Previewing Louisville at Wake Forest

Louisville Cardinals (16-6, 6-4) at Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11-11, 2-7)

Game Time: Noon

Location: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum: Winston-Salem, N.C.

Television: ACC Network

Announcers: Wes Durham (play-by-play) and Dennis Scott (analysis)

Favorite: Louisville by 7.5

Series: Louisville leads, 10-5

Last Meeting: Louisville won 72-59 on Jan. 28, 2025 in Louisville

Series History:

Projected Starting Lineups:

Louisville

• G Mikel Brown Jr. (6-5, 190, Fr.)
• G Isaac McKneely (6-4, 195, Sr.)
• G Ryan Conwell (6-4, 215, Sr.)
• F J’Vonne Hadley (6-7, 210, Sr.)
• C Sananda Fru (6-11, 245, Jr.)

Wake Forest

• G Sebastian Atkins (6-2, 175, So.)
• G Myles Colvin (6-5, 212, Jr.)
• G Juke Harris (6-7, 200, So.)
• F Tre’Von Spillers (6-7, 215, Sr.)
• F Cooper Schwieger (6-10, 235, Jr.)

Injury Reports:

Statistics:

Wake Forest’s Season to Date:

Relevant Videos:

About Wake Forest:

A year ago, Wake Forest entered its game against Louisville ranked 71st in the NET but with a 7-2 record in conference play. On Saturday, the Demon Deacons will take on the Cardinals with a NET Ranking of 70, but just a 2-7 mark in ACC games.

Wake head coach Steve Forbes finds himself firmly on the hot seat and on the verge of missing the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in as many seasons on the job. The Deacs have won 19 or more games in each of the last four seasons, but the overall results have not matched the level of expectations when Forbes was hired away from East Tennessee State in 2020.

The prime reason the computers still like Wake Forest more than their record indicates they should is fairly obvious: They proved during the non-conference portion of the season that at their best, they can play with pretty much anyone.

The Demon Deacons had Michigan — currently No. 1 in virtually every predictive metric and the betting favorite to win the 2026 national championship — beaten in both regulation and overtime before falling by a point. Nine days later they also lost to Texas Tech by a point in the Baha Mar championship game.

Unfortunately for Forbes, Wake has not been able to maintain that level of play since the start of November. They took lopsided losses to Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, and are now 2-7 in ACC play with a few competitive losses but a handful of blowout defeats as well. They’re in the midst of a four-game losing streak that includes fairly lopsided losses to NC State, Duke and SMU, and an overtime loss at Pittsburgh.

If Wake is going to show some fight and/or signs of life before the end of the season, that movement probably needs to start Saturday.

The biggest thing Wake has going for it is the play of sophomore guard Juke Harris, who comes into the weekend third in the ACC in scoring at 20.9 points per game. The 6’7 native of North Carolina has scored in double figures in all 22 of Wake’s games this season, and also leads the team in rebounding at 6.7 per contest. After averaging 6.1 points per game as a freshman, Harris’ 14.8 points per game this year ranks as the highest year-to-year increase in the country.

He can really play.

The Deacs’ second-leading scorer is 6’5 guard Myles Colvin (12.5 ppg), who arrived in Winston-Salem after two seasons as a reserve on very good Purdue teams. Colvin loves to launch from beyond the arc, where he shoots it at 35.8 percent. He’s less dangerous inside the arc, but has made more of a concerted effort to get to the free-throw line in recent games. Colvin is also the team’s best on-ball defender and will likely split time defending Mikel Brown and Ryan Conwell.

Nate Calamese (10.4 points/4.9 assists), a 6’2 senior who had stints at Lamar, Washington and Washington State before jolting across the country to the East Coast, had been running the point effectively for Forbes before suffering a grade 3 ankle sprain early in the team’s eventual loss to Pitt on Jan. 27. He missed the NC State game and the offense looked extremely rough in the first half (and just slightly better in the second) without him. He’s not expected to be back for the Louisville game, which likely means more court time for sophomore floor general Sebastian Akins (5.0 points/1.8 assists). Akins, a Denver transfer, got the start and played 18 minutes with 8 points and 3 assists in the loss to the Wolfpack.

Freshman Isaac Carr (1.5 ppg) alsostepped into a larger role against Pitt, as the Oregon native played a season-high 29 minutes to record nine rebounds, two points and two assists. Prior to the contest against the Panthers, Carr had played a total of six minutes of action in ACC play. Expect him to see extended action again against the Cards.

Senior forward Tre’Von Spillers (11.1 points/5.5 rebounds) is Wake Forest’s J’Vonne Hadley. He may not do anything spectacularly, but he does everything well enough. This is their glue guy, but he’s not a player who’s typically going to post an outrageous number in any statistical category.

If there’s one thing Wake Forest does exceptionally well it’s force turnovers. They’ve forced more than all but one team in the ACC, and their turnover percentage of 20.1 is the 26th-best in the country. This team gambles a ton. They will reach, they will jump passing lanes, they will do whatever they can to try and create live ball turnovers. The flip side of that is they give up a ton of easy baskets. Teams are shooting 55.5 percent from inside the arc against Wake Forest, good for the 304th-best two-point defense in the country.

Wake wants team to shoot threes, and they defend the perimeter much, much better than they do the interior. I know it’s in Louisville’s DNA to launch from the outside, but if the shots aren’t falling the way they weren’t Wednesday night, they need to bite the bullet and take advantage of the opportunities that are sure to be there for them closer to the rim.

Notable:

—Louisville is looking for its first three-game winning streak since the month of November.

—Louisville is 3-3 all-time in games against Wake Forest played in Winston-Salem.

—Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey was the Director of Operations (2001-04) and an assistant coach (2004-09) under Skip Prosser at Wake Forest.

—Louisville is one of four DI teams with at least five victories of 40 points or more this season, joining Michigan (6), High Point (6) and Illinois (5).

—Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 1-0 in games against Wake Forest.

—Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes is 3-3 in games against Louisville.

—On Dec. 14, Steve Forbes won his 100th game at Wake Forest, becoming the third fastest coach in program history to reach the 100 win-mark (168 games) behind only Wake Forest Sports Hall of Famers Skip Prosser (136) and Dave Odom (163).

—Wake Forest forward Tre’Von Spillers is 5 points away from hitting 1,000 for his career.

—Wake Forest had never won consecutive games against Louisville before the three-game winning streak that the Cards snapped last season.

—Louisville should have beaten Wake Forest in the 1996 Sweet 16, but star center Tim Duncan both fouled out and walked near the end of the contest, but neither were called.

—Louisville is 2-4 in true road games this season and 2-2 in ACC road games. The Cards are 11-3 in ACC road games under Pat Kelsey.

—Louisville is 15th in the country in scoring margin at +15.4 points per game.

—Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 173-67 all-time in conference play as a head coach.

—Louisville is 0-9 under head coach Pat Kelsey when trailing by 5 points or more at halftime. The Cards trailed SMU by 3 at the half last Saturday and won the game by 14.

—Louisville has hit the 100-point mark five times in a season for the first time since 1976-77. The record for most 100+ point games in a season at U of L is six.

—Louisville is 43-0 under head coach Pat Kelsey when leading with five minutes to play. The Cardinals are also 0-13 under Kelsey when trailing with five minutes to play.

—Louisville is 14-0 over the past 11 seasons when limiting opponents to no more than one three-point field goal.

—Louisville is 121-0 all-time when scoring 100 or more points in non-overtime games.

—Louisville has won 167 consecutive games when holding an opponent under 50 points.

Ken Pomeroy Prediction: Louisville 82, Wake Forest 76