Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. SMU Mustangs

Louisville Cardinals (14-5, 7-1 ACC) at SMU Mustangs (14-4, 5-2 ACC)

- Tipoff: Tuesday, January 21 at 9:00 p.m. EST
- Location: Moody Coliseum in Dallas, Tex.
- How To Watch: ACC Network
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: SMU -2.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 8-2
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 84-71 on Mar. 5, 2014 (Dallas, Tex.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

G Chucky Hepburn (6-2, 190, Sr.)
G Reyne Smith (6-2, 190, Sr.)
G J'Vonne Hadley (6-6, 215, 5th)
G/F Terrence Edwards Jr. (6-6, 205, 5th)
C James Scott (6-11, 220, So.)

SMU

G Boopie Miller (6-0, 175, Jr.)
G B.J. Edwards (6-3, 185, Jr.)
G Chuck Harris (6-4, 190, Sr.)
F Matt Cross (6-7, 230, Sr.)
C Samet Yigitoglu (7-2, 265, Fr.)

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Mustangs, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape, Predictions: Louisville vs. SMU

Additional Coverage

Game Notes

Louisville

For the first time since Jan. 25, 2021, Louisville is ranked in a national poll, coming in at No. 25 in the AP Poll on Jan. 20.
Four of Louisville’s five losses have all come to teams now ranked in the AP Top 25: No. 2 Duke (16-2), No. 6 Tennessee (16-2), No. 9 Kentucky (14-4), and No. 16 Ole Miss (15-3). As of Jan. 20, those teams, along with Oklahoma (14-4) are a combined 75-15.
Against North Carolina on Jan. 1, Chucky Hepburn made 16 free throws, tying the program record for free throws made in a single game.
Louisville played five ranked opponents before the New Year. The Cardinals have the 12th best strength of schedule according to KenPom as of Jan. 9.
As of Jan.19, Louisville is ninth in the country in 3-point attempts per game (30.5).
As of Jan. 19, Chucky Hepburn is eighth in total steals with 49 and 10th in the country in steals per game at 2.58. Reyne Smith is second in the country in total 3-pointers made (68), fourth in total 3-point attempts (174) and sixth in 3-pointers per game (3.58).
Sophomore forward James Scott is fourth in the country in dunks as of Jan. 19 with 40 makes on the year, according to Bart Torvik. He leads the ACC in that category and is one dunk away from cracking Louisville’s top-15 dunks in a season list.
Senior guard Reyne Smith was named ACC Player of the Week on Dec. 23 for his 27-point performance at Florida State. It was just the third time in the program’s 11 years in the ACC that Louisville has had multiple ACC Player of the Week awards as Chucky Hepburn also earned that title on Dec. 2.
Against Florida State on Dec. 21, Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards Jr. both logged eight assists apiece; it was the first Louisville game to have two Cardinals log at least eight assists each in the same game since Peyton Siva and Gorgui Deng both had eight against Syracuse in the 2013 Big East Tournament championship game.
Louisville’s 89-61 victory over No. 14/15 Indiana in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis was Louisville’s first win over a ranked team since beating No. 19/20 Virginia Tech 73-71 on Jan. 6, 2021. It’s the highest ranked opponent the Cards have beat since beating No. 3 Duke 79-73 on Jan. 18, 2020.
Louisville took its second trip to the Bahamas to compete in the Battle 4 Atlantis Nov. 27-29. The Cardinals opened the trip with a resounding 89-61 victory over No. 14/15 Indiana. Against Indiana, Louisville’s 23 assists were its most since having 23 in a 90-66 win against Syracuse on Feb. 19, 2020. It’s 15 steals were the most since logging 15 in a 77-54 win over Georgia Tech on Feb. 8, 2018. Next, UofL beat West Virginia 79-70 in its first overtime game of the season. It was UofL’s largest margin of victory in an overtime game since beating North Carolina 78-68 on Jan. 31, 2015, and the biggest overtime win away from home since beating West Virginia 82-71 in double overtime on March 8, 2007, in the Big East Tournament.
Louisville’s 48-point season-opening victory over Morehead State on Nov. 4 was Louisville’s largest margin of victory since a 104-54 win vs. Southern on Nov. 13, 2018, and largest in a season opener since a 92-38 win vs. South Alabama on Nov. 18, 2001.
Against Winthrop on Nov. 22, Louisville logged 10 blocks, including seven in the first half. Sophomore James Scott blocked five on his own. The 10 total, seven in a half and Scott’s five were all the first time those feats happened for the Cardinals since March 7, 2018 against Florida State.
Louisville’s 48 first-half points against Bellarmine on Nov. 19 were the most since leading Eastern Kentucky 50-32 at halftime on Dec. 14, 2019.
In its season opener against Morehead State on Nov. 4, the Cardinals held the Eagles to a 23.1% clip from the floor. It’s the lowest field goal percentage of any Louisville opponent since Nov. 13, 2015 when the Cards held Samford to 21.0%.

SMU

SMU is averaging 84.8 points (1st ACC, 15th NCAA) while shooting 48.2% (1st ACC, 32nd NCAA) overall and 38.6% on threes (2nd ACC, 20th NCAA). The Mustangs are also leading the ACC in total rebounds (40.3, 23rd NCAA), offensive rebounds (13.5, 29th NCAA) and bench points (30.6, 21st NCAA).
SMU is second in the ACC in rebound margin (+7.8, 20th NCAA), second in assists (16.7, 39th NCAA), second in the ACC in steals (8.1), second in scoring margin (+13.2, 28th NCAA), third in fastbreak points (14.9, 22nd NCAA), fifth in field goal defense (41.2%), second in assist-to turnover ratio (1.46) and seventh in blocked shots (3.8).
Boopie Miller is averaging 14.7 points (16th ACC), 6.0 assists (2nd ACC, 16th NCAA) and 1.6 steals (8th ACC) with a 2.63 assist-to-turnover ratio (3rd ACC).
Chuck Harris is next in scoring at 12.4 (32nd ACC) while hitting 44.2% from three.
B.J. Edwards is averaging 10.4 points (48th ACC), 3.4 assists (13th ACC) and 2.4 steals (2nd ACC, 16th NCAA).
Matt Cross has four double-doubles (9th ACC) and is leading the Mustangs in rebounding (8.0, 7th ACC) while adding 10.6 points (44th ACC).
The Mustangs have seven averaging above eight points per game with Kario Oquendo (9.6), Samet Yiğitoğlu (9.6), and Yohan Traore (8.2). Yiğitoğlu is second for SMU in rebounds (6.6, 15th ACC) followed by Yohan Traore (4.4).
Jerrell Colbert is leading the Mustangs in blocked shots (1.1, 11th ACC) with Samet Yiğitoğlu next (0.9, 20th ACC).
First-year head coach Andy Enfield took the helm of the SMU program following 11 seasons at USC, where he led the Trojans to five of the last eight NCAA Tournaments, including a run to the Elite Eight in 2021. He took over an SMU program that finished last season 20-13 after earning an NIT bid. That was the Mustangs’ sixth postseason berth in the past 10 possible postseasons, including two NCAA bids and four NITs

(Photo of Chucky Hepburn: Jamie Rhodes - Imagn Images)

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