Louisville had lost 16 straight against ranked opponents heading into Wednesday’s Battle 4 Atlantis tilt with No. 14 Indiana.

Had.

Behind a dazzling display from guard Chucky Hepburn, Louisville went wire-to-wire for an 89-61 win over the previously unbeaten Hoosiers. It was the Cards’ first win over a ranked opponent since Jan. 6, 2021, and it gave coach Pat Kelsey a 4-1 start to his tenure.

Louisville held Indiana to 33.3% shooting from the field and forced 23 turnovers that led to 30 points. Up 22 points midway through the second half, Louisville ripped off a 16-0 run to go up as many as 38 points. When the final buzzer sounded, IU was officially dealt its second-worst loss of the Mike Woodson era.

Kelsey credited the defense after the game, which was hounding, but Hepburn had a star performance.

He controlled everything, setting the tempo and pulling the strings. The Wisconsin transfer finished with 16 points, 10 assists, 7 steals, and 1 rebound. When he was on the floor, Louisville outscored Indiana by 33 points.

If there was an illustrative moment of the overall performance, it came with 15 to go in the second half.

Hepburn caught a pass in the left corner of the floor, just in front of the Louisville bench. The shot clock read 19 seconds and Hepburn had all 5 sets of IU eyes on him. He turned off a screen near the left elbow, drove across the lane, gave a little ball fake toward the baseline and spun back into the lane. He got IU’s Oumar Ballo to jump at a shot fake and then lobbed a pass over the out-of-position big man to James Scott for an uncontested dunk.

A minute later, Hepburn stepped back for a left-wing triple.

“I think (IU’s Myles Rice) is going to do really good things in the Big Ten, but it’s time for me to put my name up there, too. I’m one of the best point guards in the country as well,” Hepburn said after the game. “And I’m going to start playing like it every game and taking that approach every practice.”

Noah Waterman added 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from 3. Kasean Pryor had 14 points and 7 boards on 7-of-13 shooting. Reyne Smith provided 12 off the bench thanks to 4 made triples.

As a team, Louisville shot 57% from the floor and posted 23 assists on 37 made baskets.

“Obviously, the caliber of teams in this tournament, you can enjoy the win for about one minutes and 47 seconds,” added Kelsey. “We’ll turn the page to get ready for our next opponent because we go again tomorrow at noon. We’ve got to recover our minds and bodies, recover quickly, and we’re fortunate to get to compete again tomorrow at noon.”

Louisville will face West Virginia at noon ET on Thursday (ESPN) in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis.  The Mountaineers knocked off No. 3 Gonzaga 86-78 in overtime on Wednesday. When Louisville returns home next week, it’ll host Ole Miss on Dec. 3.

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