Imari Berry had 22 points, 10 rebounds and three assists to lead No. 12 Louisville past No. 16 North Carolina 65-57 in Saturday’s ACC Tournament semifinal and into Sunday’s championship game against No. 13 Duke.

Oh, and Berry did it all from the bench.

Berry is not your typical reserve guard, though. The sophomore from Tennessee, who earned Sixth Player of the Year and All-ACC second team honors before the game, was a 2024 McDonald’s All-American, five-star recruit and ranked the No. 19 overall prospect in her class by espnW HoopGurlz. 

Louisville coach Jeff Walz is absolutely bullish on her potential.

“She’s a kid that if she can figure it out, she can be one of the best players in this league and one of the best players in college basketball, because she can do things that others can’t, athletically, and she’s so smooth,” Walz told reporters earlier this season.

Those gifts were on full display against the Tar Heels. Not only did she go 9 of 14 from the field and 4 of 8 from beyond the arc, but her defense forced North Carolina into a 10-second violation in the third quarter and shifted the momentum of the game. She is one of those players who is magnetic when she gets on a roll, as if she makes the entire gravity of the court shift in her favor.

Louisville’s strength this season has come from its depth. The Cardinals’ leading scorer is Tajianna Roberts, who averages 11.7 points per game. But they have seven players that average eight points or more and nine different players have led the team in scoring in a game this season. 

If Louisville has a weakness, it’s that they don’t have an alpha to turn to when things get tight. That’s what Berry can be for the Cardinals — the go-to option that takes them from competitive to formidable. 

But Berry was actually removed from the starting lineup early in the season. Walz said he made the move to encourage her to be more assertive.

“I just thought at the beginning of the year she was so passive,” he said in Raleigh. “I was like, ‘Hey, let’s just give yourself a chance to watch the start of the game. Let’s just watch it and then see how that goes. And I think it took some pressure off of her as well, and she’s embraced it.”

Berry embraced the move and has thrived in her bench role. 

“I mean, at the beginning of the season, I just felt like I wasn’t playing my best,” Berry told reporters in January after notching a career-high 33 points and 12 rebounds to push the Cardinals past NC State in overtime. “So I decided to come off the bench, and I’ve just been doing good ever since then.”

Berry is averaging 10.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.6 steals, all more than double her freshman-year output. She attributes her improvement to more time in the gym and pushing herself even on the days she doesn’t want to. But Walz is ready for her to take it up a notch. 

“I truly believe, and I’ve told her, I think she can be Player of the Year in this league if she will play for 40 minutes,” Walz said after the ACC semifinal victory. “What Imari does is she’ll score 13 in a four-minute stretch, and then she’ll end the game with 14, and I’ll be like, hey, what about the other 36 minutes? But it’s a mentality for her.”

Is Berry willing to get into elite shape? Walz said that’s the next step in her development. 

“From last year to this year, remarkable change, but what’s she going to do this spring and summer? Because that’s what separates the really good ones from the great ones,” Walz said. 

Louisville is a team known for its success in March, but the last couple of years have seen more sadness than madness. Despite making it to the ACC championship game in four out of six seasons from 2018 to 2023 and winning one title, the Cardinals fell in the quarterfinals in 2024 and 2025. And after making it to five Elite Eights and one Final Four from 2018 to 2023, the last two years, Walz’s team hasn’t made it out of the first weekend.

The Cardinals will host games the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament this year, which should help end that brief drought. But to truly get Louisville back to the Elite Eight or beyond, Berry is going to need to take over just like she did on Saturday.