1988–89 Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team

American college basketball season

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

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.

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)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[1]

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.

^[2]^[3]

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

^[8]

References

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

v t e Louisville Cardinals men's basketball
Venues	Belknap Gymnasium (1933–1944) Jefferson County Armory (1945–1956) Freedom Hall (1956–2010) KFC Yum! Center (2010–present)
Rivalries	Cincinnati Kentucky Memphis
Culture & lore	Billy Minardi Classic Cardinal Bird The Rivalry: Red v. Blue
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NAIA and NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics