Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. NC State Wolfpack

Louisville Cardinals (18-6, 11-2 ACC) at NC State Wolfpack (9-14, 2-10 ACC)

- Tipoff: Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 7:00 p.m. EST
- Location: Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C.
- How To Watch: ESPN2
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -7.0
- All-Time Series: Series tied 14-14
- Last Meeting: NC State won 94-85 on Mar. 12, 2024 (ACC Tournament)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

G Reyne Smith (6-2, 190, Sr.)
G J'Vonne Hadley (6-6, 215, 5th)
G/F Terrence Edwards Jr. (6-6, 205, 5th)
F Noah Waterman (6-11, 230, 6th)
C James Scott (6-11, 220, So.)

NC State

G Michael O'Connell (6-2, 195, Gr.)
G Marcus Hill (6-4, 185, Sr.)
G Jayden Taylor (6-4, 195, Sr.)
G/F Dontrez Styles (6-6, 210, Sr.)
F Ben Middlebrooks (6-10, 240, Sr.)

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Wolfpack, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape, Predictions: Louisville vs. NC State

Additional Coverage

Game Notes

Louisville

Louisville was missing two starters for most of the game against Miami on Saturday and only had seven scholarship players available as Chucky Hepburn was out (groin) and James Scott suffered an injury just seven minutes into the game.
Fifth-year senior guard/forward Terrence Edwards Jr. earned ACC Player of the Week on Monday and became the third Cardinal to earn the weekly honor this season as Reyne Smith got the accolade on Dec. 23 and Chucky Hepburn had the title on Dec. 2.It’s the first time in Louisville’s 11 years in the ACC that three different players have earned the weekly nod. It’s the first time since the 2014-15 season that Louisville has earned the award more than twice in a single season, as Montrezl Harrell and Terry Rozier combined for it five times that year.
Louisville’s 10-game winning streak was the longest winning streak since the Cardinals won 10 in a row between Jan. 7 and Feb. 8, 2020.
Four of Louisville’s six losses have all come to teams now ranked in the AP Top 25: No. 3 Duke (20-3), No. 5 Tennessee (20-4), No. 15 Kentucky (16-7), and No. 19 Ole Miss (18-6). As of Feb. 10, those teams, along with Oklahoma (16-7) are a combined 90-27.
At SMU on Jan. 21, Chucky Hepburn broke the UofL single game assists record with 16. Reyne Smith broke the program’s single game made 3’s record with 10. Louisville became the only DI team this century to have a player with 10+ 3’s and 15+ assists in the same game. The Last NBA team to do it was the Warriors with Klay Thompson (10 3PM) and Steph Curry (15 AST) on Nov. 20, 2022.
Against North Carolina on Jan. 1, Chucky Hepburn made 16 free throws, tying the program record for free throws made in a single game.
As of Feb. 10, Louisville is sixth in the country in 3-point attempts per game (30.7).
As of Feb. 10, Chucky Hepburn is 15th in the country in assists per game (6.2) and 19th total assists (143). He’s also 17th in total steals (54) and 15th in steals per game (2.35). Reyne Smith is second in the country in 3’s per game (3.79) and second in total 3-pointers (91). He’s third in total 3-point attempts (231).
Sophomore forward James Scott is tied for second in the country in dunks as of Feb. 10 with 52 makes on the year, according to Bart Torvik. He leads the ACC in that category and is tied for fifth on Louisville’s dunks in a single season list.
Against Florida State on Dec. 21, Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards Jr. both logged eight assists apiece; it was the first Louisville game to have two Cardinals log at least eight assists each in the same game since Peyton Siva and Gorgui Deng both had eight against Syracuse in the 2013 Big East Tournament championship game.
Chucky Hepburn is the first Cardinal since Russ Smith (2011-12) to log three games of six or more steals in a single season. He grabbed six against No. 12 Tennessee and West Virginia and seven against No. 14/15 Indiana.
In his Louisville debut, fifth-year senior Kasean Pryor logged a doubledouble of 18 points and 12 rebounds against Morehead State on Nov. 4. He is one of seven Cardinals since 1965 to produce a double-double in their first time on the court in a Louisville uniform.
The Cardinals are one of the more experienced teams in the country this season. Between the 17-man roster, the average amount of years in college basketball is 3.0 years with just two underclassmen on the roster. The Cards have 12 players designated as seniors this season, tied with Western Kentucky for the most on any team in men’s DI college basketball.
Louisville has just two underclassmen in freshman Khani Rooths and sophomore James Scott. Louisville is one of just 11 schools in DI that has two or fewer underclassmen on their roster, and the only Power Four school in that list.
Louisville has 11 players who were on teams that played in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. The roster in total has made 14 NCAA Division I Tournament appearances at their previous schools, playing in 20 NCAA Tournament games across their careers. Louisville has 12 players that were on teams that won 20 or more games in the 2023-24 season.

