Louisville basketball secured a clutch win yesterday over SMU to advance to the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. The Cardinals were led by Ryan Conwell, who scored 16 points, including a huge 3-pointer that put Louisville up by 2 with under 90 seconds left.
Louisville basketball's win over SMU could silence NCAA Tournament seeding fears
Now, Louisville plays its second game in two days in the ACC Tournament and will play the Miami Hurricanes this afternoon. This marks the second time these two teams have played in six days, as Louisville beat Miami to end the regular season on Saturday. With the Hurricanes seeking revenge, the Vegas oddsmakers send a loud and clear message as the Cardinals are the favorites heading into this showdown.
Louisville basketball are favorites heading into quarterfinals
The Cardinals are 2.5-point favorites over the Hurricanes in this marquee quarterfinals matchup, according FanDuel. With the Cardinals being without star player Mikel Brown Jr., many fans might have expected Louisville to be the underdog heading into this matchup, as everyone knows how hard it is to beat a team twice. However, the oddsmakers liked what they saw on Saturday and yesterday and remain high on this Cardinals team, believing they are the clearly better team.
Miami is the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament after securing a 24-7 overall record and a 13-5 conference record, while Louisville is the No. 6 seed with a 23-9 record on the season. The Cardinals have already shown on Saturday that they can beat this Miami team without its 5-star freshman, but with the Canes likely fired up and seeking revenge, Louisville must play much better basketball this afternoon.
With the oddsmakers favoring Louisville after the Cardinals' thrilling win on Saturday, they are showing that even without Brown, they believe Louisville is the clear better team of the two programs and they can secure two wins over the Canes in six days.
For all the latest news and updates on Louisville basketball's 2025-26 season and recruiting, stay tuned.