Season in review: Louisville guard Ryan Conwell
Welcome to “Season in review,” a post-season Louisville basketball series highlighting each individual performer and their impact on the Cardinals’ 2025-26 season. We begin with senior guard Ryan Conwell.
Conwell: 34 games, 18.8 pts, 4.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.1 steals, 40.8% FG, 34.5% 3PT
- Second Team All-ACC
When Ryan Conwell committed to Louisville from Xavier out of the transfer portal last spring, it felt like a match made in heaven.
A senior and one of the most proven scorers in the country would get the opportunity to mentor a freshman phenom while also leading the backcourt through difficult stretches.
Though Conwell wound up becoming more than just a scorer and part of a backcourt duo. The Indianapolis product led Louisville in almost every statistic. He was the team’s best foul-shooter by volume, and was the only Card to make over 100 3s with 112 on the year. High-scoring performances didn’t inflate Conwell’s 18.8 points per game, as he consistently found himself in double-figures, totaling just one single-digit scoring game (Eastern Michigan).
The 6-foot-4 guard’s reliability and overall playmaking were massive for Louisville in games without Mikel Brown Jr. Not the most comfortable ball handler coming into the season, Conwell struggled but ultimately finished the year with the best assist rate (16.5) of his career.
As one of the players who consistently delivered down the stretch, Conwell almost single-handedly pushed Louisville to an ACC Tournament win over SMU and flashed 30+ points against NC State and NJIT. His 24-point, six-assist outing at Pittsburgh was also one of the best by a Cardinal this season.
Out of Pike High School up in Indy, the lefty’s confidence and fearlessness have carried with him throughout his college career. A bad miss from deep never kept him from shooting, a turnover never stopped him from passing, and no matter how many points he had or his team had on the scoreboard, Conwell’s effort always seemed to be at max-level.
As a defender, there were games when the All-ACC guard struggled. He seemed to get caught gambling or reaching for a steal far too often, and there were instances where attention to detail seemed to be missing when guarding away from the ball. But with a rugged, physical frame, there were also moments when he won his matchups and was a bit of a defensive playmaker. He forced the game-winning turnover at Miami and had 12 games of two or more steals.
Conwell, fittingly, was the lone senior to kiss the Yum! Center’s Cardinal bird after Louisville beat Syracuse in the regular-season home finale. There’s the infamous photo of a teenage Conwell with his grandfather about to go to a Louisville game.
After spending four years of his college career in four separate places, Ryan Conwell finally found his way home.
The Bottom Line
Starting at South Florida, then continuing at Indiana State and Xavier, Conwell started in over 70 percent of the games he played, missing just two due to injury over his career. It must be stated that his availability was key for the Cardinals this season, and had it not been for Conwell’s consistency and shotmaking at the guard position, Louisville would have nowhere else to turn to. He finished the winter connecting on five or more 3s on eight separate occasions, more than anyone on the roster. And, despite only being here for a season, will ultimately go down as one of the more impactful players of the first few years of Pat Kelsey’s tenure.
Conwell is a projected second-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft this summer.
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