Ranking the top 10 Louisville Cardinals sports moments of 2025-26

We're in the home stretch of the college sports season, which means it's time to review the year that was for Louisville athletics.

The Courier Journal ranked and revisited 10 of the most memorable moments for the Cardinals in 2025-26.

Did your favorite make the cut? Find out below.

No. 10: Louisville softball returns to NCAA Tournament for first time since 2023

Louisville's walk-off win over N.C. State in the opening round of the ACC Softball Championship encapsulated the Cards' path to their 16th NCAA Tournament appearance — the program's first since 2023.

Twenty of UofL's 44 victories entering the national competition (the most of Holly Aprile's head-coaching career) came in comeback fashion. Against the Wolfpack on May 6 in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Cards scored five unanswered runs across the final three innings — capped off by sophomore outfielder Madison Pickens' game-winning double.

Louisville arrived at the conference tournament ranked 24th in the country and boasting its best record in league play since 2013, 18-6. Pickens was one of three first-team All-ACC selections, joining seniors Bri Despines and Chelsea Mack.

The Cards earned the No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament before going 0-2 at the Lincoln Regional, falling to Grand Canyon and South Dakota.

No. 9: Louisville baseball's Tague Davis sets single-season home run records

Louisville is expected to miss the NCAA Tournament only a year removed from its sixth College World Series appearance.

If that is indeed the case, the Cards will have squandered sophomore first baseman Tague Davis' historic power surge.

In the bottom of the eighth inning of an April 26 win over Clemson, the West Chester, Pennsylvania, native clubbed his 26th home run of the campaign — a 417-foot leadoff shot to center. With it, he passed Chris Dominguez to stand alone atop the program's single-season leaderboard. Dominguez's high-water mark of 25 had stood since 2009.

"It feels pretty damn good," said Davis, who hit 18 homers his freshman year. "I never thought I'd do something like that coming in here. ... I've just got no words right now."

Twelve days later, Davis became the ACC's single-season home run champ with a 390-foot, two-run blast to left-center at Miami's Mark Light Field in the 11th inning of a 16-9 victory for UofL.

The conference record was 31 — set in 1997 by Florida State's J.D. Drew and tied in 2023 by Wake Forest's Brock Wilken. They took 67 and 66 games, respectively, to get there. Davis needed only 55 contests to hit 32.

No. 32 was Davis' second of the night in South Florida. It also gave him sole possession of Louisville's single-season RBI record with 89, breaking a three-way tie with Richie Hawks (1991) and Rob Newman (1992).

The ACC Player of the Year finished the regular season with 34 homers, and he reached 98 RBIs by driving in two during the Cards' 16-6 loss to Pitt in the first round of the ACC Tournament.

No. 8: Louisville football throttles Kentucky in Governor's Cup

Three straight losses during the month of November — and injuries to several offensive playmakers — put a damper on Louisville's 2025 season.

The Cards did not let the bad vibes carry over to the annual Governor's Cup showdown against Kentucky. Instead, they took full advantage of the Wildcats' struggles during Mark Stoops' final go-around at the helm by reasserting themselves as the dominant force in the rivalry.

Behind 100-yard performances from freshman running backs Shaun Boykins Jr. and Braxton Jennings, UofL throttled UK, 41-0, on Nov. 29 at L&N Stadium — its largest margin of victory in the series and its first shutout of the Cats since 2004.

Jennings became Louisville's first walk-on to post a 100-yard rushing game with 113 on 20 attempts en route to the Howard Schnellenberger Most Valuable Player award. Boykins added 101 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries. It marked only the second time in program history that two freshmen broke the century mark in the same game.

Senior quarterback Miller Moss also completed 12 of his 20 pass attempts for 182 yards and three scores.

"We've been right there the entire year; and, obviously, some things bounced the wrong way for us," Moss said. "Teams can go one of two ways: fold and kind of succumb to that adversity, or you can continue to go out there and put your best foot forward."

After dropping five in a row to Kentucky from 2018-23, the Cards enter Year 4 under Jeff Brohm on a two-game winning streak in the Governor's Cup — with an 82-14 combined margin of victory. Louisville native and former UofL quarterback Will Stein being named Stoops' successor in Lexington has added a whole new dynamic to the rivalry, too.

No. 7: Louisville women's basketball wins 14 in a row

Louisville dropped a heartbreaker to No. 3 South Carolina on Dec. 4, blowing a five-point lead with 4:23 remaining in regulation and a crowd of 10,012 behind it at the KFC Yum! Center.

After that 79-77 loss, Jeff Walz's team emerged as one of the hottest in the country.

