How Louisville basketball can beat Miami again in ACC Tournament

CHARLOTTE, NC — Louisville basketball forward Vangelis Zougris slapped a sticker featuring the Cardinals logo onto the next line of an ACC Tournament bracket in a hallway at the Spectrum Center.

Having sparked sixth-seeded UofL's 62-58 comeback win over No. 11 SMU on Wednesday afternoon with seven points during the final 6:52 of regulation, the 6-foot-8 native of Peristeri, Greece, smiled and gave the sticker a few extra pats for good measure — as if to tell himself, "Yes, this is all actually happening."

Zougris then joined coach Pat Kelsey and teammates Isaac McKneely and Adrian Wooley at the podium for the postgame news conference. He fielded a question about how he earned a spot in the starting lineup with only two games remaining in the regular season — and what it meant to come up big in his ACC Tournament debut.

"Just being there every day — same attitude, same mentality," said Zougris, who entered Wednesday averaging only 2.1 points and 2.3 rebounds across 8.4 minutes per contest. "... I think it's paying off right now.

"It's just one game, though," he added. "This is what we've got to remember all the time. Celebrations stop after we leave this building and get ready for the next game tomorrow — against a really good team."

That team, third-seeded Miami, is the only thing standing between Louisville and its first back-to-back trips to ACC Tournament's semifinal round since it joined the league in 2014. Remember, until last season, the Cards had never advanced past the quarterfinals. This is what they must do if they want to beat the Hurricanes for the second time in less than a week, having won 92-89 at the Watsco Center in last Saturday's regular-season finale:

Don't let up defensively

It's going to be hard for Louisville to top the defensive performance it turned in Wednesday, holding a potent SMU offense to a season-low 58 points and forcing 14 turnovers.

The Cards needed every stop on an afternoon that saw them fail to crack 40% shooting for only the sixth time this season and finish 23.1% (6 for 26) from 3-point range.

"If we can win with shooting it like this, it makes us a really tough team to beat," McKneely said.

"We can't let our offense affect our defense," J'Vonne Hadley added.

UofL looked sharp defensively out of the gate against Miami last weekend, building a 13-2 lead during the opening 4:19. But that wasn't sustainable; the Hurricanes finished the game shooting 56.4% from the field and 42.1% (8 for 19) from beyond the arc. They also scored 19 points on 23 free-throw attempts.

"We're going to go as far as our defense takes us," Aly Khalifa said.

Win the 'war in the paint'

After coming up short vs. Louisville last weekend, Miami coach Jai Lucas pointed to the paint scoring portion of the final box score.

The Cards broke even with the Hurricanes at 38 apiece.

"That's kind of (what) our separator is," said Lucas, whose team ranks 99th percentile nationally with an average of 43.4 points in the paint per game.

"When you're talking about Miami, we call it 'war in the paint,'" Hadley told The Courier Journal on Wednesday. "They're driving on every single play; they're trying to touch the paint, trying to bump you. They're a really physical team."

UofL held its own by embracing a similar mindset, especially during the second half. It finished 21 for 30 from inside the arc, including a 15-for-17 clip at the rim.

Two areas need improvement Thursday, however: rebounding and staying in front of point guard Tre Donaldson. The Hurricanes were +13 in second-chance points (17-4, although Louisville missed only 21 shots to their 24), and Donaldson dropped a game-high 25 on 8-for-10 shooting from 2-point range.

"We've got to be on our ball-screen coverages — on our protection," Hadley said. "(The) moving parts have got to be really good."

This story will be updated.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville-Miami ACC Tournament game, UofL basketball keys to victory