Chucky Hepburn recorded 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals on Saturday, as No. 14 Louisville earned a 68-48 win over visiting Stanford in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Terrence Edwards Jr. also scored 16 points while J’Vonne Hadley finished with 11 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinals (25-6, 18-2 ACC), who finished the regular season with their ninth consecutive win.
If No. 2 Duke loses at North Carolina and No. 11 Clemson beats Virginia Tech, Louisville will clinch the ACC regular season championship. The Cardinals finished last in the conference the previous two seasons.
Stanford (19-12, 11-9) was led by Maxime Raynaud’s 17-point, 11-rebound performance — his nation-leading 23rd double-double of the season. The Cardinal, who lost their second straight game, shot just 30.4 percent from the field to Louisville’s 44.3 percent clip.
After trailing by 15 at halftime, Stanford pulled within 12 on Raynaud’s second 3-pointer at the 16:38 mark. Stanford then cut its deficit to 41-33 on Ryan Agarwal’s triple with 12:51 remaining.
From there, James Scott’s dunk followed by Edwards and Noah Waterman’s 3-pointers then pushed Louisville’s cushion to 49-33 midway through the second half. Agarwal’s layup and a pair of Chisom Okpara baskets trimmed Stanford’s margin to 10 with 7:37 remaining.
Still holding a 10-point edge with 4:30 left, Louisville finished the game on a 13-3 run — including Hepburn’s four straight points and walk-on Cole Sherman’s triple to seal the win.
After Jaylen Blakes’ 3-pointer and Agarwal’s layup cut Stanford’s early deficit to 15-10, Edwards’ triple and Hepburn’s layup began Louisville’s 14-1 run, extending the Cardinals’ lead to 29-11 with 5:04 left.
Oziyah Sellers’ much-needed trey pulled Stanford within 15, before his second triple cut the Cardinal’s deficit to 31-17 with just under three minutes left.
Khani Rooths’ dunk sent Louisville into halftime with a 33-18 lead. Stanford connected on just 6 of its 30 field goal attempts (20 percent), while Louisville shot 39.4 percent, and made all five of its free throw attempts.
–Field Level Media
