Stanford Men's Basketball Loses Heartbreaker to Louisville

Stanford men's basketball had one heck of a run in their first ACC tournament. On Wednesday, they knocked off rival Cal for the third time this season, and on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the tourney, they lost on a buzzer-beater from Louisville's Chucky Hepburn, giving the Cardinals the win over the Cardinal, 75-73.

Stanford held a slim three-point lead at the half, 33-30, and ballooned that to as many as 15 in the first five minutes of the second half. After these two programs played on Saturday, with Stanford dropping the regular season finale by 20, holding a 15-point lead was a huge swing.

The big momentum shift came with 13:34 remaining in the game. Terrence Edwards Jr. drove to the basket, and connected to trim the lead to 52-41, but on that play Stanford's best player, Maxime Raynaud, was called for his fourth foul of the game and had to be subbed out of the game.

With Raynaud out, Louisville was able to mount their comeback. The 7-foot-1 Frenchman made his return at the 9:33 mark, good for just over four minutes of game time missed, at which point the Cardinals had trimmed the deficit to 57-53.

Less than two minutes later, the game was tied at 60.

It would remain close, with the teams exchanging makes, but Louisville began to pull away with just over three minutes to play and holding a five point lead of their own. That would grow to as many as eight points with 1:56 on the clock after a made free throw from Hepburn.

Redshirt sophomore Ryan Agarwal would hit a triple, and Oziyah Sellers would knock down a pair of free throws to bring the score to 73-70, and Chisom Okpara would steal the next Louisville possession, laying it in for an easy two, plus knocking down the free throw on the and-one to tie the game at 73.

The one issue was that there was still 32 seconds on the clock, giving Louisville the final possession.

Stanford's defense held strong after a timeout at the 27 second mark, keeping the Cardinals from getting a good look for the duration of the shot clock. With three seconds on the clock, Edwards launched a deep three, which clanked off the backboard and hit the rim.

Stanford swarmed the ball, but it squirted out to Hepburn, who put up a shot immediately, and it dropped to seal the win of the Cardinals.

The win for Louisville punches their first-ever ticket to the semifinals of the ACC tournament.

CHUCKY CALLED GAME!!!!

DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!? WOWOWOWOW 🤯🤯🤯

📺 @LouisvilleMBB x ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/Na8sGS74go
— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) March 14, 2025

Hepburn and Edwards led the way for the Cardinals, scoring 20 and 25.

For Stanford, this was a total team effort. After losing to this same team by 20 points just five days ago, this game showed some of the coaching ability of Kyle Smith. Stanford was able to hold Louisville to 68 in that first matchup, which was their second-lowest point total of the season. While they allowed 75 in this one, the defense did a great job for most of this one too.

It's hard to keep a team down two games in a row, and Stanford was able to do just that. Louisville averaged 79.3 points per game in the regular season.

Raynaud finished with 17 points and five rebounds in just 23 minutes in this one. Oziyah Sellers was feeling it, shooting 7-of-12 from the field, which included 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. He finished with 22 points, leading the Cardinal, and added four rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

Chisom Okpara added ten points, six rebounds, and two steals, while Ryan Agarwal put up 11 points, five rebounds and three assists. Aidan Cammann blocked three shots and finished with a +5 on the day.

This was the type of game that Stanford needed to play to have a chance in this one, getting contributions from up and down the roster while continuing their stout defense against a tough Cardinals program.

While they came out on the losing end in this one, it showed some promise for the future of the Stanford men's basketball program, even without their star player in the mix next year.