Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. NC State Wolfpack

The Cardinals return home to face the Wolfpack after snapping their three-game skid and 22-game losing streak on the road.

NC State Wolfpack (11-4, 3-1 ACC) at Louisville Cardinals (6-9, 1-3 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, January 13 at 12:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: CW Network
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: NC State -6.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 14-2
- Last Meeting: NC State won 76-64 on Dec. 22, 2022 (PNC Arena - Raleigh, N.C.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

• G Skyy Clark (6-3, 205, So.)
• G Hercy Miller (6-3, 175, Jr.)
• G/F Mike James (6-5, 200, R-So.)
• F Danilo Jovanovich (6-8, 220, So.)
• F Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (6-10, 240, Jr.)

NC State

• G D.J. Horne (6-2, 180, Gr.)
• G Casey Morsell (6-3, 200, Gr.)
• G Jayden Taylor (6-4, 195, Jr.)
• G Dennis Parker Jr. (6-6, 205, Fr.)
• F D.J. Burns Jr. (6-9, 275, Gr.)

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Wolfpack, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape, Predictions: Louisville vs. NC State

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville’s 80-71 win at Miami on Wednesday was the program’s first true road win in its last 23 tries, and the first since winning at Georgia Tech on Jan. 2, 2022. Miami was 25-1 in its previous 26 home games coming into the contest.
• KEY FIRST HALF RUN: Between 16:39 and 12:45, Louisville used a 15-2 run to gain an 18-10 edge over the Hurricanes. Thirteen of the Cardinals’ 15 points came at the hands of Mike James with three 3’s and two additional jumpers. Miami responded with a 12-2 run of their own to regain a steady lead through the end of the half.
• KEY SECOND HALF RUN: The Hurricanes used an 8-0 run early in the half to extend their lead to eight points, eventually pushing it to as much as nine. Louisville closed the game with seven unanswered points to tie it up at 57-all with just under 10 minutes remaining. The Cards and Canes went blow for blow with one another until Louisville scored the final nine points of the game, seven from the free throw line, to seal the win.
• UofL shot 28 of 57 (49.1%) from the field, 14 of 28 (50.0%) from 3-point range, and 14 of 16 (87.5%) from the free-throw line.
• Louisville scored 24 points off of 13 Miami miscues.
• The Cardinals bench scored 23 points compared to the Hurricane’s eight.
• Louisville’s next four games are against the current top four teams in the ACC standings (combined 13-3 in league play).
• Over the last two games, the Cardinals are 20-for-44 (45.5%) from 3-point range. They’re shooting 31% from deep on the season. Louisville is also averaging 14.6 assists per game over its last five outings.
• In the last two games, redshirt sophomore Mike James is averaging 24.5 points per game, while shooting 66.7% from the field (16 of 24), 76.9% from 3-point range (10 of 13) and 87.5% from the free-throw line (7-8). He scored a career-high 26 points at Miami, including 16 points and four 3-pointers in the game’s first seven minutes.
• Over the last six games, junior forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield is averaging 15.0 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting 65% from the field (31 of 48) and 77% from the free-throw line (27-35). He was the first Cardinal to register three straight double-doubles since Dwayne Sutton did it from Jan. 9-16 in 2019.
• Freshman guard/forward Curtis Williams is averaging 11.8 points off the bench over the last five games while making 13 of 32 3-pointers (40.6%). After not reaching double figures in the first 10 games of his career, Williams has scored at least 11 points in four of the last five. He had a career-high five assists at Miami after entering the game with seven total.

