Louisville survives scare at Virginia Tech, 71-66

Louisville’s ninth and final conference road win of the 2024-25 season may have been its ugliest, but it counts just the same as its other eight.

The Cards got some key late buckets from Terrence Edwards Jr. and a game-sealing steal from J’Vonne Hadley in the closing seconds to eek out a 71-66 win over Virginia Tech Tuesday night in Blacksburg.

U of L won despite a plethora of uncharacteristic performances, including six turnovers from Chucky Hepburn, a 1-of-9 three-point shooting effort from Reyne Smith, and an ability from the frontcourt to grab a defensive rebound at several key moments.

Louisville was saved in large part by Virginia Tech’s season-high 22 turnovers, the last of which came on Hadley’s steal as the Hokies were looking for a game-tying three-pointer. Those turnovers also played a huge part in the Cardinals racing out to a 16-3 and ultimately leading by as many as 16 points before Mike Young’s team began chipping away.

With the win, the 2024-25 Cardinals have secured the largest single-season turnaround in the 111 years of the program. With three game still remaining in the regular season, Louisville has improved its win total by 14 from last season. U of L has also secured a double by for the ACC tournament, and will begin its postseason run that Thursday.

That’s the good.

The bad is that this was, without question in my mind, the worst game this team has played in 2025. If Virginia Tech wasn’t even worse than it typically is (and also not playing without its starting center), the Cardinals would have undoubtedly taken a loss that would have probably dropped them a full seed line.

I think (and hope) that the recent bug that has gone through the team played a part here. I know Pat Kelsey said before the game that all the key members of the squad were now illness-free, but there was way too much hands on hips and grasping for air from guys who don’t typically do that to not think that something was up.

Get home. Rest up.