Walk into Gainbridge Fieldhouse when the Hoosiers and Cardinals are in town and you’ll feel it immediately. It’s not just the humidity or the smell of overpriced popcorn. It’s a specific kind of tension that only exists when two fanbases who live ninety minutes apart decide they can’t stand each other for two hours.
Honestly, the Indiana vs Louisville basketball rivalry doesn't need a fancy trophy or a corporate-sponsored name to matter. It matters because of the geography. It matters because of the recruiting battles in high school gyms in New Albany and Jeffersonville.
Most people think the biggest rivalry for Indiana is Purdue or Kentucky. For Louisville, it’s obviously the Wildcats. But if you grew up near the Ohio River, this matchup is the one that actually ruins Christmas dinner.
What Actually Happened in the Last Matchup
The most recent chapter of Indiana vs Louisville basketball went down on December 6, 2025, in Indianapolis. If you're a Hoosier fan, it’s probably a game you’ve tried to scrub from your memory. Louisville walked away with an 87-78 win, but the final score doesn’t really tell the whole story of how erratic that afternoon was.
Indiana came out flat. Like, catastrophically flat.
They missed their first eight shots. You could hear the collective groan of 18,000 people every time the ball clanked off the rim. Meanwhile, Pat Kelsey’s Louisville squad looked like they were shot out of a cannon. Ryan Conwell—an Indianapolis kid, naturally—was the one doing the damage. He dropped 21 points and basically lived at the free-throw line, going 10-of-11.
Indiana tried to make it a game in the second half. They actually outscored the Cards 51-46 in the final 20 minutes.
- Tucker DeVries poured in 15 second-half points.
- The Hoosiers cut the lead to seven with less than a minute left.
- Louisville iced it with 17-of-17 shooting from the stripe in the second half.
It was a clinic in "too little, too late." Mike Woodson’s team showed heart, but you can’t dig a 14-point halftime hole against a top-10 team and expect to survive.
The State of the Programs in 2026
Where do these two stand right now? It's a tale of two very different vibes.
Pat Kelsey has Louisville humming. They were ranked as high as No. 6 in the country earlier this season. They play this hyper-aggressive, "revving the engine" style that wears teams down. But they've hit a bit of a snag lately. Mikel Brown Jr., their star freshman guard who was averaging over 16 points a game, went down with an injury. Since he’s been out, they’ve looked human. They just dropped a game to Virginia at home, and the offense that was averaging 94 points has slowed to a crawl.
On the other side, Indiana is... well, they're Indiana.
They are talented, inconsistent, and under a massive microscope. Mike Woodson has brought in high-level talent like Tucker DeVries and Oumar Ballo, but the wins in "Quad 1" games have been hard to come by. The fanbase is restless. They want the 1970s and 80s back, but they’re living in a world where a Saturday afternoon loss to Louisville is becoming a recurring nightmare.
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The Series History: By the Numbers
If you look at the all-time record, it’s incredibly tight. Entering 2026, Indiana still holds a slight lead in the series, 12-11 (or 12-10 depending on if you count the vacated games from the Pitino era).
The programs first met in 1921. Indiana won that one 34-17. Think about that. A whole basketball game where the winner didn't even crack 40 points.
Since then, it's been a back-and-forth slugfest.
Louisville had a dominant stretch in the early 2000s and 2010s, winning several high-profile neutral site games. Indiana’s biggest recent win was probably that 68-67 nail-biter in December 2018 at Assembly Hall. Romeo Langford was the hero that day. It feels like a lifetime ago.
Why This Matchup Still Matters
Kinda funny how we talk about "rivalries" in the era of the transfer portal. Half the players on the court probably didn't know where the other school was two years ago.
But the fans? They don't transfer.
The Indiana vs Louisville basketball game is important because it represents the "Old Guard" of college hoops. These are two of the most profitable, most-watched programs in history. When they are both good, the sport feels healthier.
Right now, the power dynamic has shifted toward the ACC side of the border. Pat Kelsey has injected a level of energy into Louisville that feels like the Denny Crum days. Indiana is still searching for that definitive "we're back" moment.
Key Takeaways for Fans
If you're following the trajectory of these teams heading into the late-season stretch, here is what you need to watch:
- Louisville's Depth Test: Can they survive without Mikel Brown Jr. for an extended period? Ryan Conwell and J'Vonne Hadley are going to have to carry a massive load. If they can't find a third scorer, the top-25 ranking won't last.
- Indiana's Identity: They need to decide if they are a post-up team or a perimeter-shooting team. When they try to be both, they often end up being neither.
- The "Home" Court Factor: Even though these games are often "neutral," they never feel that way. The 2025 game in Indy felt like a pro-IU crowd until the Cards started hitting threes.
The next time these two meet, don't look at the rankings. Look at the guards. In this rivalry, the team with the tougher backcourt almost always walks away with the bragging rights for the next 365 days.
If you want to keep up with the latest roster moves or injury reports before the next tip-off, keep a close eye on the local beat writers like those at Inside the Hall or the Louisville Courier-Journal. They usually catch the lineup changes before the national guys even realize there's a game happening.
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Check the upcoming ACC and Big Ten schedules to see if a rematch in the postseason or a future non-conference date is locked in. Usually, these deals are done in two-year cycles, so expect another showdown sooner rather than later.