LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In its regular season finale on Saturday afternoon, the University of Louisville men's basketball team defeated Stanford 68-48 on Senior Day at the KFC Yum! Center.
The Cards improve to 25-6 on the season and 18-2 in ACC play, while the Cardinal fall to 19-12 and 11-9 against conference opponents. Louisville advances to 25 wins in the regular season for the first time since the 2009 season.
Chucky Hepburn finished with 16 points and four steals in the win. Terrence Edwards Jr. added 16 points and J’Vonne Hadley posted double figures with 11 points and nine rebounds to finish their regular season play.
“It was a magical day,” said head coach Pat Kelsey. “It was special. The atmosphere was unbelievable. We honored a phenomenal group of young men that have done a lot to lift up this city and to reestablish the Louisville basketball brand, which as we all know, its rightful place, is amongst the best teams in the country. I give the crowd today so much credit for, obviously, the impact they had in the game, their belief in us, I thought, the fact that they stayed, and it seemed like everybody was there. I mean, it was packed afterwards for that ceremony, and that meant a lot to those guys. It meant a lot to me as a head coach. Our sole focus is on the ACC. But when you look back over that journey, it's been a fun one with a really, really special group of men and women as part of our 25 strong, and I'm blessed to be their coach.”
The Cards started the game off with a bang, in the first two minutes Hepburn stole the ball and passed it off to James Scott, making his 69th dunk of the season to put the first points on the board. Louisville's offense made a stand, forcing Stanford to call an early timeout at the 13:53 mark due to an 11-0 scoring run. The Cards held the Cardinal to a 16-point lead at the under-12 media timeout.
With just over five minutes remaining in the first half, Hepburn muscled his way into the paint for a layup. Edwards Jr. had an assist to Khani Rooths who converted a dunk to end the half.
Louisville went into halftime with a 33-18 lead for the 20th straight game, matching the program record set from Jan. 5, 1981, to Jan. 7, 1982. Hepburn led the team in the first half with 12 points and shooting 55% from the field. The Cards forced the Cardinal to more turnovers (7) than made field goals (6) in the first half. Overall, the Cards dominated with 24 rebounds and five steals.
Stanford bounced back with a 6-0 scoring run in the middle of the second half closing the gap to just 10 points. Edwards Jr. responded with a fast break and a made layup to get the Cards' momentum back underway. James Scott made an alley-oop dunk with the assist from Chucky. Hepburn made a turnaround jumper to finish off the regular season for the Cards, leaving the KFC Yum! Center with a 68-48 victory.
The Cards shot 27-61 (44.3%) from the field, 5-22 (22.7%) from long range, and an impressive 9-10 (90.0%) from the charity stripe in the win. Louisville outrebounded Stanford 40-33 and forced 12 Cardinal turnovers in the game.
After the buzzer, Coach Pat Kelsey and Card Nation celebrated the 2024-25 senior class for the last home game of the regular season. Terrence Edwards Jr., Reyne Smith, Chucky Hepburn, Aboubacar Traore, Aidan McCool and Noah Waterman were all honored at the senior day ceremony for their tremendous dedication and hard work throughout their time as a Louisville Cardinal.
Louisville will head to Charlotte, N.C. to play in the ACC Championship at the Spectrum Center. The Cardinals have a double bye in the tournament and are scheduled to play their next game on Thursday, March 13. The opponent, game time, and broadcast are still to be determined.