NC State

• NC State, which was off to its best start in ACC play since the 2012-13 season at 3-0, dropped its first conference game of the season Wednesday night, falling to rival UNC, 67-54.
• Despite never getting on track offensively, NC State was only down 48-46 with a little over 10 minutes remaining, but the Pack only made three field goals the rest of the game as a 19-4 UNC run over the next six minutes gave the Tar Heels a 67-50 lead with 4:00 to go.
• All nine NC State players that played against UNC scored on Wednesday night, but only Casey Morsell (12 points) and DJ Burns, Jr. (11) reached double figures. Despite an off-shooting night, DJ Horne grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and led NC State with four assists. Michael O’Connell came off-the-bench and added a game-high three steals.
• NC State set season-lows in field goals made (18), field goal percentage (27.3%), three-point field goals made (2) and three-point field goal percentage (10.0%) against the Tar Heels. Despite forcing 13 North Carolina turnovers, NC State only had eight points off turnovers which was the fewest for the Pack since Dec. 2.
• Michael O’Connell had his turnover-less streak snapped in the final minutes of the game against UNC. O’Connell had been on a five-game streak with zero turnovers and had gone nearly a month since last committing a turnover (Dec. 12 vs. UT Martin). The Stanford transfer has now passed out 19 assists with just one turnover in the Pack’s last five games.
• NC State committed 10 turnovers against 13 UNC turnovers. The Pack has now had fewer turnovers than its opponents in 13 of 15 games this season. NC State has a +5.2 turnover margin on the season which ranks eighth in the NCAA.
• NC State has won its first two ACC road games for the first time since the 2010-11 season. A win on Saturday would be the first time since the 2001-02 team the Pack won its first three ACC road games. A win on Saturday would also give NC State its longest road win streak since the Pack won five straight conference road wins to end the 2020-21 regular season.
• Dating back to last season, NC State has won eight of its last 10 ACC games played in the month of January. The Pack won six of its seven ACC games last January and two of three this January.
• Whose day will it be? NC State has had six different players lead the team in scoring this season, including five different players in the last four games (Dennis Parker, Jr., and Jayden Taylor tied for team-high honors with each scoring 15 points in the win over Virginia last Saturday). This season, only once has NC State had the same leading scorer in back-to-back games.
• It’s not just points - the Pack also has had three different players lead the team in assists and three different players lead the team in rebounds in its last three outings. NC State’s ability to have different players step up on different days has made the Pack the only team in the ACC that doesn’t have an individual scorer in the top-20 of the conference, an individual rebounder in the top-20 of the conference or an individual in the ACC’s top-15 in assists.
• Get back to scoring off turnovers: In the last two games, NC State has only scored 17 total points off opponent turnovers. In the six games previous to the last two, the Pack was averaging 19.5 points per game off opponent turnovers.
• ACC foes have limited the Pack’s transition points: In 11 non-conference games this season, NC State averaged 17.1 fast break points per game but that number has been cut nearly in half in ACC play where the Pack averages just 9.5 fast break point an outing in four conference games. NC State scored 16 fast break points in the win over Boston College in December but has just 22 fast break points total in its last three outings.
• January Doldrums for DJ Horne: After an excellent December that saw DJ Horne average 18.8 points per game and shoot 53.3 percent from the field, including 24 three-pointers in six games. So far in three games in January, Horne is averaging just 9.3 points per game and shooting just 24.4 percent from the field and is just 4-of-15 from three-point range.
• Casey Morsell scored the 1,000th point of his collegiate career in Wednesday’s game at UNC. Morsell has scored 788 points in an NC State uniform. With at least 17 guaranteed games remaining, Morsell needs to average 12.4 points per the rest of the season to become the 57th member of NC State’s 1,000-point club.
• Graduate guard Michael O’Connell has passed out 19 assists and just one turnover in the last five outings. He has played 96 minutes off-the-bench in the last five games.
• Dennis Parker, Jr., grabbing hold of starting four-man role. DJ Burns, DJ Horne, Casey Morsell and Jayden Taylor have started every game this season, but the four-man role in the starting lineup has changed hands a few times. Mohamed Diarra started the first five games before giving way to Parker for one game and then Ben Middlebrooks started two consecutive games before Parker, Jr., moved back into the starting lineup for the UT Martin game on Dec. 12. Parker, Jr., has started every game since then and is averaging 8.7 points 6.0 rebounds per game over the last seven outings as a starter.
• Ben Middlebrooks carving out a role. Over the last five games, the junior transfer from Clemson, is playing 15.6 minutes per game off the bench and is averaging 6.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in a backup role behind DJ Burns, Jr. Middlebrooks has been efficient offensively, shooting 57.9% (11-of-19) from the field during the four game stretch.

(Photo of Mike James, Terquavion Smith: Jaylynn Nash - USA TODAY Sports)

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