Western Kentucky left its exhibition game last week with plenty of confidence.

But reality has settled in that results may be different once the competition heats up and familiarity won’t give the Lady Toppers any comfort in their season opener.

The trial by fire in a gauntlet of a nonconference slate for the Lady Toppers starts with No. 5 Louisville on Tuesday night at E.A. Diddle Arena (7 p.m., ESPN+, WKU PBS).

“It’s going to be hard,” WKU senior guard Sidnee Bopp said. “Louisville is a hard team to play against. They went to the Final Four last year. It’s going to be rough, but I know we can stick it out and make it a good game.”

WKU’s unknowns that come with an inexperienced roster and a new coaching staff will be revealed quickly against the Louisville team coming off a Final Four appearance and four starters returning including preseason AP All-American Asia Durr.

The Jeff Walz-coached Cardinals had a program-best 36-3 record last year and reached their third Final Four. They opened the year 20-0 and reached No. 2 in the AP poll with two wins against national champion Notre Dame – WKU hosted the Fighting Irish last season and will play in South Bend, Ind., on Dec. 19.

Louisville lost to Mississippi State in overtime of the Final Four in Columbus, Ohio.

WKU last beat Louisville in 2015 when the Cardinals visited Diddle Arena to open the year ranked No. 16. The Lady Toppers made a return trip to the KFC Yum! Center in 2016 and lost by seven with the Cardinals ranked eighth in the country.

WKU hasn’t beaten a top-5 team since Louisiana Tech in 1998.

The WKU-Louisville rivalry runs deep with connections to Walz starting his coaching career as a graduate assistant under former Lady Topper coach Paul Sanderford in 1996. Walz followed Sanderford to Nebraska and was named the Louisville coach in 2007.

The next victory for Walz will be his 300th as a head coach.

Michelle Clark-Heard was an assistant on his staff before taking the WKU job in 2012. Heard hired Greg Collins as an assistant that same year, and the two held those respective roles until Heard left for Cincinnati this spring and Collins was promoted to head coach.

Since 2012, WKU is 1-3 against the Cardinals.

“Clearly, Louisville could go any place and play and we’re thankful they’d want to come here,” Collins said. “It’s great for our fans and great for our team to get to test ourselves and see how we stack against the best players and the best team in the country – a team that realistically could have a shot at the national championship this year. We’re glad to get that test.”

Louisville is the first of three preseason top-15 teams WKU will face in its first six games, with No. 13 Iowa coming to Bowling Green on Nov. 13 and eighth-ranked Oregon State awaiting in the Vancouver Showcase on Nov. 22.

It’s a much bigger step in competition than the NCAA Division-II West Virginia State team WKU beat by 30 points last Thursday.

The Lady Toppers left that event confident after sharing the ball for 29 assists and Dee Givens scoring 27 points in three quarters to lead six players scoring in double figures.

“Confidence is high, for sure,” Bopp said. “We’re definitely playing really well together. In practice we’re going over everything we need to know and the coaches are feeling confident, too.”

WKU will need confidence and any advantage it can against a Louisville team returning four starters. Durr, the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, averaged 18.7 points per game, while shooting 41.7 percent from 3-point range.

Other notable returners for Louisville are seniors Arica Carter and Sam Fuehring and junior Jazmine Jones.

“(Durr) is, if not the best, one of the best guards in the country,” Collins said. “What Asia does so well is she makes everybody better on the court. She can score and will score, but there’s times she controls the game in other ways.

“There’s not much she can’t do, but she’s not the only one. It’s not just one player. They’ve got a great player and a great team.”

No. 5 Louisville at Western Kentucky

7 p.m. CST, Tuesday, Diddle Arena

Probable starters

Western Kentucky – Whitney Creech, g, 5-8, jr. (7.0 ppg, 2.9 apg); Sherry Porter, g, 5-7, so. (3.3 ppg, 1.8 rpg); Meral Abdelgawad, g, 5-11, fr. (n/a); Dee Givens, f, 6-1, r-jr. (8.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg); Raneem Elgedawy, f, 6-4, so. (9.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg)

Louisville – Arica Carter, g, 5-8, r-sr. (7.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg); Asia Durr, g, 5-10, sr. (18.7 ppg, 4.6 rpg); Jazmine Joens, g, 6-0, jr. (8.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg); Yacine Diop, g, 5-10, r-sr. (15.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg); Sam Fuehring, f, 6-3, sr. (9.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg)

TV – ESPN+, WKU PBS

Radio ESPN 102.7 FM or 1450 AM

Coaches Greg Collins (0-0 first season), Western Kentucky; Jeff Walz (299-96 12th year, 299-96 overall) Louisville.

Series Record WKU leads 25-20 (Louisville won last meeting 68-61 on Dec. 11, 2016, in Louisville).

Last Time Out Season opener for both teams{&end}