Louisville men’s basketball will play in the ACC Tournament semifinal for the first time in program history on Friday night when it plays three-seed Clemson at approximately 9:30 p.m. The game will be available to view on ESPN.
The Cardinals extended their win streak to 10 on Thursday night, beating Stanford with a buzzer beater from Chucky Hepburn. Clemson beat SMU 57-54 in the quarterfinals to advance to Friday night.
Both programs are now ranked inside the AP Top 15 with Louisville at No. 13 and Clemson at No. 10. It’ll be the first time the Cards have met up with a ranked team since Dec. 14. In the regular season matchup between the two teams, Louisville beat Clemson 74-64 in Louisville; the two have never met in a conference tournament. The Cardinals are 8-2 in league tournament semifinals dating back to 1995-96.
CARDINAL NOTES
- Senior guard Chucky Hepburn was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year alongside his head coach Pat Kelsey who was voted ACC Coach of the Year. Hepburn was tabbed as a First Team All-ACC selection while teammate Terrence Edwards Jr. earned a spot on the Third Team.
- After Terrence Edwards Jr. scored a career high 35 points against Cal on March 5, Louisville became the only DI program this season to have four different players log at least one 30-point game. It’s also the first time in Louisville’s 111-year history that the team has four players with a 30-point game.
- Louisville has improved from eight wins in 2023-24 to 25 wins in 2024-25, the largest turnaround in program history, improving by 17 wins – it also leads the nation in win differential.
- 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.
- 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 11, Reyne Smith is third in the country in 3’s per game (3.53) and ninth 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 11, Chucky Hepburn is eighth in the country in total steals (68), ninth in steals per game (2.43), 24th in total assists (176) and 25th in assists per game (5.9).
- As of March 11, sophomore forward James Scott is third in the country in dunks with 71 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. Find Chasing the Record Book on Page 9.
- 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 (24-6) and No. 19 Kentucky (20-10). As of March 4, those teams, plus RV Ole Miss (21-9), are a combined 92-28.
- 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.
