{"id":181616,"date":"2026-03-07T03:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T03:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/181616\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T03:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T03:04:10","slug":"preview-louisville-wraps-up-regular-season-at-miami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/181616\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Louisville wraps up regular season at Miami"},"content":{"rendered":"

Louisville Cardinals (21-9, 10-7) at Miami Hurricanes (24-6, 13-4)<\/p>\n

Location: Watsco Center: Coral Gables, Fla.<\/p>\n

Announcers: Dave O\u2019Brien (play-by-play) and Cory Alexander (analysis)<\/p>\n

Favorite: Louisville by 1.5<\/p>\n

Series: Louisville leads, 15-8<\/p>\n

Last Meeting: Louisville won 88-78 on Feb. 8, 2025 in Louisville<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Projected Starting Lineups:<\/p>\n

G Adrian Wooley (6-4, 200, So.)G Isaac McKneely (6-4, 195, Sr.)G Ryan Conwell (6-4, 215, Sr.)F J\u2019Vonne Hadley (6-7, 210, Sr.)C Vangelis Zougris (6-8, 240, Jr.)G Tre Donaldson (6-3, 198, Sr.)G Dante Allen (6-4, 220, Fr.)F Shelton Henderson (6-6, 240, Fr.)F Malik Reneau (6-11, 238, Sr.)C Ernest Udeh Jr. (6-11, 266, Sr.)\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami\u2019s Season to Date:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No team in power conference basketball has experienced a greater one-season resurgence than the Miami Hurricanes. A year after winning just seven games, first-year head coach Jai Lucas has The U one win away from setting a new program record for most regular season wins in a single campaign.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes enter the final weekend of the regular season with a double-bye in the ACC Tournament already shored up, and are playing for seeding, not inclusion, in the NCAA Tournament. Their only two losses in non-conference play came on neutral courts to the formidable tandem of Florida and BYU, and their 13 conference wins are already the most they\u2019ve had in a a season since 2022-23, when the ACC played a 20-game league slate.<\/p>\n

Lucas, who left his job as assistant coach at Duke at the end of last regular season to get a head start on his first year in Coral Gables, built his 2025-26 roster almost entirely from scratch. The biggest addition has been forward Malik Reneau, an Indiana transfer that most Louisville fans are likely familiar with. A potential First Team All-ACC honoree, Reneau is a physical interior scorer who leads the team at nearly 20 points and about six rebounds per game while shooting better than 55 percent from the floor. He\u2019s the Hurricanes\u2019 offensive centerpiece and the guy Miami wants touching the ball when possessions start to bog down.<\/p>\n

For a Louisville team that has struggled with its interior defense pretty much all season long \u2014 especially against overly physical forwards and centers \u2014 Reneau is a matchup nightmare.<\/p>\n

In the backcourt, point guard Tre Donaldson \u2014 a Michigan transfer \u2014 is the engine that keeps things organized for the \u2019Canes. Donaldson is averaging a career-best 16.6 ppg as well as 5.9 assists per game, also a career-best. He is an absolute playmaker who does pretty much whatever Lucas asks of him.<\/p>\n

Miami also boasts versatile wings in Tru Washington (11.8 ppg), a New Mexico transfer, and freshman forward Shelton Henderson (14.0 ppg), a former Louisville target. Both possess the athleticism and playmaking ability to be killers in transition. While Washington is the better shooter of the two, they also both can hit the three at a solid enough clip that their outside shot has to be respected in halfcourt situations.<\/p>\n

Big man Ernest Udeh (7.1 points\/9.5 rebound) is a massive human being who gives the Hurricanes a true center presence. He isn\u2019t a super talented offensive big, but he rebounds at an extremely high level and anchors the defense around the rim, helping Miami avoid the backend protection problems that plagued last year\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

One last note on Miami\u2019s group of players: Sophomore forward Marcus Allen played the first eight games of this season before being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Allen spoke<\/a> about the experience back in February.<\/p>\n

