Louisville Advances to ACC Semifinals with Dramatic Buzzer-Beater

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WDRB) – Chucky Hepburn made history for the Louisville Cardinals Thursday night, hitting a buzzer-beater to secure a nail-biting 75-73 victory over the Stanford Cardinal in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament quarterfinals at the Spectrum Center. This marks Louisville’s first appearance in the ACC semifinals.

With just seconds left on the clock and Louisville trailing by a point, Hepburn grabbed a chaotic rebound at the elbow and released a jumper as time expired. The shot sent the Cardinals to their tenth consecutive win and improved their record to 26-6 for the season.

“The basketball gods giveth and they taketh away,” said Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. We got the deflection, the ball somehow landed in Chucky’s hands and he hit the shot.”

Terrence Edwards led Louisville with 25 points while Hepburn added 20 points and 8 assists. The win came after a difficult second half where Louisville found itself down by 15 points following an 11-0 run by Stanford.

“We had them discombobulated there a little bit, but they’re just relentless,” Stanford coach Kyle Smith said. “And it was hard to keep them there.”

Louisville initially struggled to find their rhythm in the first half, trailing 33-30 at halftime—the first time they had been behind at intermission in an ACC game this season. However, the Cardinals began the second half sluggishly, allowing Stanford to build a 15-point lead.

Despite facing adversity, Louisville rallied back with a 16-3 run to tie the game at 60 with 7:41 left. In the closing stages, the two teams exchanged leads, leading to an intense finish. With 32 seconds left, Stanford tied the game at 73-73, forcing Louisville to set up for their final possession.

During the timeout, Kelsey urged his players to maintain composure. “We knew we were going to walk them down some type of way,” Edwards said.

Louisville’s comeback was propelled by key plays from Hepburn and Edwards, who were instrumental in the game’s final moments. Hepburn’s three-pointer with 3:35 left put the Cardinals up 68-65, but the late turnover and subsequent point-blank put-back by Stanford tied the game and set up Hepburn’s dramatic moment.

Ultimately, Louisville’s season has been marked by resilience, showcasing an impressive turnaround since the previous year, when they won only eight games. Kelsey, in his first year as head coach, has now matched the best record of any first-year coach in Louisville history.

The Cardinals will face the Clemson Tigers in the ACC semifinals Friday night at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2.