6) Louisville Cardinals (22-9, 11-7) vs. 11) SMU Broncos (20-12, 8-10)
ACC Tournament Second Round
Game time: (approximately) 2:30 p.m.
Place: Spectrum Center: Charlotte, NC
television: ESPN
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announcer: Kevin Brown (play-by-play) and Jay Williams (analysis)
Favorite: Louisville 6.5
series: Louisville leads 10-3
Last meeting: SMU wins 95-85 in Dallas on February 17
Series history:
Expected starting lineup:
Louisville
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G Adrian Woolley (6-4, 200, So.)
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G Isaac McNeely (6-4, 195, Sr.)
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G Ryan Cornwell (6-4, 215, Sr.)
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F J’Vonne Hadley (6-7, 210, Sr.)
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C Vangelis Zougris (6-8, 240, Jr.)
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G Boopee Miller (6-0, 175, Sr.)
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G Jaylen Pierre Jr. (6-5, 210, Sr.)
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F Corey Washington (6-6, 190, Sr.)
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C Jaden Toombs (6-10, 230, Fr.)
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C Samet Yigitoglu (7-2, 270, So.)
Statistics:
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SMU season so far:
SMU team table:
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Familiarity won’t be an issue for Louisville in the ACC Tournament opener, as the Cardinals will face off against an SMU team they’ve already met twice this season, most recently on Feb. 17. The two teams were evenly matched in the regular season series, with Louisville winning 14 games at home and losing 10 in Dallas.
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SMU will head into a second-round game in Charlotte on Tuesday after defeating Syracuse by 17 points but still clinching a spot in the NCAA tournament. SB Nation’s Chris Dobbertean currently has the Broncos as one of the final four teams in the 68-game field, and he’s not the only one giving Andy Enfield’s team that honor. It goes without saying that beating Louisville in Quad1A would be a huge boost for SMU.
Louisville fans should know by now that offense is the top priority for this Broncos team. SMU ranks among the top of the ACC in offensive scoring (85.0, 2nd in ACC, 20th in NCAA), assists (17.1, 3rd in ACC, 30th in NCAA), fast break points (12.2, 1st in ACC, 87th in NCAA), field goal percentage (49.3%, 3rd in ACC, 22nd in NCAA), and three-point field goal percentage. (37.8%, 2nd in ACC, 23rd in NCAA) and free throw percentage (74.2%, 5th in ACC).
The leader remains the senior guard Bubbie Miller (Averaging 19.5 points/6.5 assists per game), was selected to the ACC All-Pro second team. Miller stands just 6-foot-0 and is dynamic with the ball in his hands. He’s a scoring threat from anywhere on the floor and is one of the best distributors in the ACC. He ranks in the top 20 in the ACC in steals per game (1.8), but can easily be caught gambling (see Chucky’s performance against him last season or Mikel’s second-half performance last month).
Miller is a very capable outside shooter (43.2 percent), but his game is declining in intensity, either scoring inside the arc or getting to the free throw line, where he’s shooting close to 90 percent. Miller is also one of the most clutch players in college basketball, having won many games with buzzer-beating buzzer-beaters. If this game gets close down the stretch, there’s no doubt who SMU will be counting on to save the day.
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Miller needed some backcourt help last season, so after the season, Enfield went out and acquired a transfer from Jacksonville State Jalen Pierreone of the most coveted guards in the portal. Pierre was the nation’s fourth-leading scorer a year ago and has had zero trouble adjusting to the ACC level. He has scored 20 or more points in three of SMU’s last four games and entered Wednesday afternoon averaging 17.6 points per game this season.
Not only is Pierre one of the best hard shot creators in the country, but he’s also one of the most athletic guards in the country.
Pierre is the perfect combo guard to play alongside Miller. He’s an excellent three-point shooter (37.0 percent), but his real strength is using his athleticism to drive past opponents and finish strong at the rim. Pierre isn’t asked to be a playmaker for others like he was at JSU, but he’s a capable enough passer to deserve respect. He’s also a good rebounder for his size. Like Miller, he is a player who is more offensive than defensive. He can (and I think will) get attacked when Louisville gets the ball, like he has in the first two games.
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senior security guard BJ Edwards (12.7 ppg/4.9 apg) missed SMU’s last four games with an ankle injury and his status was unknown Wednesday afternoon. Edwards is an “ok” outside shooter in his career. He shot 37.2% from three-point range this season and has made at least one three-pointer in 11 consecutive games. While his offensive numbers are all up, the strength of his game has always been his defense. Edwards was the third runner-up for ACC Defensive Player of the Year and currently leads the league with 2.3 steals per game. He didn’t score particularly well in either of his first two games against Louisville, but he had three steals in both games.
