5–1) | LJVM Coliseum (1,193) Winston-Salem, NC |
| January 24, 2019 7:00 pm, RSN | No. 4 | at No. 22 Florida State | W 68–49 | 18–1 (6–1) | Donald L. Tucker Center (3,446) Tallahassee, FL |
| January 27, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 4 | Pittsburgh | W 70–42 | 19–1 (7–1) | KFC Yum! Center (10,067) Louisville, KY |
| January 31, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN | No. 3 | No. 2 Connecticut | W 78–69 | 20–1 | KFC Yum! Center (17,023) Louisville, KY |
| February 2, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 3 | at Clemson | W 76–44 | 21–1 (8–1) | Littlejohn Coliseum (1,537) Clemson, SC |
| February 7, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 2 | No. 15 Syracuse | W 76–51 | 22–1 (9–1) | KFC Yum! Center (8,521) Louisville, KY |
| February 10, 2019 12:00 pm, RSN | No. 2 | at Virginia Tech | W 72–63 | 23–1 (10–1) | Cassell Coliseum (2,006) Blacksburg, VA |
| February 17, 2019 3:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 2 | No. 20 Miami (FL) | L 73–79 | 23–2 (10–2) | KFC Yum! Center (12,193) Louisville, KY |
| February 21, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 4 | at Virginia | W 71–49 | 24–2 (11–2) | John Paul Jones Arena (2,588) Charlottesville, VA |
| February 24, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 4 | Boston College | W 87–51 | 25–2 (12–2) | KFC Yum! Center (11,132) Louisville, KY |
| February 28, 2019 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 3 | No. 10 NC State | W 92–62 | 26–2 (13–2) | KFC Yum! Center (10,602) Louisville, KY |
| March 3, 2019 2:00 pm, ACCN Extra | No. 3 | at Pittsburgh | W 67–40 | 27–2 (14–2) | Petersen Events Center (1,381) Pittsburgh, PA |
| ACC Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 8, 2019 7:00 pm, RSN | (2) No. 3 | vs. (7) Clemson Quarterfinals | W 75–67 | 28–2 | Greensboro Coliseum (5,646) Greensboro, NC |
| March 9, 2019 2:30 pm, ESPNU | (2) No. 3 | vs. (3) No. 9 NC State Semifinals | W 78–68 | 29–2 | Greensboro Coliseum (6,943) Greensboro, NC |
| March 10, 2019 12:00 pm, ESPN2 | (1) No. 3 | vs. (2) No. 4 Notre Dame Championship Game | L 79–99 | 29–3 | Greensboro Coliseum (10,104) Greensboro, NC |
| NCAA Women's Tournament ||||||
| March 22, 2019* 12:00 pm, ESPN2 | (1 A) No. 5 | (16 A) Robert Morris First Round | W 69–34 | 30–3 | KFC Yum! Center (6,593) Louisville, KY |
| March 24, 2019* 12:00 pm, ESPN2 | (1 A) No. 5 | (8 A) Michigan Second Round | W 71–50 | 31–3 | KFC Yum! Center (7,725) Louisville, KY |
| March 29, 2019* 9:30 pm, ESPN | (1 A) No. 5 | vs. (4 A) No. 11 Oregon State Sweet Sixteen | W 61–44 | 32–3 | Times Union Center (8,765) Albany, NY |
| March 31, 2019* 12:00 pm, ESPN | (1 A) No. 5 | vs. (2 A) No. 2 Connecticut Elite Eight | L 73–80 | 32–4 | Times Union Center (9,204) Albany, NY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. A=Albany Region. All times are in Eastern. ||||||
Source