Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Miami Hurricanes

Miami Hurricanes (5-17, 1-10 ACC) at Louisville Cardinals (17-6, 10-2 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, Feb. 8 at 2:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: ESPN2
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -19.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 14-8
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 80-71 on Jan. 10, 2024 (Coral Gables, Fla.)

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.)

Miami

G Divine Ugochukwu (6-3, 190, Fr.)
G Jalil Bethea (6-5, 190, Fr.)
G Matthew Cleveland (6-7, 210, Sr.)
F Brandon Johnson (6-8, 223, Sr.)
C Lynn Kidd (6-10, 241, Gr.)

Comparison

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

Additional Coverage

Game Notes

Louisville

Louisville’s 10-game winning streak was the longest winning streak since the Cardinals won 10 in a row between Jan. 7 and Feb. 8, 2020.
Four of Louisville’s six losses have all come to teams now ranked in the AP Top 25: No. 2 Duke (20-2), No. 4 Tennessee (19-4), No. 14 Kentucky (15-7), and No. 25 Ole Miss (17-6). As of Feb. 4, those teams, along with Oklahoma (16-6) are a combined 87-25.
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.
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 by Dec. 14. The Cardinals have the 18th best strength of schedule according to KenPom as of Feb. 4.
As of Feb. 7, Louisville is seventh in the country in 3-point attempts per game (30.7).
As of Feb. 7, Chucky Hepburn is 14th in the country in assists per game (6.2) and 15th total assists (143). He’s also 13th in total steals (54) and 17th in steals per game (2.35). Reyne Smith is third in the country in 3’s per game (3.70) and second in total 3-pointers (85). He’s fifth in total 3-point attempts (215).
Sophomore forward James Scott is second in the country in dunks as of Feb. 7 with 52 makes on the year, according to Bart Torvik. He leads the ACC in that category and is now tied for fifth on Louisville’s dunks in a single 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.
Chucky Hepburn is the first Cardinal since Russ Smith (2011-12) to log three games of six or more steals in a single season. He grabbed six against No. 12 Tennessee and West Virginia and seven against No. 14/15 Indiana.
The Cardinals are one of the more experienced teams in the country this season. Between the 17-man roster, the average amount of years in college basketball is 3.0 years with just two underclassmen on the roster. The Cards have 12 players designated as seniors this season, tied with Western Kentucky for the most on any team in men’s DI college basketball.
Louisville has just two underclassmen in freshman Khani Rooths and sophomore James Scott. Louisville is one of just 11 schools in DI that has two or fewer underclassmen on their roster, and the only Power Four school in that list.
Louisville has 11 players who were on teams that played in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The roster in total has made 14 NCAA Division I Tournament appearances at their previous schools, playing in 20 NCAA Tournament games across their careers.

Miami

Saturday’s win over Notre Dame was important for multiple reasons as it was not only Miami’s first ACC win of the year (snapping a 10-game losing streak for the Hurricanes), but it was also interim head coach Bill Courtney’s first win at the helm of the Hurricanes.
Miami trailed Notre Dame by as much as 13 but fought its way back to get its first ACC win of the season. The last time the Hurricanes came back from down 10-plus to win a game was on Feb. 3, 2024 when they rallied from down 10 against Virginia Tech to win, 82-74. The last time a Miami team came back from down 10-plus points at halftime (down 11 on Saturday) was on March 5, 2022 (down 11 at Syracuse, won 78-74).
Matthew Cleveland has played the best basketball of his career lately, averaging 26.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and shooting 56.1 percent from the field over the last five games. Cleveland ranks third in the ACC in field goal percentage (.528), tied for fourth in # of 20-point games (nine) and 12th in scoring (15.9). In ACC games only, Cleveland is averaging 20.3 points per game, which ranks third among all league players. His eight 20-point games in ACC action is tied with Cooper Flagg for the most by an ACC player this season.
Brandon Johnson did not leave the court against Notre Dame, playing a full 40 minutes on Saturday, the only Hurricane to do so. Johnson is the only Miami player to play a complete game so far this season.
Since Jan. 1, Matthew Cleveland has been one of the best players in the ACC, averaging 21.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game, while shooting 53.6 percent from the field. Cleveland has scored in double-figures in nine of the 10 games since Jan. 1 and totaled 20-plus points in eight of the 10 contests.
Senior Brandon Johnson has found his rhythm on offense again, averaging 14.0 points per game in the last three contests. After starting ACC play 1-for-24 from 3-point range, Johnson has knocked down 52.9 percent (9-of-17) of his shots from beyond the arc in the last three games. The forward has also led the Hurricanes in rebounding each of the last three contests, averaging 7.7 boards per game.
Freshman Divine Ugochukwu put together a complete game against Notre Dame, totaling nine points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals, while also leading the Hurricanes in plus/minutes at +20 in the game.
Bill Courtney was named interim head coach on Dec. 26 following head coach Jim Larrañaga’s decision to step down. Courtney is in his 29th season as a college basketball coach and was the head coach of the Cornell Big Red for six seasons from 2010-16.
Nijel Pack was named ACC Co-Player of the Week alongside FSU’s Jamir Watkins on Nov. 11. Pack averaged 19.0 points, 5.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds in the opening week of the season. Pack is the frst Hurricane to earn ACC Player of the Week since Feb. 6, 2023 when he did the same. Pack is a four-time conference player of the week honoree having been named ACC Player of the Week twice and Big 12 Player of the Week twice while at Kansas State.
The Hurricanes are still looking for their frst road win of the season, sitting at 0-5 in true road games this season (0-4 in neutral site games). Miami is 280-425 all-time in road games and 159-264 since the program rebirth in 1985.

(Photo of J'Vonne Hadley: Brett Davis - Imagn Images)

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