Samet YigitogluThe 7-foot-2 center from Turkey improved significantly during his sophomore season. He averaged 11.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game and was an efficient rim protector, averaging 1.3 blocks per game. Igitoglu isn’t very skilled or mobile, but if you get him the ball in or near the paint, he becomes a very capable scorer. He’s 11-for-16 in two games against Louisville, and while the Cards did a better job guarding him in the second round… that’s about the only thing they did better defensively in the second round.
With Edwards out, Enfield chose two centers in the starting lineup and inserted a rookie big man. Jaden Toomes (Averaging 7.6 points/4.1 rebounds per game) Entering the starting five. Toombs had a stellar performance against Syracuse, finishing with 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in the middle of the orange zone. As Toombs’ playing time increases, it becomes more difficult to keep Southern Methodist off the offensive glass.
senior forward Corey Washington (11.3 points per game) can destroy any defense that focuses too much on slowing down Miller and Pierre Jr. Louisville learned this firsthand three weeks ago when Washington scored 18 points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field against the Cards.
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Depth will be a concern for SMU if Edwards is unable to play again on Wednesday. In the win over Syracuse, Enfield came off the bench with just three players, and those three combined for zero points in 21 minutes. Even though SMU is a pretty good penalty-shooting team, a tight game could work in the Cards’ favor.
While SMU shoots very well from 3-point range (37.6%, 24th nationally), they are generally very picky about their outside shots. Where they really excel is scoring in transition and attacking the rim in the half court. Knowing this, Louisville went toe-to-toe with the Broncos’ shooters on the first play in an attempt to cut off their offensive line, and Southern Methodist soon went crazy from the outside. The Cards adjusted three points in the next 20 minutes to limit the point difference to 27 points. They tried a similar approach in the second round, with the Broncos lighting them up from beyond the arc.
This offense is as dangerous as any ACC team outside of Duke, but if you’re reading this you almost certainly already know that. Without Mikel Brown Jr., the Cards will need to shoot like they did Saturday against Miami if they want to get through at least one more night in Charlotte.
It is worth noting:
— Louisville is 4-5 in ACC tournament openers.
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— Since joining the Conference USA in 1995-96, Louisville is 18-10 in its first conference tournament across C-USA, Big East, American and ACC.
— Louisville is 5-9 in the ACC Tournament, the first year the team has won multiple games in the tournament.
— SMU went 1-1 in its first ACC Tournament (2025), beating Syracuse 73-53 in the second round before losing to Clemson 57-54 in the quarterfinals.
—The Broncos have won three conference championships in their history (1988 Southwest, 2015 American, 2017 American).
— Louisville has reached at least the quarterfinals in 11 of its past 15 conference tournament appearances.
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–Never in the history of college basketball has a team lost in its first conference tournament and then gone on to win the NCAA Tournament. Every national champion has advanced to at least one conference tournament semifinal.
—SMU has lost 16 of its last 18 games against AP-ranked opponents, including a loss to Louisville on Jan. 31. The Broncos are 2-5 against teams ranked in the top 25 this season, with one win and one loss to the Cardinals.
— Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey compiled an 18-4 record in conference tournaments and led his teams to five conference championships. Kelce has won eight of the last nine conference tournament games he has coached.
—SMU head coach Andy Enfield has a 15-12 conference tournament record and one conference tournament title.
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—SMU upset No. 2 Louisville in the 1967 NCAA Midwest Regional (Lawrence, Kan.), becoming the highest-ranked opponent SMU had ever defeated.
— Louisville leads at halftime and is 39-4 under head coach Pat Kelsey.
–Louisville is 0-9 under head coach Pat Kelsey when trailing by five or more points at halftime.
— Louisville has won four of its last 15 conference tournament games but hasn’t won a league game since 2014.
— Louisville averages 85.8 points per game, ranking 17th in college basketball.
— Louisville is averaging 11.9 3-pointers per game, the most in the ACC and fourth-most nationally.
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— So far this season, Louisville is 12-1 in games played on Saturdays and just 10-8 in games played on any other day of the week.
— For the first time ever, Louisville topped the 100-point mark six times in a season.
— Louisville, which improved to 48-0 under head coach Pat Kelsey, took the lead with five minutes remaining. Led by Kelce, the Cardinals still trailed 0-17 with five minutes remaining.
— Louisville has a 14-0 record over the past 11 seasons while holding opponents to no more than one 3-pointer.
— Louisville is 122-0 all-time when scoring more than 100 points in non-overtime games.
–Louisville has won 167 consecutive games holding opponents to under 50 points.
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Ken Pomeroy predicts: Louisville 87, SMU 81
