LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The prelims are over. They ended up quite tense on Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Middle as the University of Louisville men’s basketball team outlasted Eastern Kentucky 78-76.

Survived is the correct verb. In fact, it may not be strong enough.

The Cards were favored by 19 1/2 points. On a day in which they blew a 15-point lead in the first half and a 10-point lead in the second half, the Cardinals needed Noah Waterman to punt down the left baseline and hit a contested 3-footer two EKU defenders scored with 1.2 seconds to play to… well, survive.

“They felt that pressure,” EKU forward Devontae Blanton said.

The victory wasn’t assured until Terrence Edwards Jr. intercepted EKU’s inbounds pass and then made a free throw with 0.4 minutes left, the final gasp in a game that Louisville simply needed to win by all means.

“We were very fortunate to get a win,” U of L coach Pat Kelsey said. “It won’t always be pretty.”

“A win is a win,” U of L forward J’Vonne Hadley said. “Not every game will be easy.”

It was Louisville’s 11th and final non-conference game. They won seven (capped by wins over Indiana and West Virginia) and lost four, all against teams that were expected to reach the NCAA Tournament. Overall, the Cards improved to 8-5.

“It was a tough non-conference schedule,” Kelsey said. “We played against a lot of really good teams. We kicked each other a few times. But I like where our team is.”

Considering Pitt beat the Colonels by 40 points and Clemson handled EKU by 13 points, it wasn’t the kind of performance that would inspire much conversation about Pat Kelsey’s squad heading into March.

EKU led by two points with just under 10 minutes to play. The Colonels let the Cards sprint to a 10-point lead and then regained the lead (73-72) with a Blanton drive with 2:20 to play.

The danger was real – and relentless. The Cards got baskets from Reyne Smith and Waterman to prevent disaster.

“We didn’t come here for a moral victory,” said EKU coach AW Hamilton. “We came here to win. We’re disappointed in this locker room.”

A loss to EKU would have greatly dented Louisville’s NCAA Tournament resume. Didn’t happen. Avoiding this stain is the positive side of it.

So as January approaches, March is always a reasonable topic of conversation.

Now to the main event – ​​the Atlantic Coast Conference game.

“I love where we are and I love what we do,” Kelsey said.

The viable ACC, a league with a top 25 team.

The ACC open for discussion.

The sought-after NCAA Tournament team ACC, a league that went 4-30 against the Southeastern Conference and 3-8 against the Big 12.

Other than Duke, there is no one in the ACC that Louisville has to fear. Duke has already played their cards – and they don’t have to travel back to Durham. They have a road win against Florida State on their resume.

“We’re not afraid of anyone,” Hadley said. “In our eyes, we see the ACC as open.”

What do the computer rankings predict?

Ken Pomeroy says U of L will go 12-8 and finish sixth in the ACC. Bart Torvik increases the record to 13-7, putting the Cards in fourth place. Evan Miyakawa also ranks Louisville sixth in the 18-team league, ahead of North Carolina State, Notre Dame and Wake Forest.

In addition to performance metrics, Bart Torvik’s college basketball analysis site has added an NCAA Tournament projections table.

Before the Cards’ win over EKU, Torvik gave the Cards a 28.6% share of the 68-team field. That was sixth among ACC teams behind Duke (100%), Pitt (94.2), Clemson (72.6), North Carolina (71.2) and SMU (39.1).

North Carolina comes to downtown Louisville on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and this is already looking like a game that will be crucial to Louisville’s quest to develop into a team worthy of an NCAA Tournament berth.

There’s nothing special about the Tar Heels this winter. Their fans criticize coach Hubert Davis and UNC’s blasé defensive strategy. North Carolina has lost five times, although all five losses came against top-20 teams in the computer rankings.

In their only ACC game, Carolina stumbled past Georgia Tech by three points.

Carolina is beatable.

But only if the cards perform significantly better than against EKU.

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