Louisville to Open ACC Tournament Against SMU

After earning a single-bye in the ACC Tournament, the Louisville men's basketball program now knows their first opponent in postseason play.

The sixth-seeded Cardinals (22-9, 11-7 ACC) will open up the 2026 ACC Tournament against 11th-seeded SMU (20-12, 8-10 ACC) on Wednesday, Mar. 11 at 2:30 p.m. EST in the Second Round, following the Mustangs' 86-69 win over 14th-seeded Syracuse on Tuesday.

Louisville faced SMU twice during the regular season, with the home team winning both times. The Cardinals won 88-74 in the KFC Yum! Center back on Jan. 31 to start a five game winning streak, which was snapped by the Mustangs with a 95-85 decision on Feb. 17 in Dallas.

Year two under head coach Pat Kelsey has certainly had some ups and down, and has been a bit of a disappointment when compared to preseason expectations. Louisville entered the season as a squad who could potentially contend for a Final Four, and were ranked as high as the No. 6 team in the nation.

While the Cardinals head into the postseason out of the AP Top 25, after splitting their last six games. UofL does have some positive momentum going for them. In their last time out against Miami, they were finally able to beat a ranked team on the road, winning 92-89. It marked their first win against a Quad 1A team all season after previously being 0-8 in such games.

This is Louisville's fourth time since joining the ACC for the 2014-15 season that they have secured a single bye, also doing so in 2018, 2019 and 2021. In each of the three previous instances, the Cardinals won their first matchup, only to fall the very next day in the quarterfinals.

Overall, Louisville is just 6-9 in the ACC Tournament, and have only advanced past the quarterfinal round just once. This came last season, when they got all the way to the ACC Championship Game before falling 73-62 to Duke.