Chucky Hepburn poured in 16 points and dished out six assists as Louisville hit the 20-win mark for the first time in five seasons by beating Notre Dame 75-60 in an Atlantic Coast Conference battle on Sunday night in South Bend, Ind.
Four other scorers finished in double figures for the Cardinals (20-6, 13-2 ACC), including Reyne Smith, who scored all 12 of his points from 3-point range.
Terrence Edwards Jr. added 14 points while J’Vonne Hadley and James Scott scored 10 apiece for Louisville, which has won four straight games and is within one game of first-place Duke, ranked third in the nation, in the conference standings after winning only eight games a season ago.
The Fighting Irish (11-14, 5-9) were looking for their second win in a row but had no such luck despite a 22-point night from Markus Burton. Tae Davis chipped in 15 points, and Braeden Shrewsberry scored 12 to go along with six rebounds.
Louisville led just 35-28 at the half and had its lead cut to three before Smith knocked down a 3-pointer with 17 minutes to play to stretch the Cardinals’ lead to 38-32.
Burton’s contested 3-pointer with 13:38 left cut the Cardinals’ advantage to 43-38, but Louisville soon had its biggest lead yet at 55-44 after Scott scored inside with 9:07 remaining.
The visitors’ lead hit 18 when Hadley drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 64-46, forcing Notre Dame to call a timeout. Louisville cruised from there.
Shrewsberry knocked down three shots from long range early on and helped stake Notre Dame to a 13-8 lead with 14:59 to play in the opening half.
The Cardinals hung around by quickly making three 3-pointers of their own, including one by Noah Waterman that cut the Irish lead to 18-15 with 13:09 left.
That shot ignited a 13-0 run for the Cardinals, who found themselves up 25-18 with 8:12 to go until the break.
Smith canned a trey as time expired in the first half to send Louisville into the break with its seven-point lead.
–Field Level Media
