By Elizabeth Scanland

Louisville gets embarrassed by the No. 22 NC State Wolfpack in a game that was never close.

Off to the races

NC State won the tip and quickly got on the board with a wide-open layup from Madison Hayes and didn’t look back. The Pack started the game off with a 10-0 run in which the Cards looked completely shell shocked.

The Cards finally got on the board with a layup from Nyla Harris followed by steal and a wide-open layup by Tajianna Roberts. Louisville was unable to get any momentum going, however, as the Cards went on a scoring drought for several minutes after their initial points.

While the Wolfpack were also missing easy shots, they had better rebounding efforts and elite ball control which limited turnovers.

The Cards trailed 6-19 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter started will a foul on NC State’s Zamareya Jones followed by two made free throws for Jayda Curry.

Quickly after, Jones hit a deep three-pointer while being fouled by Olivia Cochran, forcing Jones to the line to finish the four-point play.

Louisville finally hit a good shot when Curry hit Louisville’s first three of the night. NC State quickly responded with a layup by Jones, but the Cards were able to punch back with a layup of their own by Merissah Russell. This was the first instance of back-to-back buckets for the Cards during the whole game but not much improved.

After back-to-back three from NC State’s Laci Steele, hope completely faded for the Cards.

However, after a steal from Roberts followed by a layup for Cochran, the Cards came out of nowhere to force an 8-1 scoring run in the final minutes of the half.

In spite of being down bad, the Cards seemed to gain a little momentum, and the crowd responded well.

The Cards went into the locker room down 34-61 at the half.

The scoring run, however, did nothing for the second half performance of the Cards.

The third and fourth quarters were more of the same. Louisville just didn’t hav the fight in them to stage a comeback.

Louisville lost 72-42.

Where do we go from here?

Another bad loss for the Cards as they fall to 0-5 against ranked teams.

While at times, Louisville got a few good looks, NC State was the better team on both sides of the ball and dominated from start to finish, never giving Louisville a chance.

The 10-0 run to start the game shook the young core of the team, and they had no response.

After the initial run, however, Louisville played decent defense. They forced 23 turnovers, and didn’t let the Wolfpack shoot too high above their season averages.

The problem was on offense. Louisville shot 23.9% from the field and 8.7% from three with 17 turnovers. The bad rebounding efforts and sloppy shooting from all over the floor hurt Louisville the most as they clearly let the momentum of the game effect their offensive capabilities.

The Cards need to bounce back quick as the ACC is an extremely competitive conference and with the new year just around the corner, the slate is only going to get more difficult.

The Cards fall to 6-5 on the season and 0-1 in the ACC.

The Cards go on the road to play Memphis on the Dec. 21.

Photo Courtesy // Caleb Jones, Louisville Athletics