Hepburn’s buzzer-beater lifts No. 13 Louisville to another big moment in Kelsey-led resurgence

Chucky Hepburn had given up the ball late in a tie game to a teammate, and it looked like the next time he might touch the ball again would come in overtime.

Instead, the ball somehow popped loose from a crowd to find its way to the star of the 13th-ranked Cardinals, who delivered once again — just as he has all season.

“I just as the perfect spot at the perfect time,” Hepburn said.

Hepburn caught that loose ball and immediately launched a soft shot from the left elbow that swished through at the horn, lifting Louisville past Stanford 75-73 in Thursday night’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals and sending Hepburn sprinting to the other end of the court in jubilation with his teammates in pursuit.

“I didn’t know how much time was on the clock,” Hepburn said. “That’s why I just got it up as quick as I could. And when I released it, it just felt good.”

Hepburn, named a first-team Associated Press All-ACC pick earlier this week, capped a tough grind to the finish for Louisville, the tournament’s No. 2 seed. Playing a team they had beaten by 20 less than a week earlier, the Cardinals (26-6) had to rally from 15 down after halftime to add another chapter to their resurrection from a 12-win wilderness of the past two seasons.

That included losing 35 of 40 ACC regular-season games in that stretch. Now, the Cardinals are headed to the ACC semifinals for the first time since joining the league for the 2014-15 season.

Hepburn had been at the center of first-year coach Pat Kelsey’s program reboot after transferring from Wisconsin, so it felt fitting that the ball would end up in his hands — particularly considering Hepburn had made a potentially game-turning gaffe moments earlier.

Louisville led by three late when Hepburn whipped a pass to the left wing that was picked off by Chisom Okpara, who corralled the ball, raced the length of the court and scored through a whistle-drawing foul with 32.5 seconds left. Okpara made the free throw to tie it at 73, setting up Louisville’s final possession.

Hepburn drove the left side in the final 10 seconds, then threw it back out to Terrence Edwards Jr. By that point, there was little time for Edwards to do anything but shoot, so he launched a one-dribble, step-back 3 over Stanford’s Oziyah Sellers.

The ball struck the rim and caromed into a crowd, where Okpara got two hands on the rebound in traffic between Louisville’s J’Vonne Hadley and James Scott. But in the chaos, the ball squired out of Okpara’s hands as he appeared to try to throw an outlet.

“One of us did (hit it),” Hadley said of him and Scott. “I don’t even know.”

Meanwhile, Kelsey could only watch and worry amid that chaotic sequence.

“Oh my gosh, we cannot foul,” Kelsey said he thought.

Yet the ball went to Hepburn for the final shot, after which Okpara crumpled to lay facedown on the court in disbelief. Officials reviewed the shot to confirm it was released before time expired.

“Literally it was just like pop-a-shot. I don’t even think he jumped,” Kelsey said. “It was just like a little push shot. It left his hands and I knew it was going in. It was a little bit surreal.”

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