By Harry Barsan

No. 13 Louisville fought hard but fell to the No. 1 Duke Blue Devils in the ACC championship.

Three points and a cloud of dust

Chucky Hepburn came out on fire, scoring the first seven points for the Cards. But Duke kept pace, with Khaman Maluach feasting in the paint and Kon Knueppel used the pick and roll to score a quick four points.

Then Isaiah Evens knocked down a three-pointer to give Duke a 7-11 lead. But Noah Waterman matched it with a layup and a three to give Louisville back the lead.

But Evens hit another three to take back the lead, and thus began Duke’s three-point barrage. Tyrese Proctor hit a three to give Duke a four-point lead.

Luckily for the Cards, Terrence Edwards Jr. was feeling it from deep and matched the Blue Devils more often than not from three.

After Proctor’s second three, James Scott tipped in a miss and Edwards scored a layup to cut the lead back down to one.

After J’Vonne Hadley tied up the game at 23-23, Louisville went shot-for-shot with Duke, matching their physicality.

Knueppel hit a layup to give Duke a two-point lead, then Louisville went on a 7-0 run to end the half.

The Cards enjoyed a 38-33 lead into the half, with Edwards leading all players with 15 points.

Three fouls and a growing hole

After a shot and a miss on Louisville’s first possession, Duke easily regained control in just two possessions.

But Edwards kept on firing with a three and a push shot to give the Cards the lead.

Despite Edwards’s strongest efforts, Duke tied it at 45-45 before the next break. Unfortunately, this would be the closest Louisville would ever return, as Duke would unleash a 10-0 run in just over a minute.

The Cards had time to recoup, though, giving Hepburn a quick bucket out of the break. The bucket cut the lead to eight, but another three from Proctor would send the lead right back up to double-digits.

At some point in the second half, Hepburn hurt his leg and was clearly not the same player. He was slower on both ends of the court, and became almost completely averse to handling the ball and initiating the offense.

As if it couldn’t get worse, Scott, Waterman and Hepburn picked up some costly fouls, giving them each their third. An already struggling Hepburn picked up his fourth with just over nine to go, and then Waterman only about a minute later.

Too many possessions came and went for the Cards. Routine alley-oops became turnovers and threes didn’t fall as time continued to run and Duke continued to score in the paint.

It took until around five to spare for Edwards to finally sink a three for the Cards, their first of the half since Edwards made one over 12 minutes prior.

Louisville stayed competitive enough to stick around, but not enough to make a push this late as it was seemingly impossible to break through the nine-point gap.

The Cards would fall 62-73.

A foul night overall

While the game was physical from start to finish, Duke was whistled for only 13 fouls compared to Louisville’s 19.

Despite just six more fouls, Duke got to the line for 14 more attempts, going 19-of-24 compared to Louisville’s 5-of-10.

It wasn’t just free throws that Duke outdid, but on field goals where they shot fewer shots with greater accuracy. Duke put up their 73 points on 37% from deep and 44% from the field.

Edwards took over as the top option from the tip, as he has done all tournament.

With Smith out and Hepburn playing hurt for much of the second half, Edwards took on the onus as he reached 29 points, having scored 20-plus in all three postseason games so far. He was the team’s three-production too, making 5-of-12.

The loss was disappointing for Louisville, but the bigger picture is fantastic.

While Louisville did not receive the automatic bid, they are almost assured to make the NCAA tournament field for the first time since 2019.

Louisville is now 27-7 before the Madness begins.

Photo Courtesy // Mallory Peak, Louisville Athletics