By Harry Barsan

No. 21 Louisville soared to yet another comfortable win as they defeated the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in front of a packed home crowd.

Donning their grey Dirt Bowl jerseys, Louisville would see nothing but blue skies for 40 minutes.

Big game birds

The Cards got out to an early lead thanks to a trio of assitss from Chucky Hepburn.

Before much longer, the Cards extended their early lead after another Hepburn dime and three-pointer to get his first points on the board to make it a 14-8 lead for Louisville.

From that point, Louisville took full control and didn’t as much as a glance back. Reyne Smith nailed his first look from deep. Terrence Edwards Jr. rode that wave and sank one of his own. After J’Vonne Hadley grabbed a steal, Edwards hit a backbreaking three as Steve Forbes called a necessary timeout.

Things didn’t get any better for the Demon Deacons after the break, as after exiting a four-minute scoring drought Edwards responded with a three and layup to give Louisville a 31-16 advantage.

Wake had forked up seven turnovers by this point, including an embarrassing moment by former-Card Ty-Laur Johnson on what was a breakaway dunk attempt.

Out of the break, Edward found a nice three late in the shot clock to push the lead even higher. Soon after, Hepburn found James Scott wide open in the paint for an easy dunk.

Aboubacar Traore then picked up his fifth points of the night off a dunk assisted by Smith as the Cards doubled up the Deacons 40-20.

Not handling the defense of Hepburn very well, Hunter Sallis began to argue with a referee and was called for a technical foul. Hepburn hit the two free throws and nailed a three as the clock expired, sending the crowd into bedlam.

Louisville took a 45-21 lead into the half.

Soaring

The Cards got to a solid start in the second. After a few missed chances, Edwards buried a three off a pass from Scott.

A technical foul a few possessions later was called on Wake’s Efton Reid. Smith sunk both free throws as the Cards continued to capitalize off the Deacon’s mistakes.

After putting Frank Anselem-Ibe on a poster, Sallis got a little too animated with his celebration. He was called for his second technical of the game and was ejected.

Louisville would soon take their biggest lead of the game after Smith, one of the best shooters in the nation, buried yet another three to make 56-27 with just around 15 minutes to play.

Wake Forest eventually chipped away at this lead during what essentially became garbage time, only drawing within 20 at the three minute mark.

The Cards took their foot off the gas in a major way, failing to score a field goal in the final six minutes and failing to score at all in the final five.

Louisville still ended on top 72-59 after Wake successfully prettied up the score.

New year, new Cards

The Cardinals out-paced Wake in just about every facet of this matchup that mattered.

Smith and Edwards dug Wake into a deep hole with their great three-point shooting, shooting 4-of-10 and 4-of-11, respectively. Edwards had a team-high 18 points off his impressive shooting night.

Turnovers were another huge factor in this game. Even after a handful of Louisville turnovers in garbage time, the Cards still won that war 15-9. These were especially huge in the first, as they scored a third of their 45 first half points off of nine forced turnovers.

Fourteen points and eight went to Hepburn as he had yet another very solid night. Tuesday was Hepburn’s 10th straight game with seven-plus assists.

Likewise, Smith and his always-reliable four threes along with a perfect night from the line to give him 16 on the night.

Scott came up with eight boards and scored eight points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting night.

On top of improving to 16-5 on the year and 9-1 in the ACC, Louisville has extended their winning streak to 10 games.

This is the 14th streak of 10 or more games in Louisville history, and the first such streak since the 2019-20 season.

The Cards will ride this 10-game streak to Atlanta to face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets next time out.

Photo by Alex Woodard