Louisville Falls To NC State 89-83, Despite Showing Big Improvements

The Louisville Cardinals were looking to win back-to-back ACC games in the Kenny Payne, but in the end, they ended up falling to the NC State Wolfpack in a high-scoring game, 89-83.

Louisville fell into a 12-0 hole to start the game, and NC State was defending and executing on offense to near perfection. However, after that run, Louisville outscored the Wolfpack 35-32 in the 1st half. If the Cardinals could have come out of the gates playing better basketball then they very well could have won the game. This has been a problem for Louisville all season long, as they have struggled starting half all year.

However, coming out in the 2nd half the Cardinals played very well and went on a 7-0 run to show that they were here to compete. The 2nd half was back and forth and seemed to be a 5 point game all the way up until the last 2 minutes.

NC State pulled ahead by 12 with under 2 minutes to play, and all hope seemed to be lost for the Cardinals. However, in a miracoulous turn of events, Louisville went on a 9-0 run to cut it to a 3 point game. The Wolfpack answered with a 3 point play, but then Skyy Clark responded with an impressive imbounds play for 3. Louisville ended up losing 89-83 due to NC State making nearly all of their late game free throws.

Louisville basketball is getting progressively better, but for Kenny Payne and his staff he needs to win more games like these if he wants to be here in 2025. Moral victories are not goodnough for year two of this coaching staff.