LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Late start. Cold, rainy night. Midweek game. I know what my excuse was for being sluggish at the start of No. 5-ranked Louisville’s game against Wake Forest in the KFC Yum! Center on Wednesday. I’m not sure what the Cardinals’ excuse was.
Whatever the case, Louisville played a lackluster first half, not helped by Wake Forest shooting far above its season percentage. The Demon Deacons led by 12 at the half, dominated the boards, and kept the Cardinals out of the paint.
That Louisville would be sleepwalking was confusing. I mean, “Wake” is right there on the other team’s jerseys. Regardless, whatever soothing, gentle words Chris Mack delivered at halftime seemed to do the trick.
"I thought our energy level was better in the second half," Mack said. "I think that was obvious. But I'd remiss if I didn't give Wake Forest credit. They came out ready to play. I give them a lot of credit. Sometimes you just want to talk about your own team, but I thought his team was really ready to play, changed defenses well. I thought we really responded in the second half, we were a completely different team. Frustrating. Your guess is as good as mine. We better figure it out, or it's going to bite us in the ass."
Mack said several players voiced frustration about the team's energy level at halftime.
"We didn't change our defense in the second half," Mack said. "We didn't do anything different, we just did what we were doing a whole lot better. . . . We have to be much more electric to start the game."
The Cardinals came out in the second half with an edge, erased a 14-point deficit in less than five minutes and used late free throws to pull away to an 86-76 victory.
In the end, it was a 3-point takedown for the Cards, who made a season-high 14 3s (and only 10 2s). They went 14 for 28 from beyond the arc, and 6 for 12 in the second half.
Credit Lamarr "Fresh" Kimble and Dwayne Sutton with the initial wave of energy and toughness. Kimble had his most productive offensive night of the season and scored the first 4 points of the second half for Louisville, with Dwayne Sutton scoring the next 5. Then it was 4 straight for Steven Enoch, 4 in a row for Ryan McMahon (all on one play), and 5 straight for Jordan Nwora.
In the midst of that came a 15-0 Louisville run, amid a renewed defensive effort from the Cardinals, who held Wake Forest without a field goal for 4½ minutes while making 9 of 10 on their own offensive end.
As good as the second half was, the first was inexplicably listless. The Cardinals never led, trailed by 11 after 10 minutes and did not get within single digits for the final nine minutes of the first half. They made only four 2-point shots in the period and were beaten on the glass on both ends.
Unable to solve Wake Forest’s 2-3 zone early, the Cardinals went one nearly five-minute stretch not only without a point, but without a paint touch.
As it was, their 3-point shooting carried them until they were able to get some drives to the basket – and some trips to the free-throw line – in the second half.
Still, they couldn’t quite put the game away even after grabbing a nine-point lead with just over nine minutes to play.
A Kimble 3 with 2:40 left pushed Louisville's lead back to 8, and the Cards used free throws to extend their final margin.
Kimble finished with a season-high 14 points. Louisville was led by Nwora with 21 points. Sutton added 15; Malik Williams and Steven Enoch had 11, and McMahon finished with 12. Louisville (20-3, 11-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) will face Virginia at 4 p.m. on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center.
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