March 11, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Louisville Cardinals guard Ryan Cornwell (3) reacts late in the second half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images CHARLOTTE – Ryan Conwell defeated No. 1 in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Wednesday afternoon. 24 Louisville scored five of its 16 points in the final 77 seconds as it defeated SMU 62-58.
Freshman standout Mikel Brown Jr. The Cardinals, playing without one, got a lift from Adrian Wooley’s 14 points and Isaac McKneely’s 10 points. SMU did not score over the final 2 minutes and 43 seconds.
Sixth-seeded Louisville (23-9) meets third-seeded Miami (24-7) in the quarterfinals Thursday in a rematch of the visiting Cardinals’ win in Saturday’s regular-season finale.
Jaron Pierre Jr.’s 17 points led 11th-seeded SMU (20-13), Jaden Toombs had 13 points and nine rebounds and Corey Washington added 10 points. Leading scorer Buffy Miller (19.5 ppg) had eight points on 4-of-17 shooting and missed all eight of his 3-point attempts, while the Mustangs were 9-for-9 from 3-point range (33.3%).
A day after eliminating Syracuse in the first round, SMU was hurt by 14 turnovers that led to 16 Louisville points. The Mustangs await their NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday. They appear firmly on the bubble, missing the opportunity to bolster their resume with another rankings win.
Louisville won despite shooting 39.6% from the field. At least in part, this is because the Cardinals went 14-for-20 on free throws and SMU went 1-of-3 from the foul line.
Conwell put it together at the right time and made his final three field goal attempts to go 6-for-15 from the field.
Neither team led by more than six points at halftime, 26-26. SMU led 48-43 with eight minutes left.
The score was deadlocked at 50 and 56 before a Go-Ahead basket by SMU’s Pierre with 2:43 remaining.
Louisville’s Vangelis Zougris went 1-for-2 from the foul line and Conwell’s 3-pointer put the Cardinals ahead with 1:17 to play, putting him 2-for-9 on 3-pointers. After Miller missed a 3-pointer, Cornwell hit a layup on Louisville’s possession to push the lead to four points.
Miller again got away from long range on the next possession. It was one of six straight field goals SMU missed to end the game.
Pierre made more than half of SMU’s 3-pointers and went 5-for-9 from outside the arc.
Louisville needs two more wins to return to the ACC Tournament championship game for the second straight year.
–Written by Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
