Louisville Suffocates Stanford in Regular Season Finale

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hosting Stanford for the final game of the 2024-25 regular season, the Louisville men's basketball program was able to overcome not having one of their best offensive weapons, winning 68-48 on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center for Senior Day.

The No. 14 Cardinals (25-6, 18-2 ACC) extend their winning streak to nine games, having not lost since being dealt a 77-70 defeat at Georgia Tech back on Feb. 1. With the win over the Cardinal (19-12, 11-9 ACC), first year head coach Pat Kelsey has now won as many games as Louisville has in their previous three season combined.

Louisville was forced to face Stanford without their best outside shooter. After suffering an ankle game in the previous game vs. Cal, Reyne Smith - who leads the ACC in made threes - was ruled out in the contest against the Cardinal.

As expected, Louisville had their worst three-point shooting game of the year, going just 5-of-22 from deep for their fewest makes of the season. They also shot just 44.3 percent from the field for their lowest shooting percentage since a 43.3 percent showing on Jan. 18 vs. Virginia.

That being said, suffocating defense was the reason that the Cardinals took home a resounding win over the Cardinal with no S. They held Stanford to just 30.4 percent shooting - the third-lowest by a Louisville opponent this season.

Louisville also snapped their three-game of losing the rebounding battle, out-rebounding Stanford 40-to-33 while scoring 42 points in the paint.

Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards Jr. both scored 16 points and logged four assists, while J'Vonne Hadley added 11 points and a team-best nine rebounds.

Louisville got off to a very explosive start against Stanford. They made seven of their first 11 attempts from the field, using an early 13-0 run to set the tone and go up 15-5 roughly six-and-a-half minutes into the game. The Cardinals did cool off some throughout the remainder of the opening half, only connecting on six of their next 22 tries before halftime.

However, UofL's defense is what blew the game open against the Cardinal. After making two of their first three shots, Stanford went on to shoot just 4-for-27 in the rest of the first half - including a stretch where they missed 11 straight - and commit seven turnovers to give Louisville a 33-18 advantage at halftime.

After the break, despite the horrific shooting half, it was Stanford who had the momentum. They hit six of their first 11 attempts of the period, including a 3-of-5 mark on threes, trimming the Louisville lead to just eight and forcing Kelsey to burn a timeout at the 12:44 mark.

The Cardinals' defense then kicked back into gear, forcing their visitors to miss their next six shot attempt, and use that as a spring board to go on an 8-0 run to go back up 16 with under 11 minutes to go.

While Stanford was able to close out the game hitting five of their final nine shots, Louisville made up for it with a steady stream of shooting in the second half. They shot 14-for-28 in the period, and didn't miss more than three shots in a row during this half.

Next up, Louisville will head to Charlotte, N.C. for the ACC Tournament next week. The Cardinals have already clinched a top-three seed in the tournament, and their first opponent will be determined later this evening.

(Photo of Terrence Edwards Jr.: Jamie Rhodes - Imagn Images)

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