Preview: Louisville Heads to Winston-Salem to Face Wake Forest

The Cardinals hit the road to take on the Demon Deacons.

Louisville Cardinals forward Kasean Pryor (7) celebrates after scoring against Notre Dame in the second half at the KFC Yum! Center Wednesday night Feb. 4, 2026 | Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

No. 24 Louisville Cardinals (16-6, 6-4 ACC) at Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11-11, 2-7 ACC)

- Tipoff: Saturday, Feb. 7 at 12:00 p.m. EST
- Location: Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C.
- How To Watch: ACC Network
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -6.0
- All-Time Series: Louisville Leads 10-5
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 72-59 on Jan. 28, 2025 (KFC Yum! Center)

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, 6th)
• F/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.)

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Demon Deacons, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape, Predictions: Louisville vs. Wake Forest

Game Notes

Louisville

• Louisville men’s basketball hits the road for its first of four road ACC games in February. Louisville has won its last two contests, including a 76-65 victory over Notre Dame on Tuesday evening.
• Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey is 173-67 (.721) all-time in conference play as a head coach. He holds an 80-40 (.667) mark in away league games.
• Freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. has logged five games of 20+ points, tying the most 20-point games by a Louisville freshman in a single season. LaBradford Smith had five in 1987-88.
• As of Feb. 5, there are 29 players in DI shooting 41% or above from 3-point range in their career. No one in that group has made or attempted more 3-pointers than senior guard Isaac McKneely, who has made 297 on 717 attempts. He is 67 makes and 156 attempts ahead of the next closest player, Jacari White of Virginia.
• 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).
• Freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. returned to the floor on Jan. 24 against Virginia Tech after missing eight games due to injury. He was named the 2025 USA Basketball Men's Athlete of the Year on Jan. 6.
• Louisville is 43-0 under Kelsey when leading with five minutes to play.
• Louisville has had five games of at least 24 assists, the first time since 2010-11 that the program has had multiple games of 24+ assists; the Cardinals had five games of at 24+ assists that season. Louisville is one of nine teams in 2025-26 as of Feb. 5 to have five games or more of at least 24 assists. Louisville has had nine games of 20+ assists, one of 20 teams in the nation to do so.
• Louisville is 15th in the country in scoring margin at +15.4 points per game. The program is also fourth in 3-point attempts per game (33.8), fifth in three pointers per game (11.6) and 17th in defensive rebounds per game (28.18).
• Against Memphis on Dec. 13, Louisville had four different players with at least three 3-pointers apiece for the first time since Nov. 22, 2010 when the Cards played Chattanooga. It was the second time in program history that six different players made multiple 3-pointers, the first time being at WKU on Dec. 22, 2010.
• Senior guard Ryan Conwell is the only DI men's basketball player since at least 2010-11 to log at least 32 points, nine rebounds and six assists in 24 minutes or less, according to Sports Reference. He notched that stat line against NJIT on Nov. 26.
• Kelsey reached his 300th career win on Jan. 10 with a victory over Boston College.
• Louisville netted 20 3-pointers against NJIT on Nov. 26, the second-most made 3's in a single game in program history. It was just the second time ever the Cardinals have made at least 20 3's in a game.
• Louisville's positive 38 rebounding margin against NJIT on Nov. 26 was the largest rebounding margin in program history.
• Louisville led 59-15 at halftime against South Carolina State on Nov. 3. The 44-point halftime lead was the largest in program history.
• Freshman guard Mikel Brown Jr. was named ACC Co-Player and Co-Rookie of the Week on Nov. 17 after averaging 24.0 ppg, 6.0 apg and shooting 48.1% from the floor in Louisville’s two Week 2 victories - a 96-88 win over Kentucky and 106-81 win over Ohio.
• Freshman Mikel Brown Jr. scored 29 points against Kentucky on Nov. 11, 2025, the fourth-most points in a game by a Louisville freshman ever.
• UofL has three Cardinals on the roster that have scored over 1,000 DI points: Ryan Conwell (1,746), Isaac McKneely (1,346) and J’Vonne Hadley (1,244).
• There are 14 players who returned to DI this season that started the season with at least 175 made 3-pointers with a career 3-point field goal percentage of 38% or more; Ryan Conwell and Isaac McKneely are two of those 14 players.

Wake Forest

• Wake Forest men’s basketball over the last five seasons has earned 49 victories in ACC play, fifth-most in the ACC during that span.
• Freshman Isaac Carr stepped 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 in six minutes of action in ACC play.
• Sophomore guard Juke Harris continues to pace the Demon Deacons in scoring this season, as he’s reached a double-digit scoring total in all 22 games while ranking third in the ACC in points per game (20.9). Sophomore guard Juke Harris has scored 10 or more points in 22-straight games to start the season.
• The Demon Deacons have forced opponents into 320 turnovers this season, second-most in the ACC.
• On Dec. 14, head coach 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).
• Now in his second season in Winston-Salem and third as a Division I player, senior forward Tre’Von Spillers is now only 5 points away from reaching 1,000 career points.
• In 2024-25, the Demon Deacons earned 21 victories and the program’s first-ever double bye in the ACC Tournament. With 13 ACC victories – tied for the most in a single season in school history. It marked the second time in four seasons the Deacs have hit that mark.

(Photo of Kasean Pryor: Matt Stone - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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