- Reyne Smith, Louisville basketball’s top marksman, has missed the past four games due to a right ankle injury.
- Will Smith be able to suit up for the No. 13 Cardinals in the NCAA Tournament? Here’s the latest update.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — He tried giving it a go during warmups, but Reyne Smith was not available to play in Louisville basketball‘s 73-62 loss to top-ranked Duke in the ACC Tournament championship game.
Saturday ended with some good news on that front, however; coach Pat Kelsey said the No. 13 Cardinals’ top marksman will be “ready to go” for next week’s NCAA Tournament.
“He was really, really close (to playing) today; so we’re excited,” Kelsey said. “The medical staff’s done an unbelievable job, and he’s been working tirelessly on his recovery.”
Saturday marked Smith’s fourth consecutive absence due to what Kelsey described as a high-ankle sprain; which he suffered early in the first half of an 85-68 win over California on March 5 at the KFC Yum! Center.
Smith, a senior from Australia, wore a boot on his right foot during U of L’s regular-season finale three days after going down against the Golden Bears. He didn’t sport it on the bench in Charlotte while watching his teammates gut out a last-second win over No. 7 Stanford on Thursday, their largest comeback of the season, and a 76-73 win over No. 2 Clemson on Friday.
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Roughly an hour before tipoff Saturday, Smith took the court in uniform and began getting shots up. Thirty minutes later, he was back out there for the team’s next round of warmups but stopped participating and walked back toward the locker room. When he emerged again, this time with Katie Creznic by his side, he watched as his teammates went through the rest of their pregame routine.
“(It gave me) a little peace of mind, to be able to say that I was able to kind of give it a go and see how it felt when I moved around a little bit more,” Smith told The Courier Journal in the Cards’ locker room after the loss.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t feel right, and I didn’t feel like I could be out there and help; so then the main focus was quickly to shut it down and focus on getting right for the tournament.”
Smith finished the regular season averaging a career-best 13.4 points, good for third on Louisville’s roster, on 39.4% shooting with a 38.3% clip from 3-point range across 30.8 minutes per game. With 106 treys to his name, he ranked 11th across Division I as of Saturday morning and was 17 shy of passing Taquan Dean for the Cards’ single-season record.
During a four-game stretch spanning U of L’s Feb. 22 win over Florida State — after which Kelsey said he had been dealing with flu-like symptoms — to his short stint against Cal, however, Smith went 8 for 28 from the field.
Louisville has shot a combined 26 for 93 (27.9%) from beyond the arc in Smith’s absence.
“It’s interesting; it’s the first time I’ve really missed games in my career,” Smith said. “You kind of see a different side of it, which I think is going to help me and be beneficial as I get back into play — understanding just a little bit more of the emotions and seeing things for a different side.”
Smith said he knew he wasn’t going to be able to go Saturday after he tried moving laterally during warmups.
“It’s just normal with an ankle sprain,” he added. “There’s no point in me trying to keep pushing through that; it’s just going to hurt the team and hurt myself.”
Louisville will learn its NCAA Tournament fate during Sunday’s selection show, which begins at 6 p.m. on CBS. It’ll be the Cards’ first trip to March Madness since 2019.
U of L entered Saturday’s ACC Tournament championship as the top No. 6 seed on The Bracket Project’s Bracket Matrix.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.
