It has been two months since No. 25 Louisville faced Florida State. On Saturday, a far different Cardinals team hosts the rematch between the Atlantic Coast Conference schools.
The Cardinals’ 90-76 win on Dec. 21 in Tallahassee launched a 10-game winning streak that made Louisville (20-6, 13-2) the talk of college basketball for most of January. Having won 14 of their last 15, the Cardinals share second place in the ACC with Clemson and can claim a double-bye in next month’s conference tournament if they win three of their last five regular-season games.
Speaking to reporters during the ACC weekly coaches’ conference call on Monday, a day after winning 75-60 at Notre Dame, first-year coach Pat Kelsey made the team’s focus clear — even as the school likely will earn its first NCAA Tournament bid in six years.
“We never, ever, ever talk about that ever,” Kelsey said. “I say it all the time: Our sole focus is the most important thing in the history of our program, which is the next thing we do.”
Chucky Hepburn scored 16 points, dished out six assists and added three steals in Sunday’s win at Notre Dame. The Wisconsin transfer leads the ACC in steals with 59 and ranks second in assists with 6.2 per game. He also averages a team-high 15.0 points with Terrence Edwards Jr. (14.8), Reyne Smith (14.3) and J’Vonne Hadley (12.4) right behind. Smith, whose 100 3-pointers lead all major-conference players, went 6-for-9 from beyond the arc in a 27-point performance at Florida State (16-10, 7-8).
Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton believes the Cardinals have improved since the two teams played. After his team’s 74-66 win Wednesday over Miami, he told reporters he thinks Louisville will be a tough team to face in the NCAA Tournament.
“It (Saturday’s game) really gives us an opportunity to go play against one of the better teams in the country, and we got to do everything we can to take advantage of that opportunity,” Hamilton said.
Getting Malique Ewin to duplicate his performance against the Hurricanes would help the Seminoles’ chances. The sophomore hit all 10 of his shots and posted a career-high 24 points in Wednesday’s win. The sophomore forward’s 58.1 field-goal percentage leads the conference and his 14.2-point scoring average ranks second on the team to Jamir Watkins’ 17.9 points per game.
Watkins scored 25 against Louisville in December, but the Seminoles could not overcome Louisville’s 15-for-29 shooting from the 3-point line. The 15 are the most they have allowed this season, and Louisville is the only team to shoot better than 50 percent from beyond the arc on the Seminoles.
Because Hamilton announced he will resign at the end of this season, Saturday’s game likely will be the last one he coaches in Kentucky. This resonates because the 76-year-old Hamilton joined Joe B. Hall’s staff as an assistant with the Kentucky Wildcats in 1974 and stayed there through 1986, when he got his first head coaching job at Oklahoma State. Hamilton also was the head coach at Miami and with the NBA’s Washington Wizards before taking over the Florida State program in 2002.
–Field Level Media
