Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

The Cardinals stay on the road for matchup against the Demon Deacons.

Louisville Cardinals (6-11, 1-5 ACC) at Wake Forest Demon Deacons (12-5, 4-2 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, January 20 at 12:00 p.m. EST
- Location: Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C.
- How To Watch: ESPNU
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Wake Forest -16.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville leads 9-4
- Last Meeting: Wake Forest won 80-72 on Jan. 7, 2023 (KFC Yum! Center - Louisville, Ky.)

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.)

Wake Forest

• G Kevin 'Boopie' Miller (6-0, 175, R-So.)
• G Cameron Hildreth (6-4, 195, Jr.)
• G Hunter Sallis (6-5, 185, Jr.)
• F Andrew Carr (6-11, 230, Sr.)
• F/C Efton Reid (7-0, 250, Jr.)

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Demon Deacons, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape, Predictions: Louisville vs. Wake Forest

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville is heading into the fourth game of a stretch of five straight matchups against teams in the top six in the ACC standings. Those teams are a combined 22-7 in league play.
• Over the last four games, the Cardinals are 36-for-77 (46.8%) from 3-point range. They shot 28.4% from 3 over the first 13 games of the season. Louisville has also had at least 14 assists in four of the last seven games after not tallying more than 13 assists in any of the first 10 games. The Cards have outshot three of their last four opponents from the field.
• In the last four games, redshirt sophomore Mike James is averaging 19.5 points per game, while shooting 54.3% from the field (25 of 46), 75% from 3-point range (12 of 16) and 80% from the free-throw line (16-20).
• Over the last seven games, junior forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield is averaging 14.8 points and 8.4 rebounds while shooting 62.9% from the field (44 of 70). After registering two double-doubles in the first 68 games of his career, he has four in his last eight games.
• Freshman guard/forward Curtis Williams is averaging 11.7 points off the bench over the last seven games while making 19 of 42 3-pointers (45.2%). He was 5-for-18 from 3 (27.8%) over the first 10 games. After not reaching double figures in the first 10 games of his career, Williams has scored at least 11 points in five of the last seven.
• UofL associate head coach Danny Manning served as head coach at Wake Forest for six seasons from 2014-20.
• Last time out: Louisville was competitive in stretches against No. 4 North Carolina, but ultimately fell 86-70 in Chapel Hill.
• KEY FIRST HALF RUN: North Carolina scored 11 unanswered points beginning at the 17:23 mark to take a lead of 15-4 by 15:05. The Tar Heels pushed their lead as high as 20 points close to the end of the period, but a 3-pointer from Skyy Clark kept the halftime deficit at 17 points with a score of 46-29.
• KEY SECOND HALF RUN: The Cardinals used a 17-4 run between 17:02 and 12:39 to cut the Tar Heel lead to just five points at 55-50. From there, UNC went on a 10-2 run and controlled the game the rest of the way.
• UofL shot 28 of 57 (49.1%) from the field, 8 of 18 (44.4%) from 3-point range, and 6 of 13 (46.2%) from the free-throw line.
• North Carolina outscored Louisville in the paint 34-24 and beat them on the boards 40-28.

Wake Forest

• As ACC play is underway for 2023-24, the Deacs got off to a solid start with wins over Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Virginia, marking the first time Wake had started 4-1 in conference play since 2004-05. Wake Forest has had back-to-back seasons with double-digit ACC wins for the first time since the 1995-96 (12-4) and 1996-97 (11-5) seasons. The Deacs also had back-to-back-to-back 10-0 starts at home for the first time in program history in the 21-22, 22-23 and 23-24 seasons. The Deacs are currently 10-0 at home this season. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Wake Forest is 41-5 inside LJVM.
• With the win over Presbyterian before the holiday, head coach Steve Forbes is 24-0 inside LJVM against non-conference opponents.
• Senior Andrew Carr has reached the 100 career blocks, 500 career rebounds and 1,000 career points milestones all within the first 12 games of this season. His 100th block came against Rutgers, his 500th rebound against Delaware State and his 1,000th point came this past weekend against Virginia Tech.
• Cameron Hildreth has scored 799 in his two and a half seasons at Wake, putting him 201 points away from 1,000. If he averages 14.3 points for the remainder of the regular season, he will reach that milestone. He is currently averaging 15.7 ppg.
• Offensively, Wake Forest is the only ACC team, only Power conference team and one of five schools in all Division I to have three players averaging 15.7 points or more on the season, with Sallis, Miller and Hildreth all adding 15.7+ points per game. Kevin “Boopie” Miller is the only player in the ACC in the top 10 in scoring, assists, steals and free throw percentage. He is also the only player in league play in the top 5 in scoring and assists.
• In league play, the Deacs rank first in the ACC in points per game (80.0), 3-point FG percentage (40.0) and free throw percentage (82.9) and their 9.0 made three’s per game is fourth-best.
• Defensively in league play, Wake is one of the best. The Deacs have the second-best rebounding defense (32.0 pg) and outrebound teams by +4.83, a thirdbest mark. They are fourth in blocked shots (4.3 pg) and are second in league play in defensive rebounding percentage (76.8%).
• Overall on the season, the Deacs are third in the league in scoring margin, beating teams by an average of 10.5 points. Wake’s 80.59 points per game is fifth in the leage in scoring offense and their average of 8.53 made three’s per game is fourth. As a team, the Deacs are shooting a .382 clip from 3-pt range, second-best in the ACC. Wake is fourth in the league in field goal percentage, shooting 47.6 percent from the field as a team.
• The Deacs are currently 3rd in the country and first in the ACC in free throw percentage, shooting 79.9 percent from the line on the year.

(Photo of Skyy Clark: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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