January 28, 2025
No. 21 Louisville will play host to Wake Forest after a 30 pt outing from Reyne Smith in Louisville’s 98-73 win over the SMU Mustangs.
The Cardinals are 8-3 on their home court this season. Louisville scores 79.4 points and has outscored opponents by 9.6 points per game. The Demon Deacons have gone 7-2 against ACC opponents. Wake Forest is 2-0 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
Louisville scores 79.4 points, 13.8 more per game than the 65.6 Wake Forest gives up. Wake Forest averages 5.9 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.9 fewer made shots on average than the 7.8 per game Louisville gives up.
With consecutive victories over Syracuse, Miami and Virginia Tech, the Demon Deacons have won each of their last three conference road matches – the program’s longest streak since the 2003-04 season.
Most recently, Wake Forest battled then-No. 2 Duke this past Saturday in front of its largest home crowd of 2024-25, as 13,169 fans filled LJVM Coliseum. Freshman Juke Harris paced the scoring with a team-high 14 points, in addition to grabbing five rebounds in just under 27 minutes off the bench.
Louisville leads the overall series 9-5. The Deacs have won the past three matchups against the Cardinals. The Cardinals have won nine games in a row and are coming off a bye week following a Jan. 21 road victory at SMU. Four of the team’s five starters average 12 or more points, led by Chucky Hepburn’s 15.1 ppg clip. Louisville has pieced an 8-3 record at home with head coach Pat Kelsey in his first year leading the program.
The Cardinals and Demon Deacons meet Tuesday for the first time in ACC play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: J’Vonne Hadley is averaging 12 points and 7.6 rebounds for the Cardinals. Smith is averaging 16.8 points over the last 10 games.
Cameron Hildreth is averaging 13.7 points, 3.2 assists and 1.6 steals for the Demon Deacons. Hunter Sallis is averaging 20.7 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 53.8% over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 9-1, averaging 82.6 points, 34.9 rebounds, 14.9 assists, 5.4 steals and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 45.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.8 points per game.
Demon Deacons: 8-2, averaging 73.0 points, 29.9 rebounds, 10.3 assists, 7.4 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 47.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.4 points.
Notable Quotes:
Steve Forbes: “The games are coming at you in rapid-fire here, But it’s a great opportunity, right? It’s a great opportunity to get an unbelievable road win. And so that’s how we look at it.”
Louisville guard Chucky Hepburn: “I love playing with this team, “We’re coming a long way. We still have a lot of room to grow. One thing that I love about this team is we never gave up. If we lost, it was the next day, we were practicing, and we were just getting to it.
Steve Forbes: “We got a good basketball team, and we could pretty much play with anybody. I’ve never been discouraged with this group of guys because they fight and they play so hard and they’ve learned that no matter how the offense is going, the defense keeps us in the game.”
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