It has been a long road back to relevance for Louisville basketball, but the Cardinals have now won 27 games in a season for the first time in a decade and are only two victories away from seizing their first ACC Tournament championship. The program as a whole has achieved a remarkable turnaround under ACC Coach of the Year Pat Kelsey, but Chucky Hepburn is the man of the hour on Thursday night.
The senior point guard scored the buzzer-beating mid-range jumper to give his team a 75-73 win over Stanford in the ACC quarterfinals. But this was not just your run-of-the-mill heroics. Louisville erased a 15-point deficit and built up an eight-point lead with less than two minutes left in the game, only to succumb to a Stanford surge. A Terrence Edwards Jr. misfire was recovered by the opposition, seemingly guaranteeing that overtime would occur.
Fans all across Northern California likely exhaled a bit too early, however. Conventional wisdom ceases to apply in the month of March. The Stanford rebounder, who appeared to absorb contact, lost or mistakenly tossed the ball. Either way, it ended up in the ready hands of Hepburn, who was fortuitously camping out near the free-throw line.
He proceeded to deliver simultaneous jubilation and despair, the kind of emotional blend that only permeates the atmosphere during this time of year. And the public is responding accordingly.
Fans react to wild Louisville-Stanford ending
“Chucky just standing there minding his business and a ball shows up,” @be_prosperous1 observed. “God, I love March!” @Hoosierfan515 commented. “That has to absolutely suck for Stanford,” @AchterhofReid said. “THIS. IS. MARCH.” @omsportsburner remarked. “Heartbreaking for Stanford,” @FireForbes noted. “They’re a really good team. The impact of the travel they’ve had all season shouldn’t go unnoticed.”
Chucky Hepburn was just 6-of-16 from the field and 3-of-11 on 3-point attempts, but he made the shot that mattered most. The ACC Defensive Player of the Year and Wisconsin transfer finished with 20 points and eight rebounds, while Edwards scored a game-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Louisville basketball will ride this momentum into the ACC Tournament semifinals, where it awaits the winner of Clemson and SMU.
The Cardinals will briefly relish this heart-stopping conclusion. They better hope they have thrills to spare for the remainder of March.