The Cards racked up 14 consecutive wins from Dec. 7 through Feb. 1, taking their record from 7-3 to 21-3 (11-0 ACC). Their marquee victories during this run included:

• 77-66 in overtime at No. 11 North Carolina on Dec. 14 — outscoring the Tar Heels 10-0 in the extra period after drawing level during the final seconds of the fourth quarter
• 89-65 over No. 18 Tennessee in the Women's Champion Classic at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, for the program's largest margin of victory against a top-25 opponent since 2023
• 79-66 at No. 22 Notre Dame on Jan. 15, spoiling the Fighting Irish's 10-0 home record thanks to a career-high 20 points from Reyna Scott
• 88-80 in overtime at N.C. State on Jan. 18 — rallying from a 13-point deficit in the second half behind a career-best 33 points from Imari Berry

"The consistency that we've been able to build here is pretty damn impressive," Walz said after the final win of the streak, 71-59 at California, which earned UofL its best start to ACC play since joining the conference in 2014. "I'm proud of every one of our staff, our players; because it takes everyone to be able to put the work in and to have the success that we've been able to have."

Louisville's winning streak came to an end with a 59-58 loss to No. 22 Duke on Feb. 5 at the Yum! Center.

No. 6: Louisville basketball beats South Florida for first March Madness win since 2017

Louisville basketball fell short of the lofty expectations set for Pat Kelsey's second season at the helm.

That should not, however, diminish the importance of the Cards notching the program's first NCAA Tournament win since 2017 — 83-79 over 11th-seeded South Florida on March 19 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.

The Bulls were perhaps the country's trendiest upset pick entering the first round of March Madness. UofL was without star freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr., who sat out his fifth consecutive game due to a reaggravated back injury. Kelsey was 0-5 in the Big Dance — and under the most criticism he has faced to this point in the 502, considering the team's 1-8 record against Quad 1A opponents.

No matter. Louisville jumped out to a 30-16 lead behind a red-hot Isaac McKneely and some stingy defense, holding the country's eighth-best scoring offense to 16 points on 6-for-26 shooting during the opening 14:58.

USF did not go down without a fight. Behind 49 second-half points, the Bulls rallied from as many as 23 points down to make this a single-digit game for the final 5:24 of regulation. In the end, UofL did just enough to secure a much-needed victory for its fans — and coach.

"It means the world," said McKneely, who led Louisville with 23 points on seven made 3s, tying a career best. "Nobody deserves it more than (Kelsey). He's in the building 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. He wants to win more than any of us. Just super happy for him."

The Cards' season ended two days later, with a 77-69 loss to No. 3 Michigan State in the second round.

No. 5: Louisville women's soccer scores NCAA Tournament penalty shootout win over Kentucky

It's one thing to beat your archrival. To do so in a penalty shootout for your first NCAA Tournament win since 2019 is special.

That's exactly what Louisville women's soccer did Nov. 15 at Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium.

After falling behind 1-0 in the 47th minute, the Cards got an equalizer from Amelia Swinarski in the 79th. Deadlocked through the end of regulation and two extra periods, the rivals moved to penalty kicks. With UofL trailing 3-2 in the final frame of the best-of-five shootout, Fina Davy found the back of the net to force a sudden-death round.

Mackenzie Geigle delivered the decisive goal for Louisville after fellow senior Erynn Floyd came up with her second sudden-death save. Fans stormed the field — including Kelsey, who was fresh off a win over Ohio at the Yum! Center earlier in the day.

"Could it get any more dramatic?" coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes said after what proved to be the final victory of her 26 years at the helm — and the program's first by way of penalties since Oct. 25, 2013.

The Cards' season ended five days later, with a 3-1 loss to Kansas in the second round.

No. 4: Louisville women's basketball outlasts Alabama, punches ticket to Sweet 16

Louisville has been so successful under Walz that its two-year absence from the NCAA Tournament's second weekend felt much longer.

To get back there this spring, the Cards had to step up in crunch time — exorcising the demons of four home losses decided by three or fewer points.

Tied at 61 with sixth-seeded Alabama entering the final 3:51 of regulation, UofL held the Crimson Tide scoreless for more than three minutes to eke out a 69-68 victory in front of 5,734 on March 23 at the Yum! Center.

"We've been put in this situation for so many games, and we came (out) on the short side of it all of those games," said Taj Roberts, who tied Elif Istanbulluoglu with a game-high 18 points and accounted for four of Louisville's seven 3s.

"To be at home in front of the crowd, in the same situation that we've been in all season — for me, I think that was the best feeling. We finally got over that hump."

Istanbulluoglu made the Cards' three other triples — none bigger than the one that gave her team a 60-59 lead at the 4:50 mark of the fourth quarter after Alabama began the period on a 10-1 run. Laura Ziegler added 12 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, then planted a tearful kiss goodbye on the Dunking Cardinal logo at midcourt.

"Transferring is difficult; you want to get it right," she said. "... I ended up in the right place (for) my last year."

UofL's season ended with a 71-52 loss to No. 2 Michigan in the Sweet 16 — its 13th trip to the second weekend under Walz.