Miami\u2019s strength on both ends of the floor is around the rim. They don\u2019t shoot the three particularly well, nor do they shoot it very often. Inside the arc, however, their team average of 57.6 percent is the 28th-best in college basketball. On the other end of the floor, the \u2018Canes are allowing opponents to shoot 35.0 percent from three, which ranks 243rd-best nationally.<\/p>\n

\u2014They are a horrible free-throw shooting team.<\/p>\n

\u2014They\u2019re great at turning opposing teams over, but have some turnover problems themselves.<\/p>\n

\u2014They\u2019ve only been beaten at home twice this season, but the two teams that beat them (Florida State and Cal) weren\u2019t exactly world-beaters.<\/p>\n

\u2014They are the best rebounding team in the ACC.<\/p>\n

\u2014They win with size and physicality. While we\u2019d all love to see this team miraculously get bigger and more physical, this feels like a game that Louisville is going to have to win by lighting it up from the outside. If the Cards don\u2019t have an above average afternoon shooting the basketball, it\u2019s very difficult to envision them coming back home with a win.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville is 7-6 all-time in road games against Miami.<\/p>\n

\u2014The last time Louisville played a road game at Miami, the Cardinals snapped a 22-game road losing streak with an 80-71 win in Coral Gables. The win marked the lone road victory in Kenny Payne\u2019s two-year tenure.<\/p>\n

\u2014Miami is one victory away from setting a new program record for wins in a single regular season with 25.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 177-70 (.717) in all-time conference games as a head coach, posting an 81-43 (.653) record in away league games.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville is 2-6 against top 25 opponents so far this season, and 0-4 against top 25 opponents in true road games.<\/p>\n

\u2014Miami will honor three seniors \u2014 Tre Donaldson, Malik Reneau and Ernest Udeh Jr. \u2014 during its Senior Day festivities on Saturday. All three players have started every game for the Hurricanes this season.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville is 0-8 this season in Quadrant I-A games. Saturday\u2019s game at Miami will be U of L\u2019s ninth Q1A opportunity of the season.<\/p>\n

\u2014Miami leads all Division-I programs with a .574 improvement from last season to this one (.226 last season, .800 this season). Louisville led the country in the same category last season.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville point guard Mikel Brown Jr. will miss his 10th game of the season because of a lingering back injury.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville\u2019s team average of 85.7 points per game is the 18th-best in college basketball.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville averages 11.9 made three-pointers per game, the most in the ACC and the fourth-most nationally.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville is 1-11 in Quadrant I-A games under the direction of head coach Pat Kelsey, with their lone win coming over Clemson in last year\u2019s ACC Tournament. Saturday\u2019s game at Miami is a Q1A opportunity for the Cardinals.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville is just 3-7 in true road games so far this season. The Cardinals are averaging 76.2 points over those 10 road contests.<\/p>\n

\u2014Miami has clinched the No. 3 seed in next week\u2019s ACC Tournament.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville can clinch the No. 6 seed in next week\u2019s ACC Tournament with a win over Miami on Saturday. If the Cardinals lose, they will be the No. 7 or No. 8 seed in the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville is 11-1 in Saturday games so far this season, and just 10-8 in games played on any other day of the week.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville has hit the 100-point mark six times in a season for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville is 47-0 under head coach Pat Kelsey when leading with five minutes to play. The Cardinals are also 0-17 under Kelsey when trailing with five minutes to play.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville is 0-9 under head coach Pat Kelsey when trailing by 5 points or more at halftime.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville is 14-0 over the past 11 seasons when limiting opponents to no more than one three-point field goal.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville is 122-0 all-time when scoring 100 or more points in non-overtime games.<\/p>\n

\u2014Louisville has won 167 consecutive games when holding an opponent under 50 points.<\/p>\n

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 79, Miami 78<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Louisville Cardinals (21-9, 10-7) at Miami Hurricanes (24-6, 13-4) Location: Watsco Center: Coral Gables, Fla. Announcers: Dave O\u2019Brien…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3108,123,125,124],"class_list":["post-181616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-basketball","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}