Louisville energy unnerves Wake Forest

ByCharlie Springer

January 29, 2025
Chucky Hepburn and Reyne Smith enjoying the 10th win in a row for Louisville basketball (Mike DeZarn photo).
Terrence Edwards leading all Louisville scorers with 18 points in 10th straight win (Mike DeZarn photo).

My goodness, these guys never run out of energy.

The University of Louisville basketball team continues to roll past Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. Bringing more gusto, more enthusiasm and more production than UofL fans have seen in over a decade.  A growing force that will have to be dealt with as the season enters the stretch. This is a team you would not want to be playing when everything is on the line.

Wake Forest became the 10th straight victim Monday, with Louisville prevailing by a score of 72-59 in front of a crowd of 14,533 partisans at the KFC Yum! Center. The final score providing no indication of the one-sided nature of the game. The Cardinals were aggressive on both ends of the court, forcing five turnovers before the first media time out and they led 45-21 at the half.

Louisville came out of the locker room on an 11-4 run which gave them their biggest lead of the game at 29 points. They then let their foot off the gas, allowing a good Wake Forest team to outscore them the rest of the game.  Hard to be intense when the outcome is inevitable, but it gives Coach Pat Kelsey plenty to talk about when practice resumes the next day.

“One of the best teams defensively in our conference, they (WF) are tough and physical,” said Kelsey during the post game press conference. “We knew that we had our work cut out for us. I thought our guys played 30-32 minutes, at times, as good of basketball that we have played all year. Defensively, I thought we were very good. We shared the ball. We had a good assist-to-turnover ratio”

Terrence Edwards and Reyne Smith led Louisville in scoring with 18 and 16 points, respectively. They each made four 3-pointers.

Fun to watch. So refreshing. Never gets old.

J’Vonne Hadley has a friendly chat with an official during a break in the action (Mike DeZarn photo).
Susan Crum, widow of the late Denny Crum, having fun again watching Louisville basketball (Mike DeZarn photo).
Basketball is fun again for the Cardinal Bird and the KFC Yum! Center is rocking (Mike DeZarn photo).

ByCharlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former sportswriter with the Courier-Journal & Louisville Times, former Managing Editor with Louisville Magazine, Communications Manager at Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. and a corporate affairs manager with CSWorks, LLC ... as well as a longtime fan of the University of Louisville and a Master's degree holder.

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