With the way Louisville stormed the Cassell (Coliseum) in the opening minutes against Virginia Tech Tuesday night it was difficult to fathom that the Cardinals would need some last-minute heroics and a defensive stop to escape with a 71-66 victory.
But that's what happened after U of L's scorching start produced a 16-3 lead in the first 5 1/2 minutes before the game turned into a nip-and-tuck affair for the final 11 1/2 minutes.
The No. 19 Cards' 17th win in their last 18 games boosted their record to 22-6 overall and 15-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, as well as clinching a double bye in the league tournament next month. They also finished with a school-best 9-1 record on the road in the ACC
It wasn't pretty -- at one point U of L missed 15 of 16 3-pointers while their once seemingly safe lead was shrinking -- but who's complaining? Certainly not their coach.
"I give our kids a lot of credit for just being resilient, being gritty, being grimy," Pat Kelsey said. "Because that's kind of the type of game it was tonight. And I like to think that good teams just figure out a way to win those type of games. We haven't had had a lot of games like that, you know, that come down to situational basketball and things like that in quite a while. So I think it was really good for us."
Terrence Edwards Jr., James Scott and J'Vonne Hadley all made key plays at crunch time after the Hokies (12-16, 7-10) had tied the score twice in the final 10 1/2 minutes and on one possession missed four shots that would have given them the lead.
Edwards hit back-to-back 3-pointers to help hold Virginia Tech at bay, Scott scored on a follow-up dunk on Chucky Hepburn's miss with 59 seconds remaining and U of L clinging to a 67-66 lead. Then the Cards came up with two defensive stops, the final one coming when Hadley stripped the ball from Brandon Rechsteiner with seven seconds left and the Hokies trying to work for a game-winning-or-tying shot. Hadley immediately got the ball to Reyne Smith, who was fouled and hit two free throws for the final margin.
"Our coaching staff told us to switch and put James Scott on their point guard and it worked," Hadley said. "Some games you don't shoot well and you have to find a way to win, and we did. We found a way to keep fighting and being aggressive."
Hepburn led Louisville with 15 points and six assists. Edwards and Scott both finished with 13 points and Hadley had 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Scott hit 6-of-7 shots, all layups or dunks.
The Cards connected on just 6-of-23 shots from distance for 26.1%, but outscored Virginia Tech 44-24 in the paint and had 26 points off 22 Hokie turnovers. Tech scored 33 points from beyond the arc on 11-of-26 treys (48.5%), with Rechsteiner hitting 6-of-10 for a game-high 18 points.
"Our guys responded, got a bunch of stops," Kelsey said. "Our defense really carried us, especially down the stetch, on a day when we didn't shoot it well from three. We were six for a million from three I think and conversely, they did shoot it very well. They shot too high a percentage from three, but our activity on defense, turning them over, tenacity of deflecting the ball, things like that, were really big."
U of L will host Pittsburgh at 5 p.m. Saturday for the first of three consecutive home games to end the regular season.
Louisville's Terrence Edwards Jr. (5) lays in two during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, in Blacksburg, Va. (AP Photo/Robert Simmons)
