Louisville Holds Off Pitt, Wins Seventh Straight Game

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Kicking off a three-game home stand to end the regular season with a rematch against Pitt, the Louisville men's basketball program once again came out on top, claiming a 79-68 win on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center.

The Cardinals (23-6, 16-2 ACC) extend their winning streak to seven games, and earn their most conference wins in a season since they joined the ACC in 2014. They also tie the 2008-09 team, who at the time competed in the Big East, for the program's most conference wins in a single season.

Also winning the first matchup against the Panthers (16-13, 7-11 ACC) back on Jan. 11, Louisville pulls off their third regular season sweep of the year, also doing it to Florida State and Virginia. It marks the first time that Louisville has swept at least three conference opponents in the same regular season since they did it to seven teams during the 2013-14 season as a member of the American.

Louisville was carried by Herculean efforts from Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards Jr., who combined for 60 of the Cards' points. Hepburn scored 37 points, which is tied for the seventh-most points in a single game by a Cardinal, and the most since Jordan Nwora also scored 37 on Jan. 20, 2020 vs. Boston College.

While Louisville shot 51.1 percent from the field and a blazing 11-of-21 on three-point attempts, they struggled to get much going outside of Edwards and Hepburn. The duo shot 17-of-24, while the rest of the Cardinals were 7-of-21.

Despite getting out-rebounded 38-35 and allowing 12 offensive rebounds, Louisville largely performed well on the defensive end. They held Pitt to just 36.5 percent shooting, and forced 12 turnovers for 17 points.

Both teams had trouble generating much of offensive rhythm for the majority of the first half. Louisville only hit five of their first 17 attempts from the floor, while Pitt started the contest shooting just 7-of-22. In fact, the visiting Panthers held a one-point lead with 5:36 left in the half.

Then the Cardinals - specifically Hepburn - exploded, making eight straight baskets. Edwards hit a layup, Reyne Smith drained a three, and then Hepburn proceeded to nail six consecutive three-pointers over the span of 4:06 - including four in 117 seconds.

Pitt also generated a little bit of momentum towards the end of the half, making six of their final nine shots of the half. However, Louisville still took a 39-33 lead into halftime.

Coming back from the break, it was Pitt who carried their end-of-half momentum into the second half. They started the half shooting 8-of-17, while forcing six Louisville turnovers in the period's first 12 minutes. With 7:39 left to go, the Panthers held a 62-59 edge.

After that, Louisville put the clamps down on their visitors. They forced Pitt to miss their next eight field goal attempts, with the Panthers going just 2-for-15 down the stretch after their start to the second half.

Add in the fact that the Cardinals committed zero turnovers over in the final eight minutes, shot 10-of-19 from the floor and go 18-of-25 at the line in the second half, they were able to end the game on a 20-6 run.

Next up, Louisville will host the two West Coast ACC newcomers to close out the regular season, starting with a matchup against Cal. Tip-off against the Golden Bears is scheduled for Wednesday, Mar. 5 at 9:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Noah Waterman, Jaland Lowe, James Scott: Jamie Rhodes - Imagn Images)

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