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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAfter blowing a 15-point second-half lead, Louisville held Wake Forest without a field goal over the final 5 minutes and 19 seconds of regulation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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- Louisville basketball hosts N.C. State at 7 p.m. Monday in a Quad 1 game at the KFC Yum! Center.<\/li>\n
- Pat Kelsey’s 23rd-ranked Cardinals have won three in a row, while Will Wade’s Wolfpack have racked up six straight victories.<\/li>\n
- Who has the edge in this ACC showdown? Here’s our prediction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
For better or worse, we’re going learn a lot about Louisville basketball<\/a> today.<\/p>\n
Pat Kelsey<\/a>‘s No. 23 Cardinals (17-6, 7-4 ACC) will put their three-game winning streak to the test in a Quad 1 tilt against red-hot N.C. State<\/a>, winners of six in a row, at the KFC Yum! Center<\/a>. It’s a white-out.<\/p>\n
UofL is coming off an 88-80 win at Wake Forest<\/a> over the weekend. It led by as many as 15 points during the second half but allowed the Demon Deacons to draw level with 4:44 remaining in regulation before holding them scoreless the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
“Playing desperate,” Khani Rooths<\/a> said to describe Louisville’s defensive stand down the stretch. “We knew what we needed to do to win. We got stops; and we just had to finish it with the boards.”<\/p>\n
N.C. State will be the best test of the Cards’ ceiling since their last appearance on Big Monday, which ended in the most lopsided loss of Kelsey’s tenure \u2014 83-52 at then-No. 4 Duke<\/a>. Led by first-year coach Will Wade, the Wolfpack improved to 11-2 since Dec. 17 and 24th on KenPom.com<\/a>‘s adjusted efficiency rankings with an 82-73 win against Virginia Tech over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Preseason ACC Player of the Year Darrion Williams leads N.C. State in scoring with 14.7 points on 42.5% shooting (41.7% from 3-point range) to go along with 5.3 rebounds, three assists and a steal per game. Point guard Quadir Copeland, meanwhile, has the ACC’s second-best assist rate (44.8%, seven per game) in addition to averaging 14 points on 52.9% shooting and 1.9 steals. The big man to watch: Ven-Allen Lubin, who leads the Wolfpack with seven rebounds per game and is fourth in scoring (13.3).<\/p>\n
Here’s what you need to know to follow today’s game from home \u2014 then a score prediction:<\/p>\n
UofL and N.C. State are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. today inside the Yum! Center.<\/p>\n
The game between the Cards and the Wolfpack will air on ESPN, which is channel 602 on AT&T U-Verse; channel 206 on DirecTV; channel 140 on Dish; and channel 506 on Spectrum.<\/p>\n
Dave O’Brien (play-by-play), Jay Williams (analyst) and Molly McGrath (sideline) will be on the call.<\/p>\n
If you subscribe to a cable package, you’ll be able to livestream the game via\u00a0ESPN.com<\/a>\u00a0and the ESPN app. If you don’t have cable, you can livestream the game via Fubo, which\u00a0offers a free trial here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Louisville is a 6\u215f\u2082-point favorite (-110) on\u00a0DraftKings<\/a>, which set the over\/under at 162\u215f\u2082 points (-110).\u00a0<\/p>\n
No. 23 Louisville 79, N.C. State 73:<\/strong> The Cards’ frontcourt has been playing better of late, and I think Ryan Conwell<\/a> and Mikel Brown Jr.<\/a> are due for a big scoring night \u2014 although the Wolfpack’s backcourt is going to be a problem on both ends of the court. After siding against Kelsey’s team the past few times I’ve done these predictions for big games, I think tonight’s the night they get it done. Because they’ve never needed it more than they do now.<\/p>\n
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- Friday, Oct. 24:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Kansas (exhibition) |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Kansas 90, Louisville 82<\/a><\/li>\n
- Tuesday, Oct. 28:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Bucknell (exhibition) |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 99, Bucknell 76<\/a><\/li>\n
- Monday, Nov. 3:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. South Carolina State |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 104, South Carolina State 45<\/a><\/li>\n
- Thursday, Nov. 6:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Jackson State |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 106, Jackson State 70<\/a><\/li>\n
