Louisville men’s basketball has a quick turnaround of just over 48 hours for an ACC road game at NC State at 7 p.m. ET Thursday in Raleigh, N.C. The game will air on the ACC Network.
After two straight wins, the Cardinals suffered a 75-67 setback at home against Lipscomb on Tuesday. NC State beat Vanderbilt 70-66 on Saturday in the Legends of Basketball Showcase in Chicago, Ill.
Louisville is 14-11 all-time against NC State and had won three in a row in the series before a 79-63 home loss on Jan. 12 of last season. NC State head coach Kevin Keatts was an assistant coach and later associate head coach at Louisville under Rick Pitino from 2011-14.
GAME 13
Louisville (2-10, 0-2 ACC) at NC State (10-3, 0-2 ACC)
December 22, 2022 | 7 p.m. ET
PNC Center | Raleigh, N.C.
MEDIA INFO
Listen: Cardinal Sports Network (WLCL 93.9 FM & WGTK 970 AM flagship); Streaming (Paul Rogers, pxp | Bob Valvano, analysis)
Watch: ACC Network (Mike Corey, pxp | Dan Bonner, analyst)
Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
TOP STORYLINES
• Over the last three games, senior guard El Ellis has averaged 22.3 points, 7.7 assists and 2.7 rebounds while making 8 of 19 3-pointers. He set career highs against Western Kentucky with 30 points and 10 assists. Ellis is the first Cardinal to hit those marks since current team video coordinator Reece Gaines did it against TCU on March 6, 2002. It’s the 22nd time nationally since 2018 that a player has reached those numbers, and Ellis is the first player in Division I to do so this season.
• After averaging 1.7 points and 3.6 rebounds across the first nine games, senior forward Sydney Curry is averaging 11.7 points and 10.7 rebounds over the last three games while shooting 65% overall. His career-high 19 rebounds against Florida A&M were the most by a Cardinal since Luke Whitehead grabbed 19 boards against Marquette on Jan. 31, 2004.
• Junior forward JJ Traynor has made more 3-pointers in 11 games this season (10 of 24, .417) than he did in his first two full seasons combined (7 of 16).
• Freshman forward Kamari Lands has averaged 10 points per game off the bench across Louisville’s last three games, while making 15 of 16 free throws. Lands has made 30 of 32 free throws overall this season (93.8%), which ranks him fifth nationally and first in the ACC. Lands is the only freshman in the top 25 in the country for free-throw percentage.
• One of the Cardinals’ strengths as a team has been getting to the free-throw line. Louisville ranks 92nd in the country in free throws made per game at 14.1 and 39th in free-throw percentage at 75.4%. Louisville has shot at least 20 free throws in each of the last three games and is 56 of 68 overall (82.4%) from the charity stripe over that span.
• The Cardinals are 10 games into a 16-game stretch that will see them face 12 teams in the top 85 of the KenPom rankings and 14 teams in the top 150. As of Wednesday, the average KenPom ranking of Louisville’s opponents over that 16-game span was 87 with an overall record of 126-60.
HISTORY VS. NC STATE (Louisville leads 14-11)
Last Meeting: NC State 79, Louisville 63
Jan. 12, 2022 | Louisville, Ky.
Freshman Terquavion Smith scored 24 points, Jericole Hellems added 19 and the duo combined for 11 of North Carolina State’s 12 3-pointers in a 79-63 victory over Louisville.
NC State, coached by former Louisville assistant coach Kevin Keatts, won just its third game at Louisville in 10 attempts. The Cardinals had won six of the last seven overall.
Smith made three 3-pointers during a 16-0 run, including two on back-to-back possessions, for a 31-18 lead. N.C. State started 7 of 13 from 3-point range and finished 12 of 25 (48%) after entering averaging 32% behind the arc.
Dereon Seabron had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists for NC State. Smith was 9 of 13 from the field, 6 of 9 behind the arc, to finish three points shy of his season high. Hellems was 7 of 10, going 5 for 7 from deep.
Sydney Curry, averaging 2.8 points per game and seven minutes, scored 22 points in 24 minutes for Louisville. Noah Locke and Dre Davis each added 13 points.
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| ZACH GREENWELLAssociate Athletic Director, Media Relations &Strategic Communications (Men’s Basketball)University of Louisville Athletics |
