#5 Louisville vs. Southeast Missouri

Game Information
Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Tip-off: 2 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Arena: Show Me Center 
Series: UofL leads, 2-0
Last Meeting: SEMO 40, UofL 80 | Nov. 10, 2017| Louisville, Ky.
Head Coaches: Rekha Patterson (80-73, Sixth Season). Jeff Walz (359-104, 13th Season).
 
Media Information
Video: ESPN+
Radio: SEMO ESPN 93.5 FM & 1220 AM (Erik Sean)
Live Stats: GoSoutheast.com
Twitter: @OffiicialSEMOWBB

Tipping Off 
Southeast Missouri and #5 Louisville agreed to play their season-opener on Wednesday, Nov. 25 after both teams had to cancel originally scheduled games due to COVID-19. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m., CT at the Show Me Center.

Follow the Redhawks 
Fans can listen to Wednesday's game live on the radio at SEMO ESPN 93.5 FM and 1220 AM. Video can be accessed at ESPN+. Live stats are available at GoSoutheast.com. Twitter updates will be available at @OfficialSEMOWBB. 

Series History 
Southeast Missouri trails its all-time series against Louisville, 2-0. SEMO will host the Cardinals at the Show Me Center for the first time this year. The teams last met in Louisville on Nov. 10, 2017 with the Cardinals winning by a score of 80-40. The last time the Redhawks hosted a ranked opponent was when #10 Baylor came to the Show Me Center on November 29, 2007. SEMO fell, 81-51, to the Bears in that contest. 

Scouting the Cardinals
The Cardinals wrapped up their 2019-20 season with an overall record of 28-4 and as champions of the ACC with a 16-2 mark. Louisville has the ACC Preseason Player of the Year in senior guard Dana Evans. She was also named AP Preseason All-America prior to the start of the season. Evans, along with freshman guard Hailey Van Lith, were named to the 2021 Women's Jersey Mike's Naismith Trophy Watch List. The Cardinals were the last top-10 opponent SEMO faced in 2017 when the Redhawks lost 80-40 at the KFC Yum! Center during the first round of the Preseason WNIT.

Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Watch List
Her Hoop Stats named Southeast Missouri senior guard Tesia Thompson to the 2021 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award Preseason Watch List. Last season, Thompson averaged 19.7 points and 7.7 rebounds in 30.6 minutes per game. She ranked nationally in free throw attempts (14th, 206), free throws made (12th, 160) and points per game (17th, 19.7). Thompson was named to the OVC All-Tournament Team and earned tournament MVP honors after recording 93 points, 30 rebounds and 18 assists in three postseason contests.
 
OVC Preseason Polls
Southeast Missouri was picked third in the 2020-21 Ohio Valley Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Poll. Senior guard Tesia Thompson was named Preseason All-OVC for the third-straight year. SEMO tallied 206 points in the overall voting by the OVC Head Coaches and Communications Directors. The Redhawks also collected two first-place votes. UT Martin was picked this year's preseason favorite after earning 242 points and 22 first-place votes. The Skyhawks went 22-10 overall and 16-2 in the OVC en route to winning their first regular season title since 2015-16.

Block Party
Redshirt-senior LaTrese Saine registered 48 blocks last season, landing her second among the school's single-season leaders. Chandra Brown holds the record with 49 blocks in a single season. Saine has 109 blocks in her career, putting her third among SEMO's all-time leaders. Vera Roberts holds the career record with 115 blocks. 

1,000 Point Club
Senior Tesia Thompson became just the 10th player in SEMO's NCAA Division I era to surpass 1,000 career points. She reached that milestone last season at Ole Miss (Dec. 14) in the first quarter. In her career, Thompson averages 16.8 points per contest. She currently has 1,497 career points, putting her third all-time on the school's Division I career scoring list.
 
Ohio Valley Conference Tournament
SEMO won its second OVC Tournament Championship in program history and first since 2006-07 last season. The Redhawks went undefeated at 3-0 in postseason play with wins in their final two games by double figures over the tourney's top-two seeds. A day after a staggering offensive showcase against Belmont, #3 SEMO used a remarkable defensive effort to smother UT Martin and claim the title with a 67-47 victory on Mar. 7, 2020. The Redhawks, who clinched the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament, were unable to play further into the postseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Additions in Conference Play
To help address issues associated with the delayed start date and be responsive to a desire to provide additional contests within the geographic region, the schedules increased from 18 to 20 conference games for the 2020-21 season. Overall teams will play every OVC team once and nine schools twice. In order to give teams flexibility to complete their non-conference schedules, schools were given discretion to schedule their two games with their "travel partner" separate from the remainder of the conference schedule. UT Martin is the travel partner for SEMO.