CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Stanford was no match for Louisville in the regular-season finale. Five days later, the Cardinal proved a much tougher out.

Chucky Hepburn’s second-chance jumper at the buzzer lifted second-seeded Louisville to a thrilling 75-73 in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, finally sending Stanford home after two weeks on the road.

“When you’re in a tournament where it’s either you win or you go home, there’s a little bit more to it,” Stanford star Maxime Raynaud said. “And, on top of that, I believe our win from yesterday gave us some kind of good mojo.”

Oziyah Sellers scored 22 points and Raynaud had 17 despite fouling out after playing just 23 minutes.

Louisville’s Terrence Edwards Jr. missed a step-back with 3 seconds to go for the win. The ball caromed to Stanford’s Chisom Okpara, as coach Kyle Smith attempted to signal for a timeout. But Louisville’s James Scott knocked the ball free and Hepburn corralled it and sent it through the hoop as the final horn sounded.

Louisville guard Chucky Hepburn scores the game winning basket between Stanford forward Chisom Okpara and guard Benny Gealer during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) 

“He was able to pop the ball loose and it came right to me,” said Hepburn, who had 20 points and eight assists. “I was just at the perfect spot at the perfect time. It came right to me and I was able to knock the shot down.”

Edwards scored a game-high 25 for Louisville, which faces the winner of Thursday’s late game between Clemson and SMU, in the semifinals Friday.

Stanford and Louisville just met in the regular-season finale on March 8, with the Cardinals drubbing the Cardinal 68-48, a dismal shooting day for Stanford. That was part of this two-week road trip for Stanford, elongated travel that may have finally caught up with the team late in the game Thursday.

But if the Cardinal (20-13) were wearing down, it didn’t show as it erased an 8-point deficit with 1:56 to play.

“Everyone makes a big deal about our record in the Eastern time zone,” Smith said. “We played well tonight. I don’t think it’s as big a deal as they make it out to be. It’s pretty fun.”

Smith and Stanford found the opportunity to play an NCAA tournament-bound and nationally ranked opponent pretty fun Thursday.

The game matched up two first-year coaches who led impressive improvements this season.

At Louisville, Pat Kelsey took over a program that went 12-52 the previous two seasons, winning just five ACC games. Using the transfer portal, he rapidly rebuilt the team, capturing the No. 2 seed in this week’s tournament and earning conference coach of the year honors.

At Stanford, Smith took a squad picked to finish 17th out of 18 teams in the ACC and led it to 20 wins, coming within a second of a spot in the tournament semifinals.

“We didn’t even focus on the negative things people said about us,” Sellers said. “We just tried to stay together. Before the season, nobody really believed in us and stuff like that. So we just tried to play with a chip on our shoulder every night.”

Louisville guard Terrence Edwards Jr. shoots over Stanford guard Benny Gealer and guard Oziyah Sellers during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) 

This week’s tournament was billed as the last chance for North Carolina, Wake Forest and possibly SMU to make their cases for at-large NCAA Tournament bids. But after beating rival Cal on Wednesday, Stanford positioned itself to enter the bubble chat. It just couldn’t quite finish off the Cardinals.

Louisville (26-6) jumped out to a 6-0 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Noah Waterman, while Stanford struggled to hit shots early on. The Cardinal connected on just one of their first seven attempts.

But Stanford settled in, scoring the next nine points to take the lead.

Offense was a chore for much of the first half and the game was tied 11-11 with 9:30 before the break.

Raynaud, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds in the earlier meeting, got off to a slow start, hitting just two of his first eight shots.

On the other end, Hepburn didn’t hit his first field goal until knocking down a jumper with 3:06 left in the half.

The teams were still tied, 30-30, with 35.1 to go until halftime.

Out of a timeout, Ryan Agarwal drove along the baseline and then slung a pass to the far corner, where Okpara was waiting to catch-and-can a 3-pointer that sent Stanford to the locker room ahead 33-30.

Raynaud was whistled for his third foul 2:22 into the second half, a call that angered the Frenchman and appeared to befuddle his coach.

But even sitting its star didn’t slow down Stanford, which ripped off an 11-0 run with Raynaud on the bench to open up a 52-37 lead with 14:32.

“I think that showed a ton of resilience from the guys,” Raynaud said.

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Raynaud checked back in with 14:16 to go but was whistled for his fourth foul less than a minute later, sending him back to a seated position on the sideline.

Louisville ate away that 15-point deficit by driving to the rim and scoring in transition, using a 12-0 run to trim Stanford’s lead to 57-56 with 9 to play.

Raynaud had a chance to stop the run at 9-0 but missed a pair of free throws. He finally ended it with a 3-pointer that gave the Cardinal a little – very little – breathing room, up 60-56 with 8:35 left.

It took Louisville about a minute to erase that, tying the game 60-60 on a thunderous put-back dunk by Scott.

After Hepburn’s late 3 helped Louisville build a five-point lead, Raynaud fouled out, setting a moving screen with 2:57 to go.

Stanford tied the game 73-73 with 32.5 seconds to go on a 3-point play by Okpara, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.

“That was obviously a heartbreaking loss for us,” Smith said. “But when you give your best, you can never be that disappointed. I felt like our guys really did give their best.”