Louisville Digs Early Hole, Blasted at Wake Forest

The loss guarantees a losing regular season record for the Cardinals for the first time in two decades.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Playing in their final matchup before the calendar flips to March, the Louisville men's basketball program was unable to overcome a big early hole at Wake Forest, falling 99-77 Saturday at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Cardinals (12-16, 6-12 ACC) made the first basket of the game, but things went downhill from there. The Demon Deacons (22-8, 12-7 ACC) immediately fired off 17-0 run, and led by as much as 20 in the first eleven minutes of the game.

With the loss, Louisville has now dropped 12 of their last 14 games, and are guaranteed a losing regular season record for the first since the 2000-01 season - Denny Crum's final year with the Cardinals. They're also denied a regular season sweep over the Demon Deacons after winning 73-69 back on Dec. 29 at the KFC Yum! Center.

Sydney Curry poured in a career-high 28 points, with Noah Locke also putting forth 14 points. That duo combined to shoot 19-30 from the field, whereas the rest of Louisville was 12-31. Wake Forest as a team shot 58.2 percent, and forced 14 Louisville turnovers.

To give Louisville credit, they did show some early fight. After starting the game shooting just 1-8 from the field, they then shot 15-23 for the rest of the first half. Conversely, Wake Forest opened up shooting 13-18, but then followed that up with a 2-11 cold stretch, allowing Louisville to make it an eight-point game at halftime.

A pair of El Ellis free throws made it a two-possession in the opening minute of the second half, but then the floodgates burst back open for Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons shot a blistering 65.4 percent in the second half compared to 50.8 percent for the Cardinals, outscoring them 55-41 and leading by as much as 32.

Next up, Louisville will conclude their three-game road trip with a showdown at Virginia Tech. Tip-off against the Hokies is scheduled for Tuesday, Mar. 1 at 9:00 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Sydney Curry, Cameron Hildreth: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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