- Tuesday, Nov. 11:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Kentucky |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 96, Kentucky 88<\/a><\/li>\n
- Saturday, Nov. 15<\/strong>:\u00a0vs. Ohio |\u00a0SCORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Louisville 106, Ohio 81<\/a><\/li>\n
- Friday, Nov. 21:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Cincinnati |\u00a0SCORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Louisville 74, Cincinnati 64<\/a><\/li>\n
- Monday, Nov. 24:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Eastern Michigan |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 87, Eastern Michigan 46<\/a><\/li>\n
- Wednesday, Nov. 26:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. NJIT |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 104, NJIT 47<\/a><\/li>\n
- Wednesday, Dec. 3:<\/strong>\u00a0at Arkansas (ACC\/SEC Challenge) |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Arkansas 89, Louisville 80<\/a><\/li>\n
- Saturday, Dec. 6:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Indiana (at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis) |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 87, Indiana 78<\/a><\/li>\n
- Saturday, Dec. 13:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Memphis |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 99, Memphis 73<\/a><\/li>\n
- Tuesday, Dec. 16:<\/strong>\u00a0at Tennessee |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Tennessee 83, Louisville 62<\/a><\/li>\n
- Saturday, Dec. 20:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Montana |\u00a0SCORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Louisville 94, Montana 54<\/a><\/li>\n
- Tuesday, Dec. 30:<\/strong>\u00a0at California |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 90, California 70<\/a><\/li>\n
- Friday, Jan. 2:<\/strong>\u00a0at Stanford |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Stanford 80, Louisville 76<\/a><\/li>\n
- Tuesday, Jan. 6:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Duke |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Duke 84, Louisville 73<\/a><\/li>\n
- Saturday, Jan. 10:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Boston College |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 75, Boston College 62<\/a><\/li>\n
- Tuesday, Jan. 13:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Virginia |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Virginia 79, Louisville 70<\/a><\/li>\n
- Saturday, Jan. 17:<\/strong>\u00a0at Pittsburgh |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 100, Pittsburgh 59<\/a><\/li>\n
- Saturday, Jan. 24:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Virginia Tech |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 85, Virginia Tech 71<\/a><\/li>\n
- Monday, Jan. 26:<\/strong>\u00a0at Duke |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Duke 83, Louisville 52<\/a><\/li>\n
- Saturday, Jan. 31:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. SMU |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 88, SMU 74<\/a><\/li>\n
- Wednesday, Feb. 4:\u00a0<\/strong>vs. Notre Dame |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 76, Notre Dame 65<\/a><\/li>\n
- Saturday, Feb. 7:<\/strong>\u00a0at Wake Forest | SCORE:<\/strong> Louisville 88, Wake Forest 80<\/a><\/li>\n
- Monday, Feb. 9:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. N.C. State, 7 p.m., ESPN<\/li>\n
- Saturday, Feb. 14:\u00a0<\/strong>vs. Baylor (at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas), 4 p.m., ESPN<\/li>\n
- Tuesday, Feb. 17:<\/strong>\u00a0at SMU, 7 p.m., either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU<\/li>\n
- Saturday, Feb. 21:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Georgia Tech, 2:15 p.m., The CW<\/li>\n
- Monday, Feb. 23:\u00a0<\/strong>at North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPN<\/li>\n
- Saturday, Feb. 28:<\/strong>\u00a0at Clemson, TBA, either ESPN or ESPN2<\/li>\n
- Tuesday, March 3:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Syracuse, 9 p.m., ACC Network<\/li>\n
- Saturday, March 7:<\/strong>\u00a0at Miami, 2 p.m., either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU<\/li>\n
- Tuesday, March 10, through Saturday, March 14:\u00a0<\/strong>ACC Tournament (Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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- Tuesday, Oct. 28:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Bucknell (exhibition) |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Louisville 99, Bucknell 76<\/a><\/li>\n
- Friday, Oct. 24:<\/strong>\u00a0vs. Kansas (exhibition) |\u00a0SCORE:<\/strong>\u00a0Kansas 90, Louisville 82<\/a><\/li>\n