Cardinals open ACC play against Demon Deacons

Jan 4, 2015 - 3:33 PM Winston-Salem, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - The fifth-ranked Louisville Cardinals will play their first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference game, as they take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Sunday evening at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Rick Pitino's Cardinals have just one loss on the season, but it was to bitter rival Kentucky last weekend. Louisville was able to get some distance from the 58-50 loss to the Wildcats with a 63-48 win over Long Beach State last Tuesday to close out non-conference play and move to 12-1 on the year.

Danny Manning's first season in Winston-Salem has come with mixed reviews thus far. The Demon Deacons have played better of late with wins in three straight and four of their last five games, but competing in the very top-heavy ACC will certainly be a challenge. Wake closed out non-league play and opened a three-game homestand on New Year's Eve, knocking off Princeton, 80-66.

This is just the fourth all-time meeting between these two programs. Louisville holds a 2-1 series edge, although it was Wake that got the win last time these teams met, a 60-59 decision in the 1996 NCAA Tournament.

Louisville got off to a strong start against Long Beach State last week and took a 34-19 lead into halftime, but had to fend off a second half run by the 49ers to earn the victory. Sophomore guard Terry Rozier was masterful in the victory, netting 23 points, while grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out three assists and recording six steals. Junior forward Montrezl Harrell added 16 points to the cause, while senior forward Wayne Blackshear finished with 12.

Rozier has really turned it on of late, as the 6-foot-1 youngster has averaged just under 22 points per game over the last six outings. He currently leads the Cardinals in scoring at 17.1 ppg. Harrell is an All-America candidate and one of the nation's premier players. He is shooting 60 percent from the floor and is averaging a near double-double with 16.0 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Blackshear (13.3 ppg) provides frontcourt depth, while Chris Jones (11.4 ppg) does the same in the backcourt. Louisville not only has scoring depth, but has played tremendous defense for the most part, limiting foes to just 54.2 ppg this year, while holding them well under 40 percent shooting efficiency (.350).

The Demon Deacons have struggled at times at the offensive end and that is not good news going up against a stingy team like Louisville. Wake Forest enters this contest averaging 70.2 ppg, on a modest .420 shooting. The team has done a nice job on the boards though, holding a +9.4 rebounding margin. A lot of that has to do with the play of junior forward Devin Thomas, who ranks second on the team in scoring (10.7 ppg), but first in the ACC in rebounding (9.6 rpg). Thomas is joined in double-figure scoring by just one other Demon Deacons, that being junior guard Codi Miller-McIntyre, who leads the team at 13.1 ppg.

Wake was able to put up 80 points on Princeton last time out, thanks to a balanced attack that saw five Demon Deacons finish the game in double figures. Freshman forward Konstantinos Mitoglou led the way with 15 points off the bench. Fellow freshmen Mitchell Wilbekin and Cornelius Hudson added 12 points each, followed by Thomas (11 pts) and Darius Leonard (10 pts). Thomas just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, while Miller-McIntyre (nine points, 11 assists) came close as well.