Preview: Louisville's ACC Opener at Cal

Christmas break is now in the rear view mirror, so now it's time for the Louisville men's basketball program to get back to work. Next up is a two-game West Coast trip, with the first leg being a matchup at Cal for their opening game in ACC play.

The first half of year two of the Pat Kelsey era at Louisville has, for the most part, been a successful one. The Cardinals are 10-0 in home and neutral court games, and 2-2 in Quadrant 1 games according to the NET - including a win over arch rival Kentucky. The only hiccup is that UofL has been smoked in their true road games, falling at Arkansas and Tennessee in a pair of ranked matchups.

As for the Golden Bears, they have a near-perfect mark to start year three under head coach Mark Madsen. While Cal hasn't faced as difficult of a non-conference schedule as Louisville has, they are still 12-1 up to this point in the season, which includes an impressive neutral court win over UCLA. Their lone loss on the year was a three-point loss at Kansas State in their only true road game played so far.

This will be the third all-time meeting between the two programs, with the series dead even at one game a piece. The first meeting came in the opening round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, with the Golden Bears capturing a 77-62 victory. Then in the penultimate game of the regular season last year, the Cardinals earned an 85-69 victory.

No. 16 Louisville Cardinals (10-2, 0-0 ACC) at Cal Golden Bears (12-1, 0-0 ACC)

• Date/Time: Tuesday, Dec. 30 at 9:00 p.m. EST
• Place: Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif.
• TV: ACC Network - Play-by-play and analyst TBD.
• Channel (Louisville)/Live Stream: Spectrum: 524; Dish: 402; DirecTV: 612.
• Radio (Louisville): 93.9 FM - Paul Rogers (play-by-play) and Bob Valvano (analyst).