Cards Face Cal for Second Time Ever on Wednesday Night

Mark BlankenbakerMarch 4, 2025

Louisville men’s basketball has a late-night midweek matchup against Cal on Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center. The game will start at 9 p.m. ET and can be seen on the ACC Network.

Louisville is on a seven-game winning streak and has won 17 of its last 18, most recently completing a sweep of the Panthers with a 79-68 victory over Pitt on Saturday. Cal beat Boston College on Saturday 82-71, picking up its sixth league win of the year.

Louisville and Cal have only met on one other occasion: in the NCAA Tournament where the eight-seeded Golden Bears bested the nine-seeded Cardinals 77-62 in the first round in the South Region on March 19, 2010.

CARDINAL NOTES

Louisville has improved from eight wins in 2023-24 to 23 wins in 2024-25, the largest turnaround in program history, improving by 15 wins.
For the first time in the 111 years of program history, Louisville has earned five road wins with a margin of victory of 20 points or more: at Virginia (20), at Syracuse (24), at SMU (25), at Boston College (26) and at NC State (25).
Starting point guard Chucky Hepburn was named to the Naismith Trophy Men’s Player of the Year Midseason Team. He earned his second ACC Player of the Week award on Monday.
Pat Kelsey’s Cardinals are one of the most improved teams in the country from the end of 2023-24 to now, accounting for the NET and number of wins. He was named to the Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year Watch List on Feb. 21.
As of March 4, Reyne Smith is second in the country in 3’s per game (3.66) and third in total 3-pointers (106) – he’s 17 made 3’s away from breaking Louisville’s made 3-pointers in a single season record.
As of March 4, Chucky Hepburn is 22nd in the country in assists per game (6.0) and 25th in total assists (167). He’s also 14th in total steals (68) and 10th steals per game (2.43).
Sophomore forward James Scott is second in the country in dunks as of March 4 with 66 makes on the year, according to Bart Torvik. He leads the ACC in that category and is third on Louisville’s dunks in a single season list.
Three of Louisville’s six losses have all come to teams now ranked in the AP Top 25: No. 2 Duke (27-3), No. 4 Tennessee (24-5) and No. 19 Kentucky (19-10). As of March 4, those teams, plus RV Ole Miss (20-9), are a combined 90-27.
Against Florida State on Feb. 22, Chucky Hepburn knocked down 17 free throws, marking a new single game record for the Cards.
At SMU on Jan. 21, Chucky Hepburn broke the UofL single game assists record with 16. Reyne Smith broke the program’s single game made 3’s record with 10. Louisville became the only DI team this century to have a player with 10+ 3’s and 15+ assists in the same game. The Last NBA team to do it was the Warriors with Klay Thompson (10 3PM) and Steph Curry (15 AST) on Nov. 20, 2022.