Louisville Falls to Duke in ACC Tournament Championship

The Cardinals now wait for their NCAA Tournament draw on Selection Sunday.

Louisville point guard Chucky Hepburn (24) / via The ACC

This story will be updated.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Matched up with Duke in the ACC Tournament Championship, the Louisville men's basketball program was unable to pull off the upset, falling 73-62 on Saturday at the Spectrum Center.

The second-seeded and No. 13 AP-ranked Cardinals (27-7, 18-2 ACC) see their 11-game winning streak come to an end, and fail to avenge their regular season loss to the top-seeded and No. 1 AP-ranked Blue Devils (31-3, 19-1 ACC)

Neither team played at their full (relative) strength in the ACC title game. Duke didn't have Naismith Player of the Year frontrunner Cooper Flagg (ankle) or reserve forward Maliq Brown (shoulder), both of whom were injured this past Wednesday in their ACC opener. As for Louisville, Reyne Smith (ankle), one of the top three-point shooters in the nation, had to miss his fourth-straight game.

However, this attrition seemed to have a much more profound impact on Louisville. They shot the ball at just a 39.1 percent clip from the field - including 9-of-35 in the second half. Meanwhile, Duke shot it at 44.0 percent for the game and 10-of-22 after halftime.

The Blue Devils were also the more successful team beyond the arc (10-of-27 to Louisville's 7-of-26), at the free throw line (19-of-24 to UofL's 5-of-10).

Terrence Edwards Jr. dazzled in the loss, scoring 29 points on 12-of-29 shooting. While he set a career-high in field goal attempts, it was mainly due to the fact that the rest of the team was 13-for-35. Chucky Hepburn was the only other Cardinal to crack double figures scoring with 14, but even that came on a 5-of-16 effort - including 1-of-8 from deep.

It was a back-and-forth first half that featured five ties and eight lead changes, as neither team could gain much ground on the other. Both squads had similar opening flows, as Louisville hit seven of their first 11 shot attempts but hit just three of their next 10, while Duke opened up the game shooting 8-of-14, but hit just four of their final 14 tries of the half.

That being said, it was the Cardinals who had the momentum at halftime. After turning it over six times in the first 10 minutes, they committed none in the final 10, and drained six of their final eight attempts of the period. This led to a 7-0 run to end the half, and UofL went into the break with a 38-33 advantage.

But when the two teams returned to the floor, it was the other sideline who had the wind in their sails to start the half. Louisville hit just three of their first 15 shots of the period with a stretch of six straight misses, while Duke connected on seven of their first nine. This resulted in the Blue Devils going on a 24-9 run out of halftime, ballooning their lead to 10 with just over 11 minutes left.

While Duke cooled off significantly down the stretch, making only three of their final 13 shot attempts and not scoring a field goal in the final 5:12, at that point, exhaustion and foul trouble had already kicked in for Louisville. The Cardinals went just 6-for-20 during the final 11 minutes, eliminating any chance of a last minute comeback try.

Next up, Louisville awaits their draw for the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is set for Sunday, Mar. 16 at 6:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Chucky Hepburn via The ACC)

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