ACC Tournament Championship Preview: #1 Duke Blue Devils (30-3, 19-1 ACC) vs. #13 Louisville Cardinals (27-6, 18-2 ACC)

ACC Tournament Final

#1 Duke Blue Devils (30-3, 19-1 ACC) vs. #13 Louisville Cardinals (27-6, 18-2 ACC)

 Saturday, March 15 • 8:30 p.m. ET

Spectrum Center (20,200) • Charlotte, N.C.

TV: ESPN

Radio: Blue Devil Sports Network from LEARFIELD

The Duke Blue Devils and Louisville Cardinals will face off in the ACC Tournament Championship at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. The Blue Devils have won 26 of their last 27 games since late November, while Louisville has won 21 of its last 22 contests since mid-December – a combined record of 47-2.

TV/Video Stream ESPN
Play-by-Play Dave O’Brien
Analyst Cory Alexander
Analyst Dick Vitale
Reporter Angel Gray
Producer Kim Belton

Radio Blue Devil Sports Network
Play-by-Play David Shumate
Analyst John Roth
Engineer John Rose
In Durham 96.5

Overall Duke leads, 16-9
In Durham, NC Duke leads, 5-3
at Cameron Indoor Stadium Duke leads, 5-3
In Louisville, KY Duke leads, 6-4
at KFC Yum! Center Duke leads, 5-3
Neutral Sites Duke leads, 5-2
Last Meeting Duke 76, @Louisville 65 (Dec. 8, 2024)

Louisville, in year one of the Pat Kelsey era, has made significant strides toward bringing the Cardinals back to relevance in the ACC and nationally. Louisville finished the season with a conference record of 18-2, good for the 3rd seed in the ACC Tournament, their overall record currently sits at 27-6. Louisville tops the ACC and ranks 23rd in the nation with 28.6 three-point attempts per game, and ranks second in the league and 43rd nationally with 9.5 three-pointers per game. Louisville is third in the ACC in rebound margin (4.2) and scoring Margin (10.3). The Cardinals have won 21 of their last 22 games since

Senior guard Chucky Hepburn leads the ACC and ranks seventh in the country with 80 steals, and tops the Cardinals with 16.3 points and 5.9 assists per game. Fellow senior guard Reyne Smith tops the ACC and ranks third in the nation with 3.5 three-pointers per outing, and is the team’s third-leading scorer at 13.4 points per contest.

Terrence Edwards has led the way for the Cardinals in the tournament so far, averaging 23.5 points per game. Louisville’s leading scorer on the season, Chucky Hepburn, for the tournament is averaging 16 points per game, right at about his season average. Hepburn is also averaging 6.5 assists per game in the ACC Tournament. 6th year senior Noah Waterman have averaged 7 rebounds per game in the tournament and is shooting 50% from beyond the arc for the Cardinals.

Duke leads the nation in scoring margin (+21.1) and ranks fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.77), fifth in effective field goal percentage (.574), seventh in field goal percentage defense (.386), seventh in scoring defense (61.9), ninth in rebound margin (+8.4), 14th in scoring offense (83.0), 16th in assists per game (16.9), 20th in three-point percentage (.377), 17th in field goal percentage (.489) and 22nd in three-pointers per game (10.1) – all top marks in the ACC. Duke leads the ACC in scoring offense (83.0) and scoring defense (61.9), and could become the first team in ACC history to lead the conference in both categories. Duke is the only team in the country ranked among the top-three in both offensive (1st) and defensive (3rd) raw efficiency, according to KenPom. Duke is the only Division I team to score 80 points or more per game (83.0) and hold its opponents to fewer than 62 points per game (61.9). Duke’s 10 conference wins +25 points are the most by any team in a season in ACC history.

With 17 points on Friday, Kon Knueppel is averaging 18.1 points in the last seven games, connecting on 45-of-83 (.542) from the field and 19-of-38 (.500) from long range. Khaman Maluach has 62 dunks this season, compared to just 53 combined by Duke foes. His 62 slams are the sixth-most by a Blue Devil in a season.

PG Sion James 6’6, 220lbs – Grad Transfer
SG Tyrese Proctor 6’6, 183lbs – Junior
SG Isaiah Evans 6’6,  175 lbs – Freshman
SF Kon Knueppel 6’7, 217lbs – Freshman
C Khaman Maluach 7’2, 250lbs – Freshman

G Chucky Hepburn 6’2, 190lbs – Senior
G J’Vonne Hadley 6’6, 215lbs – 5th Year Senior
F Terrence Edwards Jr. 6’6, 205lbs – 5th Year Senior
F James Scott 6’11, 220lbs – Sophomore
F Noah Waterman 6’11, 230lbs – 6th Year

Louisville is obviously not the team that any of us saw last season. New team, new identity, and are now a program that ACC Coach of the Year Pat Kelsey has breathed new life into. The mission for the Blue Devils is to play much better defensively. Duke’s defense was lackluster against the Tar Heels in the second half of their semifinal game. Duke allowed the Tar Heels to score 47 second half points, aided by a multitude of Duke turnovers that led to Carolina run outs. Valuing the ball for the Blue Devils will go a long way toward forcing the Cardinals to play against a set defense which favors the Blue Devils. Obviously missing their 2 best defenders, one would hope that the staff makes some adjustments for this game, one improvement would be utilizing some drop coverage to keep Duke’s bigs in a better position to be effective. Duke also must defend without fouling, assuming both teams will be playing on tired legs, one would expect the majority of points to come in the paint. The Blue Devils did not do a very good job of defending the UNC in the paint without fouling, leading to a multitude of and-1 opportunities. Jon Scheyer must figure out a way to better defend the paint without Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown to help.