Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Florida State Seminoles

Florida State Seminoles (15-10, 6-8 ACC) at Louisville Cardinals (20-6, 13-2 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, Feb. 22 at 12:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: The CW Network
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -14.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 36-18
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 90-76 on Dec. 21, 2024 (Donald L. Tucker Center - Tallahassee, 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.)

Florida State

G Daquan Davis (6-1, 176, Fr.)
G Chandler Jackson (6-5, 205, Jr.)
G Jamir Watkins (6-7, 210, R-Sr.)
F Taylor Bol Bowen (6-10, 205, So.)
F Malique Ewin (6-11, 230, Jr.)

Comparison

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

Additional Coverage

Game Notes

Louisville

For the first time in the 111 years of program history, Louisville has earned five road wins with a margin of victory of 20 points or more: at Virginia (20), at Syracuse (24), at SMU (25), at Boston College (26) and at NC State (25).
Louisville’s game at NC State on Feb. 12 was the first time in program history that the team has hit marks of 60% FG, 50% 3FG and 90% from the free throw line in the same game.
Starting point guard Chucky Hepburn was named to the Naismith Trophy Men’s Player of the Year Midseason Team.
Pat Kelsey’s Cardinals are one of the most improved teams from the end of 2023-24 to now, accounting for the NET and number of wins. He was named to the Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year Watch List on Friday.
As of Feb. 20, Louisville is fifth in the country in 3-point attempts per game (30.3).
As of Feb. 20, Reyne Smith is leading in the country in 3’s per game (3.85) and second in total 3-pointers (100). He’s fourth in total 3-point attempts (251). Chucky Hepburn is 16th in the country in assists per game (6.2) and 21st in total assists (155). He’s also 17th in total steals (59) and 14th steals per game (2.36).
Sophomore forward James Scott is fourth in the country in dunks as of Feb. 20 with 56 makes on the year, according to Bart Torvik. He leads the ACC in that category and is now fifth on Louisville’s dunks in a single season list.
Four of Louisville’s six losses have all come to teams now ranked in the AP Top 25: No. 3 Duke (23-3), No. 6 Tennessee (21-5), No. 17 Kentucky (18-8), and No. 24 Ole Miss (19-7). As of Feb. 20, those teams, along with Oklahoma (16-10) are a combined 97-33.
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.
Fifth-year senior guard/forward Terrence Edwards Jr. earned ACC Player of the Week on Feb. 10and became the third Cardinal to earn the weekly honor this season.
Chucky Hepburn had the title on Dec. 2, Reyne Smith got the accolade on Dec. 23 and Terrence Edwards Jr. was the most recent recipient on Feb. 10. It’s the first time since the 2014-15 season that Louisville has earned the award more than twice in a single season, as Montrezl Harrell and Terry Rozier combined for it five times that year.
Against North Carolina on Jan. 1, Chucky Hepburn made 16 free throws, tying the program record for free throws made in a single game.
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.
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 returns just a single letterwinner to its roster in walk-on Aidan McCool. The program returns virtually 0% in all statistical categories from 2023-24. Louisville is one of five programs in the country returning 0% in scoring, rebounding and minutes played; the Cardinals are joined by DePaul, IU Indy, Iona and Kentucky.

Florida State

Florida State has won three of its last four ACC games with wins over Notre Dame (67-60, February 4), at Wake Forest (72-70, February 12), and against Miami (74-66, February 19).
Florida State Athletics will honor men's basketball head coach Leonard Hamilton on Saturday, March 8, following the Seminoles' regular season finale against the SMU Mustangs.
Hamilton is the all-time winningest coach in Florida State history and the fifth all-time winningest coach in ACC history. He is No. 5 in the ACC rankings alongside Mike Krzyzewski (Duke, 1,129 wins), Dean Smith (North Carolina, 879 wins), Roy Williams (North Carolina, 485), Gary Williams (Maryland, 461) and Hamilton (Florida State, 437).
Senior All-America candidate Jamir Watkins scored 16 points in Florida State’s 74-66 win over Miami. His 16 points sent him over the 1,500 career point plateau (he enters Saturday’s game with 1,502 career points) and moved him to within 20 points of reaching the 1,000 career point mark in his two seasons at Florida State. Watkins enters Saturday’s game against Louisville with 980 career points while wearing the garnet and gold. He is looking to become the 50th player in Florida State history to score 1,000 or more career points.
Florida State’s Malique Ewin scored a career-high 24 points and Jamir Watkins scored 16 to lead Florida State to a 74-66 win over Miami at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Ewin finished a perfect 10 of 10 from the field to become just the fourth player in school history – and the first since 1992 – to finish perfect on at least 10 field goals in a game. The junior was 10 of 10 from the field to match a record for field goal perfection last set by Douglas Edwards against UNC Asheville on January 2, 1992. He’s the first player in school history to record a perfect shooting night with at least 10 field goals made in an ACC game.
Florida State has been measured as the nation’s second-tallest team in the nation by Ken Pomeroy’s analytics. The Seminoles' roster contains 12 players listed at 6’5 or taller, 10 at 6’7 or taller, five taller than 6’10, and one seven-footer. Florida State is annually one of the tallest and lengthiest teams in all of college basketball.
Seminole head coach Leonard Hamilton needs just one regular season ACC victory to become just the FOURTH coach in the history of the ACC to win 200 regular season ACC games.
Last game vs. Louisville: Reyne Smith made six of Louisville's 15 3-point shots and scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Cardinals to a 90-76 win over Florida State on December 21, 2024 at the Donald L. Tucker Center. Smith led five Cardinals who made at least one 3-point shot and four who scored in double figures to lead the Cardinals to the ACC road win.
Previous outing vs. Miami: The Seminoles made 19 free throws, made more free throws than the Hurricanes attempted (19-24) and outscored the visitors from south Florida by a 19-12 margin. It marked the 10th this season that the Seminoles have made at least 19 free throws in a single game; The Seminoles totaled 12 steals – their most in an ACC game this season – and the sixth time this season they have earned in double figure steals; The Seminoles blocked five shots against the Hurricanes – the 14th time they have blocked at least five shots in a game.

(Photo of Reyne Smith: Jaylynn Nash - Imagn Images)

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