NC State

The Pack dropped a heartbreaker in its second game of its two-game trip to California, falling to Stanford, 74-73.
Stanford went on a 16-3 run to take its largest lead of the game at 61-52 with 8:29 to play, but NC State outscored the Cardinal, 21-11 over the next eight minutes to take a 73-72 lead with 18 seconds to play. Stanford scored the gamewinning basket on its next possession and Trey Parker’s game-winning attempt was off the mark.
Trey Parker had the best game of his collegiate career against the Cardinal as he finished the game with a season-best 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting. He made a career-high five three-pointers in the game and also passed out five assists and had zero turnovers in a season-high 28 minutes.
Parker has made the most of an increased role lately as he has now scored 49 points in the last four games and is shooting 52.8 percent (19-of-36) from the field, including 52.9 percent (9-of-17) from three-point range. Before the last three games, Parker had only scored 14 points in a 12-game stretch from Dec. 4 vs. Texas through Jan. 25 vs. SMU.
Marcus Hill scored 14 points against Stanford and has now scored in double figures in 14 of the last 16 games. The Rockford, Ill., native leads the Pack in scoring at 12.9 points per game and ranks seventh in the ACC in field goal percentage at 48.0 percent. Hill is second on the team with 45 assists and has a 2.05 assist-to-turnover ratio (45-to-22).
Dontrez Styles scored 18 points and added a team-high seven rebounds at Stanford. Over the last four games, Styles is averaging 16.5 points per game and has made 11-of-19 three-pointers (57.9%). After going scoreless against Cal, Styles was averaging 8.9 points per game on the season, but in the five games since then Styles has raised his scoring average from 8.9 to 10.3.
NC State had six turnovers against Stanford and had just 11 total in its two-game trip to the state of California last week. The Pack has now had single digit turnovers in seven of its last nine games and 13 overall this season. NC State leads the ACC and ranks seventh in the NCAA in fewest turnovers per game (9.3).
NC State has two players on its roster that played for Louisville the last two seasons in Brandon
Huntley-Hatfield and Mike James. Huntley-Hatfield scored 574 points in two seasons with the Cards, averaging 12.9 points and 8.4 rebounds per game last season as he was named Honorable Mention All-ACC. James spent three years with the Cardinals, redshirting in the 2021-22 season before playing the last two seasons. James scored 724 points in his two years at Louisville, averaging 12.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game last season. James has missed the entire 2024-25 season with a knee injury.
Marcus Hill enters Wednesday’s game against Louisville just five points shy of 1,000 career points. Hill is listed as a senior, but this is just his second year playing Division I basketball after playing two years of JUCO. Hill has played 57 career games at the DI level and averages 17.5 points per game in those contests.
NC State’s defense has held the ACC’s top scoring offenses in check this season. SMU leads the ACC in scoring at 82.3 points per game, but was held to just 63 in its visit to the Lenovo Center on Jan. 25. North Carolina is second in the ACC at 80.6 points per game, but the Pack held the Tar Heels to a season-low 63 points on Jan. 11. Louisville enters Wednesday’s game, fourth in the ACC in scoring at 79.2 points per game. Louisville has scored at least 70 points in 15 straight games while NC State has only allowed 70 or more points three times in 14 home games this season. The most points the Pack has given up at the Lenovo Center this season is 74 to Florida State (and that game against the Seminoles went to overtime).
Finish out close games. Saturday’s game at Stanford was the Pack’s 12th ACC game of the season and marked the 11th time in those 12 contests that NC State has held a second half lead. NC State has now led in the second half in nine of its 10 conference losses this season. Seven of the Pack’s 10 losses have been within one possession with under four minutes to play and NC State has led in the final four minutes in four of those 10 losses.
Ismaël Diouf made the most of his increased role last week with Brandon Huntley-Hatfield not on the trip. Diouf scored 16 points in the two games, shooting 58.3 percent from the field (7-of-12) while also grabbing eight rebounds. In the game at Stanford on Saturday, Diouf established season-highs in points (9), rebounds (5) and assists (2).
Get Ben Middlebrooks back on track offensively: The NC State senior scored in double figures in 10 of the first 17 games he played this season, but has only scored 13 points total on 3-of-17 shooting in the last five outings. In the last five games, NC State has been outscored in the paint by 64 points (172-to-108).
One of NC State’s calling cards in the Kevin Keatts era is turning opponent’s turnovers into points. In the Pack’s nine wins this season, it is averaging 19.3 points per game off opponents turnovers and has outscored the opponents in points off turnovers by 102 points. In the Pack’s 14 losses it averages just 10.8 points off opponent turnovers and has outscored its opponents in points off turnovers by just 14 points (151-to-137).

(Photo of Khani Rooths: Raymond Carlin III - Imagn Images)

You can follow Louisville Cardinals On SI for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleOnSI
Twitter/X - @LouisvilleOnSI
Instagram - @louisvilleonsi

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter/X and @mattmcgavic.bsky.social on Bluesky