March 7, 2026; Coral Gables, Florida, USA; Miami Hurricanes coach Jay Lucas reacts during the second half of the game against the Louisville Cardinals at Watson Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Romance-Imagn Images CHARLOTTE — Miami and No. 24 Louisville will meet for the second time in six days in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament on Thursday afternoon.
The third-seeded Hurricanes (24-7) tied a school record for most regular season wins. But they will be looking to erase the taste of Saturday’s 92-89 loss to Louisville to end the regular season.
“(From here on out) there’s a certain amount of urgency you have to play with and have,” said first-year Miami coach Jai Lucas.
Louisville (23-9), the tournament’s sixth seed, advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating 11th seed SMU 62-58 on Wednesday.
The Cardinals remain without injured freshman Mikel Brown Jr. (back) for the tournament.
“It changes their whole dynamic a little bit,” Lucas said. “So we have to adjust and adapt, but the team is still well built.”
The Cardinals can deal with a personnel reduction because they have a level of experience that could benefit them.
“We have a lot of vets,” coach Pat Kelsey said. “We have one of the oldest, most mature teams in the country. They’ve been in so many situations throughout their careers. They’ve logged so many minutes. They’ve played in big games.”
The battle between Louisville and SMU brought satisfaction to Kelsey. The Cardinals shot 39.6% from the field in the win.
“One night we didn’t shoot our best, we just figured out a way to win,” Kelsey said. “They talk about survival and progression in tournament play, and I think that applies.”
Ryan Conwell’s late goal gave the Cardinals a boost over SMU. He is scoring a team-high 18.6 points per game this season.
“I have the utmost confidence in him,” said teammate Adrian Wooley. “He’s a senior and he’s the leader of the team, so whatever he does is fine with me as long as he sticks to what we’re doing. He works on that shot every day, so I trust him no matter what he does.”
Miami has also learned to look ahead to what’s next. As it turns out, the Hurricanes are scheduled to play back-to-back games against Louisville, but last weekend’s results are in the past.
“So now you’re ready to turn the page.” Lucas said. “I don’t want to lose, but there are a lot of good movies we could use.”
It will be important for Lucas to learn how the Hurricanes play through the ebbs and flows of the game. There were plenty of twists and turns when the teams met on Saturday, and there could be more to come in the tournament.
“Their style was the best in the first half because we have different styles and styles create fights,” Lucas said. “And towards the end of the second half and the game we started to show what we were made of.”
ACC first-team member Malik Reneau, who averages 19.1 points per game, and second-team member Tre Donaldson often fuel the Hurricanes.
Now is the time for the Hurricanes to build on what they have achieved so far.
“To hopefully be in the top three of the ACC to get a double bye with an eight-, nine- or 10-team league in the NCAA Tournament is impressive,” Lucas said.
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
