Two guards will be missing for No. 13 Louisville against NC State (Jan 29, 2017)
Short-handed No. 13 Louisville will be without two guards when it plays red-hot North Carolina State on Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
The Wolfpack (14-7, 3-5 ACC) beat No. 17 Duke 84-82 on Monday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"This game gives us great confidence now," NC State coach Mark Gottfried said. "We have the belief we can do something good."
The win over Duke snapped a string of four losses in the Wolfpack's last five games.
"We're better than what a lot of people think," NC State freshman guard Dennis Smith Jr. said. "A lot of people got down on us with a couple of losses. We never got down on each other, though. We always believed in each other. We believe we can do great things this year."
The Cardinals (17-4, 5-3) will face the Wolfpack without starting point guard Quentin Snider (strained hip flexor) and reserve guard Tony Hicks (broken hand).
"We're going against a team that I don't like going into banged up like we are because they have an explosive one-on-one basketball team, not only in the backcourt but the frontcourt," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "But the guys have responded well in practice.
"With Tony, we thought it was a jammed finger at the time, not a broken hand. He was just coming around the last two weeks and now we've already been short-handed in the backcourt and now frontcourt players are going to have to play in the backcourt, so we'll see what happens."
Hicks finished Louisville's win over Pittsburgh before x-rays revealed a broken hand after the game. He'll miss at least four weeks, Pitino said. That leaves the Cardinals with a lineup that includes shooting guard Donovan Mitchell shifting to point guard, freshman wing VJ King playing the two spot and junior Deng Adel at small forward.
"We're going through a tough stretch right now, injury-wise," Pitino said. "It's catching us off-guard and we're a key player out and a key player steps up and then he's out. We're down now four scholarships. We'll be happy when we get some players back"
Last season, Louisville accepted a two-scholarship hit in addition to a postseason ban as self-imposed punishment for a the stripper/prostitution scandal uncovered by a book from former escort Katina Powell. Without those two scholarships and now without Snider and Hicks, the Cardinals are thin. Former walk-on David Levitch and freshman guard Ryan McMahon are expected to have to guard NC State's high-powered guards at some point Sunday.
"Well, David and Ryan are both confident in their abilities, which is a good thing," Pitino deadpanned. "David has always been a confident player; in fact, he told a friend that he's surprised he came back for his senior year and he didn't go to the NBA."
For NC State, coming off the biggest win of the season is a good thing, but Gottfried wants to make sure they don't dwell too much on Monday.
"I thought it was important for our guys to enjoy that for a minute, but then I think quickly you have to get your team and your mindset onto the next game," Gottfried said.
NC State has had trouble winning after beating one of its in-state rivals, Duke or North Carolina. The Wolfpack have only won two of the last 21 games immediately after beating Duke or North Carolina.
"We've got to be able to win two in a row," Gottfried said. "We can't just win one, you've got to go find a way to get another one."
In a quirk of ACC scheduling, Louisville will have played four games in 10 days after Sunday. Pitino said he is counting on Louisville fans, who are planning to wear white, to carry his team.
"Our fans have gotten us over the hump defensively," Pitino said. "They've really been awesome for ACC games. A little lax non-conference, but they've been great with the Kentucky game as well as the ACC and we're gonna need them because we're really short-handed for this game because of a dynamic one-on-one basketball team."
NOTES: Louisville beat NC State 77-72 last January in Raleigh. N.V. ... The Cardinals hold a 10-9 series edge. ... Louisville eliminated NC State from the NCAA Tournament in 2015. The Cardinals won the Sweet 16 game 75-65 in Syracuse, N.Y., before falling to Michigan State in overtime with a trip to the Final Four on the line. ... Louisville and NC State didn't play from 1988 until 2015.
