Wake Forest faced a tough challenge over the weekend against No. 2 Duke. Now, it faces another tough matchup on Tuesday night as it travels to play No. 25 Louisville in an Atlantic Coast Conference game.
“The games are coming at you in rapid-fire here,” said Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes. “But it’s a great opportunity, right? It’s a great opportunity to get an unbelievable road win. And so that’s how we look at it.”
Louisville (15-5, 8-1) is riding a nine-game winning streak. The Cardinals had the weekend off and last played on Tuesday night, easily defeating SMU 98-73.
“I love playing with this team,” Louisville guard Chucky Hepburn said. “We’re coming a long way. We still have a lot of room to grow.”
Wake Forest (15-5, 7-2) saw its six-game win streak end with a 63-56 home loss to Duke on Saturday.
Four of Louisville’s past six wins have come by double digits, making early season setbacks seem distant.
“One thing that I love about this team is we never gave up,” Hepburn said. “If we lost, it was the next day, we were practicing, and we were just getting to it.”
The Cardinals have been playing well, with impressive teamwork. In last Tuesday’s game, they assisted on all 14 of their first-half baskets.
By the end of the game, Reyne Smith had set a school record with 10 three-pointers.
Hepburn, a senior transfer, set a career high with 16 assists, a new program record, and the most assists in an ACC game in nearly 14 years.
Louisville coach Pat Kelsey called Hepburn’s performance “a magical game.”
Despite the loss to Duke, Forbes believes his team is still strong.
“We got a good basketball team, and we could pretty much play with anybody,” he said. “I’ve never been discouraged with this group of guys because they fight and they play so hard and they’ve learned that no matter how the offense is going, the defense keeps us in the game.”
Wake Forest is getting solid contributions from guard Juke Harris, a freshman who scored 14 points off the bench against Duke.
“He plays without fear, good and bad sometimes,” Forbes said. “But I’d rather have to dial somebody down and dial ’em up. And he’s competitive and fearless.”
However, Wake Forest is struggling with its offense and needs to improve execution.
“We just didn’t execute offensively when we needed to… and that cost us,” Forbes said.
Despite coming back from a 13-point deficit, Wake Forest was unable to break through against Duke’s switch to a zone defense. Forbes emphasized the need to work on better attacking tactics for the next time they face a zone.
“I just don’t think we executed the looks like we needed to do,” Forbes said. “It’s just we weren’t really crisp in what our executions should have been for the look that we should have got.”
