The Ending Was All in the Cards

The second game of the second day of the 2026 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Men's Basketball Tournament here in Charlotte, North Carolina, featured all red as the 11th-seeded SMU Mustangs (20-12 overall, 8-10 ACC + another win from 86-69 conclusion in ACC Tournament versus the Syracuse Orange) faced off against the 6th-seeded Louisville Cardinals (22-9 overall, 11-7 ACC).

At the media timeout at the 14:36 mark, the game was tied at 7-7.

Junior forward Sam Walters would break the tie right before the shot clock ran out, but senior guard Ryan Conwell would respond for Louisville on a jumper at the 13:34 mark to tie the game at 9-all.

Senior forward Corey Washington would connect from long range for SMU immediately after, and the lead went back to the Mustangs, this time at 12-11.

Mustangs' freshman center Jaden Toombs made a tough turnaround jumper with his right hand from the left side of the paint to make it 14-11 in favor of SMU with 11:36 to play in the opening half.

Cardinals' Head Coach Pat Kelsey utilized one of his two coaching challenges at the 9:55 mark when the ball was originally called out on the Cardinals, giving the Mustangs the ball back by their own basket. Kelsey won the challenge, retain the challenge as well as seeing his team have the ball instead.

With just about five minutes remaining in the first half, Louisville had turned the tide, going ahead 24-19, which was a 13-5 run from when SMU had led 14-11.

Another turnaround jumper by Toombs, this time with his right hand from the right side of the basket, outside of the paint, dropped through to pull the Mustangs within one possession, down 26-24, with 1:41 left in the first half.

Senior guard Boopie Miller would make sure the game went back even before the break, connecting on a jumper with nine seconds remaining, to make it 26-all heading into the locker room.

Overall, there were six lead changes and four ties in the first 20 minutes of play.

With under 17:30 remaining in the game, the two teams were knotted up again, this time at 33-apiece.

However, off of a miss by Miller, Toombs would grab the offensive rebound and get the putback to put SMU back ahead, 35-33.

The matchup would see another tie at 35-all, but the Mustangs would have something to say about that, responding with back-to-back threes from the right corner, the first by Walters and the latter by senior guard Jaron Pierre, Jr., to give SMU a two-possession lead, 41-35, with 15:23 to go in the game.

At the under-10 minute mark, the Mustangs still held the lead, 46-41, after a corner three by Pierre that came in response to a three by Cardinals' sophomore guard Adrian Wooley.

Wooley would go inside shortly after, take contact, and make the contested layup. No foul was called, but he did bring Louisville back within one possession, down 46-43.

Miller would have something to say about that though, scoring on his own layup in reply, giving SMU two possessions of separation once more, with a 48-43 score.

There would be four lead changes and two ties to follow, with the Mustangs leading 58-57 by 1:30 remaining in the game.

Conwell's three out of a break in the action for an injury to SMU's Washington placed Louisville ahead 60-58. He would come back down the floor on the very next possession and score at the rim, giving the Cardinals a 62-58 lead with 29.8 seconds on the clock.

Good news for the Mustangs was the return of Washington after he was down on the court a few minutes before.

But the not-so-good news for the Mustangs was the defense of the Cardinals that locked in and closed out a two-possession victory, by the aforementioned 62-58 score.

Louisville will be pitted against the 3rd-seeded Miami Hurricanes (24-7 overall, 13-5 ACC) in the ACC Quarterfinals on Thursday, March 12. With this being the second game of the Thursday slate, tipoff will be at approximately 2:30pm ET, with the contest airing on ESPN2.