Louisville men’s basketball will begin their play in the 2023 New York Life ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament as the No. 15 seed on Tuesday, March 7th, where they will face the 10th-seeded Boston College at 4:30 p.m. ET in Greensboro, N.C. The game will be televised on the ACC Network.
The Cardinals finished the regular season on Saturday with a 75-60 loss at No. 13/12 Virginia, which resulted in a final record of 4-27. Boston College ended their regular season with a 73-65 loss at home to Georgia Tech and a record of 15-16.
Louisville has a 10-5 all-time record against Boston College, but they suffered a 75-65 loss in Chestnut Hill on January 25th. However, the Cardinals have won nine of the last eleven matchups, and the two teams have never met in the ACC Tournament.
Since joining Conference USA in 1995-96, Louisville has had a successful first conference tournament game across C-USA, the Big East, the American, and the ACC, with a record of 17-8. The Cardinals have a 5-2 record in first-round conference tournament games since 1996, and they won their only first-round game in the ACC Tournament last year against Georgia Tech. Louisville has a 3-6 overall record in the ACC Tournament since joining the league.
Senior guard El Ellis has been one of the key players for the Cardinals, averaging 20.9 points per game over the last seven games, shooting 48% from the field, 35% from 3, and 87% from the free-throw line. Ellis has had a positive or even assist-to-turnover ratio in 17 of the last 22 games after having a positive or even ratio just three times in the first nine games of the season. In his last 17 games since 2023 began, he has 77 assists against just 52 turnovers.
Junior forward JJ Traynor has also played an important role for Louisville in the last six games, averaging 11.3 points and 5.8 rebounds while making 8 of 14 shots from 3-point range. He scored a career-high 16 points in back-to-back games against Clemson and Duke.
Redshirt freshman guard/forward Mike James has also been an impactful player for Louisville, ranking fourth in the ACC among freshmen in scoring at 10.1 points per game. Over the last 17 games, James has averaged 12.8 points and has increased his volume to 9.3 shots per game. James tied his career high with 24 points at Virginia on March 4th and became the first Cardinal to score at least 24 points multiple times in their rookie since Francisco Garcia.
Although Louisville has shown potential in their games, they have struggled to maintain leads, losing eight games this season in which they have led by at least eight points, including six times in ACC play. On the positive side, the Cardinals have improved in reducing their turnovers, having 13 or fewer turnovers in eight of the last 11 games. Additionally, Louisville has increased their 3-point field goal percentage, averaging 7.0 made 3s per game in the last 12 games after averaging just 5.9 made 3s across the first 19 games.
In their previous matchup against Boston College on January 25th, Louisville led for more than 24 minutes but lost due to committing 19 turnovers.
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