Jan 18, 2025; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Reyne Smith (6) drives to the basket against Virginia Cavaliers guard Dai Dai Ames (7) during the second half at KFC Yum! Center. Louisville defeated Virginia 81-67. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images
The Louisville Cardinals hosted the Virginia Cavaliers at the Yum! Center on Saturday afternoon. This was the second time these teams had met in two weeks. Much like the first game, the Cards came away with an emphatic win.
LOUISVILLE, Ky.- Exactly two weeks ago, on January 4th, the Cards took a flight to Charlottesville, Virginia, to take on the Virginia Cavaliers in their first meeting of the season. Louisville was only a 3.5-point favorite heading into that game, even after a three-game winning streak and a huge win over the Tarheels.
You know the story, the Cards would eventually dominate that game in Charlottesville and win by 20 points and increase their winning streak to four games. This would be the first time they have won at Virginia since 1990.
Fast forward to today and the Cards look to play the Cavaliers again, however, the Cardinals would be hosting in Louisville. This time with a seven-game winning streak in-tact, however, they would be without forward, Noah Waterman. Little did the Cards know this would be the largest crowd in the Yum! Center since January 9th, 2022. Official attendance indicates Louisville brought in 18,233 total fans to watch the noon game on Saturday.
The Cards were favored by 15.5 points and you could see why early on. Louisville would jump out to a 3-0 lead off of Reyne Smith’s three free throws and they would never look back. The Cards would lead the entire game wire-to-wire. The score does not do the Card enough justice, the entire game Louisville went back and forth leading by 20.
The entire team got to hear one of the most incredible Yum! Center roars this whole year. Aboubacar Traore would steal the ball with 10:16 left in the first half and capped it off with a runaway slam that the Yum! would go nuts over.
Even with it being a physical game the Cards (14-5, 7-1 ACC) would hang tough and match the physicality of the Cavaliers (8-10, 1-6 ACC). It was another game where a different player would lead the team in scoring again. It seems no matter the circumstance the Cards continue to put up points and don’t rely on a single player to do all the heavy lifting. A very underrated aspect of this Louisville team.
Going back to multiple guys on this team being able to score, the Cardinals had four guys score into the double digits this afternoon. The Cards also had a member earn a double-double. Who are the guys responsible for the Cards victory?
Chucky Hepburn makes the list after registering at least seven assists in the last eight games. My MVP for this game is Terrence Edwards Jr. Stat sheets won’t show it but his defensive ability has been the major key for the Cardinals winning streak. Not only his defense but scoring 16 points while shooting 6-for-8 inside the three-point line was very impressive.
Reyne Smith continues his hot shooting streak making four threes on the day going 4-for-11 behind the three-point line. James Scott records his third double-double on the year while tying his season-high with 12 points. J’Vonne Hadley continues to see success on the inside, finding ways to score over taller defenders on him.
Now that the Cards are on an eight-game winning streak, they will head to Dallas to take on Southern Methodist University where new head coach, Andy Enfield has his mustangs up to 14-4 on the year. SMU comes off an impressive outing going into Miami and beating the Hurricanes by 43 points, 117-74.
As it stands today, this will be the last game that the Cards are underdogs in for the rest of the year according to Kenpom. Louisville will take on the Mustangs on Tuesday in Dallas at 9 pm eastern.
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