Will Reyne Smith rain threes in Louisville's finale? His status remains uncertain

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) == The University of Louisville men's basketball team could be heading into its home finale without one of the top three-point shooters in college basketball.

Reyne Smith left Wednesday's win over Cal with just under 13 minutes to play with an apparent ankle injury, and did not return. When he met with reporters Friday afternoon, Louisville coach Pat Kelsey said Smith's status remains day-to-day.

"We have the best medical staff in the country and they went to school for a long, long time to be able to make the decision of whether he can go or not," Kelsey said. "That's not my expertise. What I do know is Reyne, and I've been around him for a long time. There's few tougher. He's as gritty and tough as they come, and when he said he couldn't go the other night, I knew it was really, really hurting him."

Asked how Smith's absence would affect his rotation when the Cardinals (21-6, 17-2 in the ACC) face Stanford in the regular-season finale at 2 p.m. in the KFC Yum! Center, Kelsey quipped that there aren't many things he can do with a roster that already endured the loss of reserve guard Koren Johnson and starting forward Kasean Pryor.

"We're not very deep," he said. "There's not a lot of options. So we're going to go with who we got, and who we got is pretty darn good, and they've been good all year long."

Reyne Smith makes one of his six three-pointers in Louisville’s 106-59 exhibition win over Young Harris College in the KFC Yum! Center on Oct. 21, 2024.
ERIC CRAWFORD

Adding more drama for Smith is the presence of his family, which has traveled all the way from his home in Tasmania to watch his final college games. Kelsey said his family being in Louisville won't be a factor in whether he plays.

"It's cool to see his mom, Penny here, and so many of his relatives," Kelsey said. "You know it's hard when you go to school a 17-hour flight away from home. It's not like you can just get a free weekend and run home. It's about a three-day trip. And then it beats you up for about three days after that. I've made the Australia trip quite a few times, from a recruiting standpoint, and you don't know up from down for about three days after you land. So to have them here is really, really special. They're going to be here for a pretty extended period of time. So, you now, they'll be able to see him (play), hopefully tomorrow, and if not, soon."

Kelsey has preached, "the power of the unit" since before the season started. It's emblazoned around the Cardinals' practice facility and has made its way into the players' vocabularies. Louisville has been adept at making up for absences this season, whether it was absorbing the loss of Pryor or an injury to Aboubacar Traore for several weeks early in the season or to Chucky Hepburn last month.

Smith is averaging 13.4 points per game and shooting 38% from three-point range. In conference play, he's shooting 41% from beyond the arc – and that includes the past four games, when he has gone 6-for-26 from deep after being slowed by the flu.

"We're hoping he can go," Kelsey said. "But if he can't, we'll have that same next-man-up mentality, and other guys will step up their games and rise to the occasion."