Louisville Drops the Hammer on NC State to Win Fourth-Straight

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville men's basketball program has just picked up a crucial win as it pertains to both their ACC and NCAA Tournament outlook, and earned one of their most dominating wins in recent memory.

Hosting NC State at the KFC Yum! Center on a short turnaround, the Cardinals were able to build on recent momentum, hammering the Wolfpack from start to finish for a 118-77 blowout win on Monday night.

The No. 24 Cardinals (18-6, 8-4 ACC) put up their most points since a 119-61 victory over Morehead State on Dec. 6 1995, and extend their current win streak to four consecutive, which is their longest since opening up the season 7-0. With the Wolfpack (18-7, 9-3 ACC) entering the day ranked No. 27 in the NET, it's also Louisville's best win of the season up to this point, passing their win over Kentucky - who ranks 28th in the NET.

NC State also entered the matchup holding onto the No. 4 spot in the ACC standings, which would give them the last double bye in the conference tournament. With UofL's win, it keeps them alive for a chance to snag that last double bye.

Louisville was led by dominating efforts from Mikel Brown Jr. and Ryan Conwell, with the duo combining for 76 of their points.

Brown finished with 45 points on 14-of-23 shooting plus a blistering 10-of-16 on three-point attempts - along with nine rebounds. He not only set the UofL single-game freshman scoring record, but tied the program's all-time single-game scoring record and all-time single-game made threes record.

Conwell also had an excellent day, coming within striking distance of a triple-double. He scored 31 points on 10-of-14 shooting plus 5-of-6 on threes, along with seven rebounds and six assists.

Brown and Conwell were the stars of the show, but it was a team-wide effort. Not only did Louisville shoot 60.0 percent from the field, they did so on three-point attempts (18-of-30) as well. They dominated on the glass, out-rebounding NC State 42-to-28.

The Cardinals also got a great defensive showing as well. Facing a Wolfpack squad that was shooting 40.2 percent on three-pointers, they were held to just 4-of-22 from beyond the arc - as well as 41.2 percent from the field overall.

While they have been prone to slow starts this season, it was clear from the jump that Louisville was operating with a sense of urgency. They hit seven of their first nine tries and held NC State to two of their first nine, pulling out to a 15-4 lead in the first four-plus minutes of the game.

Thanks mainly to a 21-point first half from Brown, this early offensive outburst from the Cardinals did not slow down, as they shot 18-of-31 overall plus 8-of-11 from deep in the first half alone. While the Wolfpack was able to counter their slow start with some success driving to the rim, they still shot just 14-of-34 in the opening half - including ending the period on a 3-of-13 cold spell.

Put it together, and Louisville took a commanding 56-36 lead into halftime. It marked their 13th 50-point half of the season, and their since doing so in the first half of their 100-59 win at Pitt back on Jan. 17.

UofL was determined to not let a massive halftime lead go to waste. Conwell scored six points in the first 47 seconds of the second half, and Louisville forced NC State to burn a timeout just 1:16 into the period following a 9-2 run to start the half.

This segment to open the half proved to be a microcosm of the half as a whole. The Cardinals continued their blistering assault on the rim by shooting 21-of-34 in this period, while holding the Wolfpack to 14-of-34, leading by as much as 41 and never trailing by more than 25 past the final 15 minutes. In fact, they cracked 100 points with 5:26 left in the game.

Next up, Louisville has a few extra days off and briefly dips back into non-conference play, heading to Fort Worth for a neutral-site matchup with Baylor. Tip-off against the Bears is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 14 at 4:00 p.m. EST.

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