RALEIGH, N.C. – The University of Louisville men's basketball team shot a season-high 63.6% from the field, the first time shooting over 60% since Nov. 29, 2020, to beat NC State on the road in a 91-66 victory on Wednesday night.
It’s Louisville’s first time in program history logging five 20-point plus victories on the road in a single season.
The Cardinals had four starters score 15+ points including Terrence Edwards Jr. and Reyne Smith who both scored a team high 21 points. Chucky Hepburn, after missing the last game with an injury, scored 15 and added in six assists. J’Vonne Hadley scored 17 points with nine boards in the win.
“I’ve known Kevin [Keatts] for a long time,” said head coach Pat Kelsey. “Way back when I was a young assistant and he was running the best high school program in the country. We got to be friends and I have a ton of respect for him. I told him this summer that what he did last year was maybe one of the greatest coaching jobs in the last 20 years. His kids play so hard. They disrupt. They really force you in practice and the two days of preparation to throw away a lot of what you do because you have to go against their denial and their pressure. You just don’t see that type of defense very often and it’s hard to prepare for. There’s probably a really good chance we’ll see them down the road again. I wish him all the luck. I’m proud of our guys. Winning on the road in college basketball isn’t easy. These guys continue to prepare the right way and carry out the game plan. NC State has a bunch of very athletic and talented attacking guards. We worked hard the last couple of days on trying to do a good job of guarding the basketball and trying to keep the floor tight and take away a lot of their driving lines. I think our guys for the most part did a pretty good job of that. I thought Khani Rooths gave us a great second half after not playing many minutes early in the first half. We had five guys in double figures.
[Aboubacar] Traore had nine so I’m counting him right there. We shared the ball, played well together, stepped up and made shots, and really guarded.”
Louisville improves to 19-6 overall and 12-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, while NC State falls to 9-15 overall and 2-11 in the ACC. The win marks the third Cardinals win in a row and their first over the Wolfpack since 2021.
Louisville came out of the gates firing, scoring the first seven points of the contest and forcing an NC State timeout at the 16:00 mark while leading 11-3. Momentum remained on the Cardinals' side, forcing another Wolfpack timeout with 11:25 left in the first half as the lead grew to 23-8 after an Edwards Jr. three.
NC State responded, trimming the lead to nine with just 1:11 left in the first half before a pair of Louisville baskets gave the Cardinals a 41-27 halftime lead. Edwards Jr. led all Louisville scorers after the first 20 minutes with 12 points.
Louisville started the second half strong, extending its lead to 20 on a Hadley putback with 14:38 to play. With the shot clock winding down, Edwards Jr. knocked down a three to extend the Cardinals lead to 63-40 coming out of the under 12 timeout. Louisville held on to its lead for the rest of the second half, closing out the game 91-66.
Louisville shot a season-high 63.6 percent from the field, 58 percent from deep and a near perfect 10 of 11 from the charity stripe. The Cardinals outrebounded the Wolfpack 34-28 and dominated the paint, scoring 46 in the painted area to NC State’s 16.
UofL will travel to South Bend to take on Notre Dame and the Fighting Irish on Sunday. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. and can be seen on the ACC Network.
