Louisville looks for its third consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference win Wednesday night when it travels to Raleigh, N.C., to take on North Carolina State.
The Cardinals (18-6, 11-2 ACC) have won two in a row since suffering a loss at Georgia Tech that got them booted out of the AP Top 25.
Louisville is coming off an 88-78 home win over Miami on Saturday in which Terrence Edwards Jr. and Reyne Smith combined for 53 points, 15 assists and nine rebounds.
Both Edwards and Smith transferred into Louisville last offseason from mid-major programs — Edwards from James Madison where he was the Sun Belt Player of the Year, and Smith from the College of Charleston — and they have been catalysts for Louisville’s big turnaround this season under first-year coach Pat Kelsey.
“Terrence accepted that challenge and played for 40 minutes and never came out of the game. He was sensational,” Kelsey said. “Reyne played a million minutes, which was really good for us.”
Louisville has more wins than the past two seasons combined (12-52) and is eyeing its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2019.
Smith leads the ACC in 3-pointers made with 91, which is second nationally. He knocked down 6 of 16 shots from deep against Miami and will be facing a Wolfpack defense that has allowed 6.6 3-pointers per game during its eight-game losing streak.
Most recently, NC State (9-14, 2-10) is coming off a 74-73 loss at Stanford where Trey Parker scored 19 points and Dontrez Styles had 18. It wasn’t enough, however, as the Wolfpack gave up a late layup and Parker missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer.
It was a game where the Wolfpack shot 37.7 percent from the floor and allowed Stanford to shoot 50 percent.
While Louisville can think about March Madness, NC State is likely going to miss the NCAA Tournament after making the Final Four last season.
“We haven’t been on the winning end in a lot of these games. I don’t know that any team would still be fighting the way we are,” coach Kevin Keatts said. “I’m proud of our guys. … No one can say we’re not fighting.”
–Field Level Media
