Ranked Cardinals pay weekend visit to Butler

The Butler Bulldogs found the going tough against Evansville in their season-opening contest last weekend, so they'll need to step their game up this Saturday when they play host to the No. 8 Louisville Cardinals (2:00pm ET).

The Bulldogs made it all the way to the final game of the NCAA Tournament last season before falling 53-41 to Connecticut, and against Evansville last Saturday they came up short in an 80-77 overtime defeat.

Chrishawn Hopkins and Andrew Smith paced the Bulldogs' attack with 22 and 21 points, respectively, against the Aces, with Smith also grabbing nine rebounds in the contest. Ronald Nored had six points and four assists for Butler in that loss.

The Cardinals opened their season last weekend with games against Tennessee-Martin on Friday and Lamar on Sunday � and they cruised to easy wins in both of those contests, beating Tennessee-Martin 83-48 and Lamar 68-48.

Chane Behanan and Kyle Kuric both scored 14 points for Louisville in their win over Tennessee-Martin, with Behanan adding 12 rebounds to his line. Peyton Siva was good for 10 points in that contest. Against Lamar Jared Swopshire led the way with 13 points, while Behanan picked up 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Louisville and Butler also met last season, with the Cardinals winning 88-73 as a 1.5-point favorite in that OVER result. The only other meeting between the schools came back in 2003, with Butler grabbing a 79-71 victory as a 7.5-point underdog.

The other top matchup on the college basketball schedule for Saturday has No. 2 Kentucky taking on Penn State in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. As well, No. 5 Syracuse will host Colgate at the Carrier Dome, while No. 22 Gonzaga takes on Hawaii at Vancouver's Rogers Arena.

Other games involving ranked teams on Saturday include Wofford at No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 18 Vanderbilt vs. N.C. State at the IZOD Center in New Jersey, and Presbyterian at No. 20 Cincinnati.

Friday night sees two of the top six teams in the country in action, as No. 3 Ohio State hosts Jackson State and No. 6 Duke gets a visit from Davidson. As well, No. 13 Xavier hosts Miami-Ohio, and No. 21 Marquette takes on Winthrop at the Paradise Jam tournament in the Virgin Islands.

Sunday features the nation's top team, the North Carolina Tar Heels, taking to the court at home against Mississippi Valley State. North Carolina beat Michigan State 67-55 in their first game of the season last Friday on board the USS Carl Vinson in San Diego, and they then topped N.C. Asheville by a 91-75 score last Sunday.

Coppin State at No. 4 Connecticut and South Alabama at No. 25 Florida State round out the games involving ranked teams on Sunday; Oddsmaker will have all the betting lines and totals for the weekend slate of college basketball games.