Wake Forest Falls to No. 21 Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Wake Forest men's basketball team visited No. 21 Louisville on Tuesday night inside the KFC Yum! Center. The Demon Deacons (15-6, 7-3 ACC) ultimately fell 72-59 to the Cardinals (16-5, 9-1 ACC).

Efton Reid III recorded his first double-double of the season, finishing with 11 points and a season-high 13 rebounds. The senior big man went 5-for-6 from the floor in 37 minutes of action.

Hunter Sallis added 13 points and five rebounds while fellow senior Tre'Von Spillers contributed eight points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

Ty-Laur Johnson chipped in eight points of his own, along with four rebounds, in 30 minutes. Davin Cosby Jr. and Parker Friedrichsen made two triples apiece as reserves. For the game, Wake Forest shot 38 percent from three-point distance.

Wake Forest finished with five blocks versus Louisville while also winning the rebounding battle (39-35). The Demon Deacon defense held the Cardinals to a 39.0 field goal percentage for the night.

How It Happened

Reid answered a Louisville layup with one of his own to tie it 2-2 in the first minute.
Sallis hit a fast-break three from the right wing two plays later to take the 5-4 lead.
A three at the top of the key by Sallis ended a Louisville run and cut the deficit to 11-8.
- Another three from Sallis kept it at three, 14-11.
Spillers ended another Louisville run with a layup off a baseline cut and converted the and-one to make it 26-14, Cardinals.
- Out of the timeout, Reid got his second bucket to get the Deacs to 16.
Hildreth drove it to the rim two plays later to cut it to 31-18.
Reid's third bucket cut the Louisville lead to 18, 38-20.
Wake Forest went into halftime down, 45-21.
- Sallis led the Deacs with nine first-half points.
- Reid led all players with seven rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.
Spillers opened the half with a bucket to trim the deficit.
- Sallis hit a jumper in the paint, his first two-pointer of the game.
Reid took it to the rim off a baseline out-of-bounds to get the Deacs within 16 with 15:50 left to play.
Out of the timeout, Reid made his fifth basket of the game.
- On the very next possession, Sallis took it strongly to the rim.
Cosby hit his first three of the game to make it 34-60, Cardinals.
- The Demon Deacon defense held Louisville without a field goal for over four minutes.
Johnson got a steal at halfcourt and took it to the rim to cut things down to 61-36.
On the next possession, Cosby found Johnson on the baseline for a bucket.
Johnson found Harris for the alley-oop after a Spillers block and rebound.
Friedrichsen made his first three of the game to cut it to 67-44 with under seven minutes to go.
- On the next possession, Johnson sank a floater in the lane.
- Harris got the board off a free throw two plays later for the dunk.
Out of the timeout, Freidrichsen made his second three-pointer of the night.
Two free throws from Johnson got the Deacs inside 20, 72-53, with just over three minutes to go.
Spillers hit his first triple of the contest two plays later.
Cosby hit his second three of the game with under a minute to go.
Wake Forest fell to Louisville, 72-59.

Coach's Comments
"We just got off to a really poor start. We had five turnovers before the first media timeout and our shot selection was poor, outside of Hunter [Sallis]. It was just a bad recipe for success. We were a step slow in the defensive transition. They are so good in transition and we were just behind the play. We did well in the halfcourt defense, but they really hurt us in transition. It's hard to win when they make 11 threes. We made eight but those came really late. They were plus-ten at the line and the turnovers were really hard for us, especially when we haven't really turned the ball over like that. It's a credit to Pat [Kelsey] and his team. He's got a really nice team and a really deep team that can shoot the ball. They play hard defensively and they have great cohesiveness. We lost our composure there when it got loud in the building and we got some interesting technical fouls called on us. We fought hard to finish it, but there were no moral victories.

Credit to Pat and his team. I knew they were a good team coming into this game and what I saw in person was true. They're going to finish strong in our league.

We've got a tough stretch where we just played Duke and North Carolina and now here at Louisville, and then we go back home to play Pitt on Saturday before we go to California. We just have to regroup. We're just halfway through the conference season. I know it's a tough loss, but we are 7-3 and we've got ten more games to go." - head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest will open February with a return to its home court this Saturday, hosting Pitt.

Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN2.

Next Event

Team Stats

Hunter Sallis

Efton Reid III

Ty-Laur Johnson

Tre'Von Spillers

Players Mentioned

Davin Cosby

Parker Friedrichsen

Ty-Laur Johnson

Efton Reid III

Hunter Sallis

Tre'Von Spillers

Wake Forest Athletics