'Teachable Moments' Emerge in Louisville's Victory vs. Wake Forest

The Cardinals led by as much as 29, but only defeated the Demon Deacons by 13.
Jan 28, 2025; Louisville, Kentucky, USA;  Wake Forest Demon Deacons guard Ty-Laur Johnson (8) pressures Louisville Cardinals guard Terrence Edwards Jr. (5) during the first half at KFC Yum! Center. Louisville defeated Wake Forest 72-59.
Jan 28, 2025; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons guard Ty-Laur Johnson (8) pressures Louisville Cardinals guard Terrence Edwards Jr. (5) during the first half at KFC Yum! Center. Louisville defeated Wake Forest 72-59. / Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Few teams in men's college basketball are as hot as Louisville is right now. The Cardinals have won their last ten games to match their longest winning streak in five years, and have firmly entrenched themselves as the second-best team in the conference behind Duke.

Their Tuesday night showdown with Wake Forest was a perfect example of their heightened play over the last month. In a matchup pitting two of the top four teams in the ACC against each other, the Cardinals made the Demon Deacons look like a team that was dwelling in the league's basement.

While both teams were clunky right out of the gates, Louisville quickly found their groove and began to leave Wake Forest in the dust. By the time halftime came, they were already up 45-21, marking the first time since 2004 that the Cardinals posted back-to-back halftime leads of at least 20 points. Not to mention this was coming against a team that had Duke on the ropes in their previous time out.

“Wake is a really good team," head coach Pat Kelsey. "One of the best teams defensively in our conference, they are tough and physical. We knew that we had our work cut out for us. I thought our guys played 30-32 minutes, at times, as good of basketball that we have played all year."

There's a reason Kelsey didn't reference the final 8-10 minutes of the game, because it was a segment where Louisville didn't play their best basketball.

While the Cardinals led by as much as 29 points and were even up by 26 with just under eight minutes to go, it was clear that they took their foot off the gas on both ends of the floor to close things out.

Wake Forest ended the game on an 18-5 run, which included scoring the final 11 points, and wound up out-scoring Louisville 38-27 in the second half to snap a streak of 15 consecutive halves that the Cards had out-scored their opponents. During this half, UofL shot just 6-of-24, while WF was 15-of-29.

Of course, Louisville still wound up finishing with a 72-59 victory that wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicated. That being said, the end of that game presented what Kelsey called "teachable moments" to his team.

"No matter what the score is, if you’re up 20, you’re up 25, you’re up 27, when we get to those media timeouts the first question I always ask is ‘what’s the score?’ They all say, ‘zero to zero,’ and we’re just trying to win that next four-minute segment," Kelsey said. "Typically, our team is really good in that regard.

"The last eight minutes it wasn’t that way, but it’s good that we have some teachable moments and some things we can clean up late in the game. I thought we generated some open shots. We couldn’t really get any to go down, and I felt like it kind of affected our defense a little bit, and that hasn’t been the case. It’s good that we have some things and I can have a little bit of an aggressive counseling session with them tomorrow.”

This "aggressive counseling" got a head start towards the end of the game. In the midst of Wake Forest's 18-5 run to end the game, Kelsey called a timeout with 5:23 left while up 22 points - and was very animated with his team.

"We gave up a free throw, an offensive rebound off a free throw, which is a cardinal sin, I mean, it drives me nuts," he said. "So, we had two back-to-back plays where we didn't block out and [Wake Forest] got second shots. [That’s] just not what we're about. I don't care what the score is, it's not acceptable. So, we can learn from it and we'll be better moving forward.” 

Complacency is part of human nature, but considering how light Louisville's remaining schedule is - their next four games are all to sub-.500 teams - they can ill afford to have a major slip up over the final few weeks. Fortunately, the players recognize this, and are already taking steps forward to combat complacency.

"PK, he just doesn't stop," guard Reyne Smith said after the game. "We definitely put our foot off the gas, and we got to pride ourselves on finishing games strong. No one takes it harder than ourselves as a team. The coaches end up just having to remind us, like, 'We won. Be happy about winning.' But yeah, no one takes pride in finishing like what we do. We just got to kind of finish those, especially when we get up with that lead. It's just finishing strong."

Louisville will be back in action this weekend at Georgia Tech. Tip-off is set for Saturday, Feb. 1 at 3:45 p.m. EST.

(Photo of Ty-Laur Johnson, Terrence Edwards Jr.: Jamie Rhodes - Imagn Images)

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Matthew McGavic
MATTHEW MCGAVIC

McGavic is a 2016 Sport Administration graduate of the University of Louisville, and a native of the Derby City. He has been covering the Cardinals in various capacities since 2017, with a brief stop in Atlanta, Ga. on the Georgia Tech beat. He is also a co-host of the 'From The Pink Seats' podcast on the State of Louisville network. Video gamer, bourbon drinker and dog lover. Find him on Twitter at @Matt_McGavic