Louisville fell 76-64 last night to North Carolina State for their second ACC road game loss of the season. The Cardinals now sit with a record of 2-11 on the season. Let’s recap some key moments throughout the game.
The Cardinals and the Wolfpack played a chaotic first half with both teams spending a lot of time in transition. The Cardinals played with a chip on their shoulder this game, which was a delight to see for Louisville fans. They threw different looks at them on defense, making it difficult for the Wolfpack to get open shots. Louisville turned the ball over nine times in the first half, but managed to keep the score to a three-point deficit going into halftime down 28-31. A bright spot for the Cardinals was Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, who was able to finish around the rim well, capping off the first half with nine points.
Louisville opened the second half with four points on five possessions, which was largely due to Louisville prioritizing paint touches. After a strong opening, the Cardinals would go on a large scoring drought, allowing the Wolfpack to go on a 17-0 run, which would continue until 13 minutes left in the second half.
Despite the large scoring drought, Louisville showed some fight cutting NC State’s lead to only nine multiple times, but were not able to overcome the large 17 point lead in the second half.
At the end of the night, four Louisville players finished in double figures. Sydney Curry scored 16 points, El Ellis scored 15 points, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield finished with 12 points, and Mike James finished with 10 points. Huntley-Hatfield added 12 rebounds to his 12 points and finished with his second double-double of the season.
Offensively, the Cardinals scored more efficiently against the Wolfpack, but still had difficulty taking care of the basketball. Louisville finished with 19 turnovers, which is on par for their average this season.
Defensively, they mixed in some traps to create chances for turnovers and to work on switching in help defense. Defending the pick-and-roll has been a struggle for the Cardinals all season, but held North Carolina State’s offense below half a point per possession in the Wolfpack’s pick-and-roll plays.
There was evidence of improvement from the gamse against Lipscomb to this game, but there will need to be a drastic level of improvement to compete with their next opponent, the highly talented Kentucky Wildcats.