The Louisville Cardinals hosted the Miami Hurricanes who currently sit in last place of the ACC conference. Louisville would take care of business against the Hurricanes but failed to escape the injury bug again.

Another One

The word of the day is adversity. A word all too familiar with this Louisville Cardinals basketball team and its fans. The Cardinals went into the game on Saturday with the information that their star point guard Chucky Hepburn would be unavailable to play with his teammates for the first time in his entire career. Pat Kelsey says “he wanted to play… badly”. Louisville would ultimately not need him as much as he wanted to play.

Terrence Edwards Jr. would take over the point guard role in place of the injured Hepburn, and he did not disappoint. Edwards Jr. would play all 20 minutes in the first half and head to the locker room with 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists.

The Cards had an impressive first half, assisting on 12-of-20 field goals with only three turnovers. Louisville would go into the locker room with a 46-38 lead. 46 is the second most points the Cards have scored in ACC play for the first half this season, trailing only the 50 points scored in the first half against SMU.

Around the 11:13 mark in the first half, James Scott took a hard fall with a Miami forward landing on his head. Scott was seen with a bloody mouth and it was later reported that he went straight to the dentist for oral surgery. Another scholarship player going down for Pat Kelsey’s first-year Cardinals.

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Winning Streak

The Cardinals were now down to seven scholarship players coming out of halftime. Despite more adversity, the Cards would still roll in the 2nd half. Miami and Louisville would trade blows to one another both having runs of 8 or more points.

Louisville would lead by as much as 15 just over mid-way into the 2nd half. Miami would cut it down to a 5 point lead with 6:08 left remaining in the half. From then on the Cards would never look back and take the win by double-digits against a gritty Miami team. Cards 88, Hurricanes 78.

Notables

A few notables to hit on here. Surprisingly only three players scored in double figures while the Cards put up 88 points.

  • Terrence Edwards Jr.: 27 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists (career-high) 10-for-16 from the field (3-4 from three)
  • Reyne Smith: 26 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 7-19 from the field (6-16 from three)
  • J’Vonne Hadley: 12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 6-10 from the field
  • Khani Rooths: 9 points, 6 rebounds, 4-for-8 from the field
  • Noah Waterman: 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 3-for-7 from the field (2-for-6 from three)
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A well-rounded day for the Cards especially from Pat Kelsey and his coaching staff being down multiple players for yet another game this year. Subtracting the season-ending injuries it seems like this team has yet to play with one another at full capacity.

The Cardinals clinched a spot in the ACC Tournament after the win on Saturday, hopefully the Cards can get healthy enough in time to make a big push into that tournament and of course hopefully a NCAA Tournament bid as long as the train doesn’t fall off the tracks.

What’s Next

The Cards go back on the road for another struggling ACC opponent in NC State. The Wolfpack have lost eight straight games in ACC play and haven’t won a game since January 8th when they took down the Notre Dame fighting Irish at home. The Cards will look for three straight wins on Wednesday night at 7pm in the Lenovo Center.