By Derek DeBurger
Louisville was absolutely embarrassed by the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
From the very beginning, Louisville had no chance of making this a competitive game.
Wake’s first field goal was a three-pointer from Hunter Sallis which set the stage for the long day to come. Although the score was close, the Cards could not—or maybe would not—defend from behind the arc and close out on three-point shooters. The result was a barrage of wide-open looks from deep, dagger after dagger removing any sense of doubt from the Deacons’ minds. Despite missing a few wide-open looks, Wake Forest made more three-pointers in the first half than they had attempted two-pointers.
The score at the half was 33-48, Wake Forest.
The Cards continued to give up shot after shot from deep while missing the few looks they saw. Guard Tre White‘s three-pointer, with 15:37 left in the second half, was the Cards’ first make from beyond the arc. White would finish the game as the Cards’ leading scorer and rebounder with 17 points off of 7-8 shooting and six rebounds.
The game was over halfway through the second half when the Cards allowed three made three-pointers in a row pushing the lead to a game-high 26. In total, Wake Forest hit a season-high 18 in the game.
With shots like that, Louisville would go on to lose 65-90.
Despite only turning the ball over seven times and shooting 45.8% from the field, Louisville never looked like they could make the Deacons doubt themselves for a second. Had Wake Forest never taken off their sweats, it would’ve looked like they were simply warming up for two hours for a real game of basketball.
Louisville had the talent to win this game, but that wasn’t anywhere near the realm of possibility Saturday.
Louisville falls to 6-12 on the season, 1-6 in the ACC, and 10-40 under Kenny Payne.
