• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

NC State upends No. 9 Louisville

Feb 15, 2015 - 2:15 AM Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Louisville learned the hard way on Saturday that nothing comes easy in the ACC.

Anthony "Cat" Barber scored 21 points and North Carolina State, fresh of five losses in its last six games, went into Louisville and stunned the ninth- ranked Cardinals 74-65 on Saturday.

Trevor Lacey netted 14 points and Ralston Turner dropped 10 for the Wolfpack (15-11, 6-7 ACC), whose last three conference wins have come away from home.

"This is a very big win for us," NC State coach Mark Gottfried said. "I am really proud of our team."

BeeJay Anya and Caleb Martin both contributed 10 rebounds off the bench in NC State's second win against a top-10 opponent this season. It knocked off then- No. 2 Duke on Jan. 11.

Chris Jones had 20 points and Wayne Blackshear played through a hip pointer and gave 19 in Louisville's third loss at KFC! Yum Center this season.

Louisville (20-5, 8-4) fell to 78-2 when leading at halftime in its last 80 games.

"In past years when we shot poorly like this, our defense could carry us through," said Louisville coach Rick Pitino, "but it didn't tonight."

"We got dominated. We're not getting any of our defensive stats."

Blackshear had reached double figures just once in his previous seven games before erupting for 14 in the first half. Jones had eight at the break and the duo produced most of Louisville's offense, however the Cardinals still led 31-30 at halftime.

The Cardinals led by three early in the second half when an 8-2 NC State run put the visitors in the driver's seat. Martin then scored five straight points and Turner connected from deep near the midpoint to push the lead to eight.

Louisville got a boost from an unlikely source, as Quentin Snyder came in cold off the bench and hit a transition 3-ball from the left wing with his first shot attempt, forcing a timeout.

But the Wolfpack regrouped and rattled off eight of the next 10 points to take their biggest lead at 63-52.

After Blackshear's jumper at 1:20 had Louisville within four, Barber found Anya for a dunk, then hit four straight free throws to put the game away.

Game Notes

This was the first meeting between the two schools since Feb. 13, 1988 ... NC State leads the all-time series, 9-8 ... Louisville hadn't lost to an unranked team at home when ranked in the top 10 since 2005 ... NC State outscored Louisville 32-16 in the paint, though the Cardinals had 14 points in transition to NC State's zero.