No. 3: Mikel Brown Jr. ties Louisville basketball's single-game scoring, made 3-pointers records

Say what you want about the way Brown's time at Louisville ended. There's no debating his brilliance during the Cards' 118-77 romp of N.C. State on Feb. 9 at the Yum! Center.

Wearing UofL's Wes Unseld-inspired uniform, the freshman tied the late 502 legend's single-game scoring record with 45 points on 14-for-23 shooting. Ten of his field goals came from beyond the arc, matching the program's single-game record set by Reyne Smith the season prior.

"I saw 39 (points) and was like, 'Let's leave him in there to get 40,'" Kelsey said. "Then, my assistants, who know all that stuff, were like, 'No, coach, you've got to leave him in. He's this far away from this. He's this far away from this.' … I didn't know it was Wes Unseld's record until after the game, but that's unbelievable."

Remember: Brown entered the game shooting only 26.9% from beyond the arc.

"As we go through these trials and tribulations of this long season, you're going to have a wall that you're going to hit at some point," he said. "It's all about breaking through it."

Ryan Conwell added 31 points on 10-for-14 shooting in 29:26. He and Brown will live in Louisville lore forever as the program's first players to drop 30-plus in the same game. Not only that — according to a post on X, formerly Twitter, from OptaSTATS, they also became the first Division I teammates across the past 30 seasons to combine for 75 or more points, 15 or more 3s and 15 or more rebounds.

Their message to each other throughout the historic performance? "If you're a killer, kill."

No. 2: Louisville basketball ends losing streak vs. Kentucky in dominant fashion

Louisville hadn't celebrated a men's basketball win over Kentucky since 2020 before the programs met Nov. 11 for a top-15 showdown at the Yum! Center.

The earliest Battle of the Bluegrass ever was a party from start to finish for the Cards, who led the Cats for more than 37 minutes and by as many as 20 points en route to a 96-88 victory — only their fourth in 18 tries dating back to 2010 — in front of a sold-out crowd of 22,586.

Per a post from statistician Kelly Dickey on X, it was UofL's highest-scoring game against a team ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 since a 97-80 win over No. 6 North Carolina on Dec. 23, 1999.

This was Brown's breakout performance. With NBA All-Star Donovan Mitchell sitting courtside, the freshman led all scorers with 29 points on 8-for-16 shooting in his first regular-season game against a high-major opponent. His biggest bucket came during UK's late surge, when he muscled in a layup through contact and converted a three-point play at the free-throw line to push Louisville's lead to 91-84 with 2:52 remaining.

Conwell followed with 24 points on 6-for-16 shooting. He and Brown combined to make seven of the Cards' 13 3s and 18 of their 21 free throws.

"My 8-year-old self would have thought being in this position was out of reach — just a dream," Conwell said. "To be in this position, all I can do is just thank God. I'm just so blessed."

Kelsey celebrated the first top-eight win of his head-coaching career by running into the student section. He then proceeded to dislocate a finger on his right hand while going nuts with the members of his staff in a practice gym adjacent to UofL's locker room. He said he didn't feel a thing when it was yanked back into place — "there was so much adrenaline going on in my body."

No. 1: Louisville football upsets Miami on the road

It doesn't get much better than upsetting the No. 2 team in the country on its home turf.

Fresh off a 30-27 overtime loss to then-No. 24 Virginia at L&N Stadium, the Cards were 14-point road underdogs entering an Oct. 17 matchup against Miami. Behind four interceptions and two electrifying touchdowns from wide receiver Chris Bell, UofL walked out of Hard Rock Stadium with a 24-21 victory — its first against a top-two team in the AP poll since 2016.

Louisville took control of the game with an 11-play, 75-yard opening drive capped off by a 1-yard touchdown from Moss on a quarterback sneak. Brohm opting for a fake field goal on fourth and 2 from the Hurricanes' 4-yard line signaled the coach was pushing all of his chips to the middle of the table. That it worked gave fans an inkling something special was brewing.

Bell's first touchdown, a 35-yard catch and run, pushed the Cards' lead to 14-0 with 5:09 remaining in the opening quarter. His second — this one a 36-yarder — gave the visitors a 24-13 advantage with 13:27 to play in regulation.

Miami pulled within a field goal when an Isaac Brown fumble led to a 12-yard touchdown run from Malachi Toney with 7:37 on the clock. After UofL's next drive ended in a punt, quarterback Carson Beck guided the Hurricanes' offense from their 15-yard line to Louisville's 31 with only 36 seconds to spare.

That's when redshirt sophomore linebacker T.J. Capers, a Miami native, saved the day with a diving interception. Antonio Watts, Jabari Mack and JoJo Evans Jr. also picked off Beck that night.

"We tried to be a little creative. We tried to be aggressive," Brom said afterward. "We came ready to play; and we finally squeaked it out at the very end. Our guys just played hard to the very end, and I'm proud of them."

The Cards finished 2025 with a 9-4 record and a 27-22 win over Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl of Beans.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Cardinals football, basketball lead top 2025-26 moments