Louisville bests North Carolina, 83-70

The Cards kicked off the New Year in style Wednesday night.

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

The Louisville men’s basketball team began its most critical stretch of the season with a bang.

The Cardinals snapped a five-game losing streak to North Carolina with an 83-70 triumph Wednesday night inside the KFC Yum Center.

The win kicked off an 11-day span where U of L will face three of the four highest-ranked teams in the ACC according to the NET rankings. The fourth game during that stretch will come against Virginia in Charlottesville, a place where the Cards have yet to taste victory since joining the ACC a decade ago.

Game one of 2025 saw Chucky Hepburn, going up against the most well-known backcourt in the conference, steal the show. The Cardinal floor general was sensational, posting game-highs in both points (26) and assists (7). Against a UNC team that has struggled to stop straight line drives all season, Hepburn consistently played downhill, drawing 13 fouls and getting to the line for 20 free-throws.

Reyne Smith also played perhaps the best game of his young Louisville career. In addition to his 17 points, Smith secured five rebounds and also recorded a season-high three seals. His three-pointer in the game’s final minutes was the high point of a 10-0 run that saw U of L turn a 1-point advantage into a double-digit victory.

The closing sequence also brought about what could be a turning point for sophomore big man James Scott, who produced a dunk, an offensive rebound and a blocked shot to officially shut the door on any potential late-game heroics from the visitors.

Defensively, Louisville was pretty stellar for most of the night. The Cards didn’t allow North Carolina to burn them with their secondary break and forced the Tar Heels into shooting just 40.0 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from three.

Perhaps most impressive of all, Louisville won a game against a quality opponent on a night where they missed 14 free-throws and misfired on 20 of their 26 three-point attempts.

This was a gutsy as hell win by a group that seems to only be growing tighter as the season goes on.

Between this and the in-game commitment from 5-star PG Mikel Brown Jr., I’m not sure 2025 could be off to a better start.