Louisville basketball’s run through the ACC is great for the team’s confidence, great for returning the program to elite status nationally and great for restoring pride in the city.
But these double-digit wins are doing little to prepare them for the tight, one-possession games decided in the final minute that are sure to confront the Cardinals when the NCAA Tournament rolls around.
Georgia Tech caught them flat-footed in their first game of the month, a 77-70 loss in Atlanta. But that’s been the exception as the Cards’ first road loss in conference play.
U of L breezed through the first half of the ACC schedule with its nine wins coming by an average of 15.2 points. Only its win at Pitt has come down to the final minutes and, even then, the Panthers never had possession with a chance to tie or lead in the last 90 seconds.
A play that wasn’t drawn up essentially saved the game. J’Vonne Hadley missed a 3-pointer with 37 seconds left, but he chased down his own rebound. That allowed the Cards to run more clock as Chucky Hepburn’s layup with eight seconds left sealed the 82-78 win.
In the four games that followed Pitt, the Cards led their opponents by more than 20 points (Syracuse 26, Virginia 21, SMU 32, Wake Forest 29) in the second half of all four games.
It surely beats the results of the past three seasons, when the Cards were, far too often, on the wrong side of those blowouts.
But it begs the question, how will U of L react when it is tested late?
March is won by point guards who remain steady, and the Wisconsin transfer is proving to be as steady as they come for the Cards.
Hepburn ranked 11th nationally entering the Georgia Tech loss, averaging 6.4 assists per game. He’d been even better in ACC play, ranking first with an 8.0 average and an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.3 through the first 10 conference games.
Aside from just having faith in Hepburn to make the right play, there’s no telling how the Cards will react in a tight game now.
The overtime win over West Virginia and close loss to Oklahoma in the Bahamas give no indication. Those games were way back in November when forward Kasean Pryor was a big part of the rotation.
Louisville is a completely different team since his season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury in the OU game.
The Cards will have to do what they’ve been doing all season, relying on their preparation to get them through. U of L faithfully devotes practice time to late-game situations even though it hasn’t had to apply them since its 78-76 win over Eastern Kentucky thanks to a last-second drive by Noah Waterman.
“You can’t guarantee the situations that you’re going to be in in a game, but through the course of six months throughout the season, in practice after practice, you add all those minutes up and all those hours up,” U of L coach Pat Kelsey said.
Louisville is in third place in the ACC behind Duke and Clemson. It has only finished second in the ACC twice, the 2016-17 season and in 2019-20 when the pandemic ended the ’20 postseason prematurely.
The Cards’ 2017 postseason sheds some light on why close games matter.
In coach Rick Pitino’s final season, Louisville won 12 league games by an average of 17 points, including a 55-point win over Pitt (106-51) and a 32-point (92-60) smackdown of Clemson.
U of L didn’t win or lose a one-possession game in league play. So when the postseason came around, the Cards flamed out against Duke in the ACC Tournament and were upset by Michigan 73-69 as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
It helps to be challenged.
This is the same ACC that has put four teams in the Final Four the past three seasons despite its recession, including last season’s run by N.C. State as a No. 11 seed. The Wolfpack played in six ACC games decided in overtime or by one possession. That toughened them for their postseason March.
The Cards’ ACC opponents haven’t done much on their end to test them. U of L has to find a way to challenge itself.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball: ACC schedule not enough for March Madness prep
