No. 21 Louisville beats Wake Forest 72-59 for its 10th straight victory

Updated Jan. 28, 2025 9:30 p.m. ET

Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Terrence Edwards Jr. scored 18 points as No. 21 Louisville cruised to a 72-59 win over Wake Forest on Tuesday.

A 12-0 run midway through the first half gave the Cardinals (16-5, 9-1 ACC) a 26-11 lead with 8:26 left and they led by 29 in the second half.

Reyne Smith added 16 points, and Chucky Hepburn finished with 14 points and eight assists as Louisville extended its winning streak to 10 games.

Hunter Salis, who came in third in the ACC with 18.9 points per game, scored 13 for Wake Forest (15-6, 7-3) before he was ejected with 14:47 remaining after picking up his second technical foul.

Takeaways

Wake Forest: Just two days after holding No. 2 Duke to a season-low 63 points in a narrow loss, the Demon Deacons trailed Louisville 67-41 with 7:45 left. Wake came in allowing just 65.6 per game.

Louisville: A week after dismantling SMU on the road, the Cardinals came back home and easily handled another potential NCAA Tournament team from the ACC.

Key moment

After Wake Forest ended Louisville’s run on a three-point play from Tre’Von Spillers with 8:09 left in the first half, Ty-Laur Johnson came up with a steal and went up for a dunk. But Johnson, who played for the Cardinals’ 8-24 squad last season, lost the ball and a chance for the Demon Deacons to build momentum.

Key stat

Edwards entered Tuesday shooting just 26.2% from beyond the arc for the season and 15.4% (6 for 39) in his previous seven games. He went 4 for 11 (36.4%) on Tuesday.