CHARLOTTE, N.C. – University of Louisville men’s basketball head coach Pat Kelsey was named ACC Coach of the Year, the league announced Monday evening. Senior point guard Chucky Hepburn was tabbed as Defensive Player of the Year and an All-ACC First Team selection while senior guard/forward was picked to the Third Team.
Kelsey is the first Louisville men’s basketball head coach to earn a conference Coach of the Year honor since Rick Pitino was named Conference USA Coach of the Year for the 2004-05 season.
Hepburn and Edwards Jr. become the seventh and eighth All-ACC selections in Louisville history. They join the likes of Carlik Jones (First Team, 2020-21), Jordan Nwora (Third Team, 2018-19; First Team; 2019-20), Donovan Mitchell (First Team, 2016-17); Damion Lee (Second Team, 2015-16); Terry Rozier (Second Team, 2014-15) and Montrezl Harrell (Second Team, 2014-15).
Hepburn’s pick to the ACC All-Defensive Team is the fourth time a Cardinal has been featured on the team. He joins Anas Mahmoud (2017-18), Donovan Mitchell (2016-17) and Chinanu Onuaku (2015-16). He is the first Cardinal to earn a league’s Defensive Player of the Year Award since the Gorgui Dieng earned the honor in the Big East in 2012-13.
Kelsey has led the Cardinals, originally selected ninth in the ACC Preseason Poll, to a 25-6 record in the regular season and a two-seed at the ACC Tournament beginning on Thursday, March 13.
The Cincinnati, Ohio, native has charted the largest improvement of any Division I team this season, turning the Cards around from a previous eight-win season, improving by 17 victories thus far. UofL is also one of the most improved teams in the country according to the 2023-24 end of the year NET to now. Kelsey is also on the Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year Watch List.
Hepburn regularly ranks in the top 20 in the country in total steals, steals per game, total assists and assists per game. He leads the ACC in steals per game at 2.43, earning his title as Defensive Player of the Year and his spot on the All-Defensive Team. He is third in the conference in assists per game, notching 5.87 on average, all while scoring 16.3 points per game.
The point guard has already broken two program records for Louisville: assists in a single game, dishing out 16 against SMU on Jan. 21, and made free throws in a single game, netting 17 against Florida State on Feb. 22. Hepburn has recorded six games of 20+ points, four of 5+ steals and two of 10+ assists.
Against Indiana on Nov. 27, Hepburn had 16 points, 10 assists and seven steals and is the only DI player with at least those marks since Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell did in on Dec. 31, 2022. Hepburn notably increased his scoring and assists production from his previous three seasons spent at Wisconsin. In addition to his All-ACC First Team selection, the Omaha, Neb., native is also a Naismith Player of the Year Midseason Team honoree.
Edwards Jr. earned his Third Team selection by averaging 15.8 points, 2.65 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. In league play alone, he increased on all of those marks, leading the Cardinals in scoring average at 16.9 points while adding in 3.05 assists and 4.4 boards per game.
The Atlanta native scored 16 points or more in nine of Louisville’s final 11 games, scoring a career-high 35 against California on March 5. He went 7 of 11 from the 3-point line that night. He logged six games of five or more assists on the year and is 12th in the league in field goal percentage, shooting 43.7% from the floor.
Louisville will play in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 13. The Cardinals will face either Virginia Tech, California or Stanford.
