Wake Forest Battles No. 24 Louisville in Saturday Thriller

Saturday, February 7

Winston-Salem, N.C.

12 p.m.

Wake Forest University

11-12,2-8ACC

Louisville

17-6,7-4ACC

Louisville

Wake Forest

Wake Forest Battles No. 24 Louisville in Saturday Thriller

2/7/2026 3:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

The Demon Deacons twice tied the game in the second half after being down 15 points.

By: Stephen Czarda and Keion Robinson

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest men's basketball team (11-12, 2-8 ACC) battled back from a 15-point deficit against No. 24 Louisville (17-6, 7-4) on Saturday afternoon – twice tying the game in the final minutes – but ultimately fell to the Cardinals by a final of 88-80.

Sophomore guard Juke Harris continued to shine for the Deacs, finishing with 25 points and 11 rebounds, both game highs, for his third career double-double. Harris is currently averaging 22.6 points per game through 10 conference games, which ranks second in the ACC through Saturday's early action.

Senior forward Tre'Von Spillers reached 1,000 career points at the NCAA Division I level in the contest, reaching the feat on a made free throw at the 19:39 mark of the second half. The Charleston, S.C. native contributed nine points, six rebounds and a career-high seven steals against the Cardinals.

Three other Deacs posted 10 or more points on Saturday: junior forward Omaha Biliew (14), sophomore guard Sebastian Akins (12) and junior guard Myles Colvin (10).

How It Happened

Louisville won the opening tip and started the game with a 5-0 lead before sophomore Juke Harris scored Wake Forest's first point of the afternoon on a made free throw.
Freshman Isaac Carr converted on Wake's first field goal of the afternoon to cut into Louisville's lead, 7-3.
- Harris then swished a three to make it a 7-6 game.
Out of the first media timeout of the first half, the Cardinals went on an 8-0 run before junior Omaha Biliew's backdoor cut found space in the lane to cut the deficit to 15-8.
Biliew responded to a Louisville three with one of his own to keep the margin at 7 out of the second media timeout before Spillers dunked home his first points of the day.
- The Waukee, Iowa, native then converted on a second free throw attempt after being fouled to cut the Cardinals' lead down to four.
Sophomore Sebastian Akins placed a perfectly timed pass to Spillers who would finish to make it a 22-18 game.
Redshirt sophomore Marqus Marion checked in for his first appearance since the Florida State game with 7:57 remaining in the first half before making a tip-back attempt shortly after entering.
Junior Cooper Schwieger's first points of the afternoon came courtesy of an and-one, as the Kansas native backed down his defender before being fouled on his shot.
Fellow junior Myles Colvin swished a second free throw attempt to become the seventh Deac to score in the opening frame.
- The Indianapolis native added two more points from the line to make it a 31-26 scoreline.
After a 7-0 Louisville run, Harris knocked down his second three of the game to make it a 38-29 game.
- Wake would make a second-straight three as Carr found Colvin in the corner uncontested.
Wake Forest went into the halftime break trailing 43-34.
Spillers scored the first point of the second half, marking 1,000 career points for the Charleston, S.C., native at the Division I level.
Wake Forest forced Louisville into a pair of turnovers within an 80-second span, as Akins connected on a turnaround jumper to cut the deficit back to single digits.
Biliew connected on his second three of the afternoon as Wake Forest trailed, 54-42.
- The junior once again was perfect on his next three-point attempt to become the first Demon Deacon to reach a double-digit scoring total on the day.
Harris had a strong drive to the bucket to once again get Wake Forest within nine.
- The Salisbury, N.C., native pulled the Deacs within seven with a pair of free throws with 12:55 left.
Wake Forest's run was extended to 6-0 as Akins delivered in traffic to put back a miss from three by Harris.
The Deacs continued to get to the line and convert, as Akins made a pair to make it a 65-59 game with a little more than 10 minutes left.
Spillers sagged into an open space in the land to slam home a bucket to make it 68-61.
Harris reached the 20-point mark once again, swishing a three with 9:32 remaining.
Out of the under-eight media timeout, Spillers got the Deacs back within seven as he beat the shot clock out of the break.
Senior Mekhi Mason nailed a corner three in front of the Wake bench to make it a 75-71 game.
- He became the ninth Demon Deacon to score on the afternoon in the process.
- Colvin would then connect on both attempts from the line on a one-and-one to make it a two-point game.
Wake would tie it up at 78-78 as Spillers converted on the and-one.
- While Louisville went up 80-78, Wake once again knotted the score at 80 all as Akins made a pair of free throws.
Louisville would ultimately close out the game with an 88-80 victory.

Stats of the Game

Sophomore guard Juke Harris recorded 20-plus points for the fourth time in his last five appearances. He finished with a game-high 25 while also grabbing 11 rebounds for his third career double-double.
Senior Tre'Von Spillers dished out a career-high seven assists while also reaching 1,000 career points in the contest.

Coach's Comments
"I'm really disappointed that we lost the game. We fought so hard to get back in it, playing the right way, and then we quit doing things that got us back into the game. At the four-minute media timeout, we got back in the game by having great ball movement, getting stops, getting in the lane, playing off two feet, but then we just started settling for mid-range jumpers and not executing on offense. I think Louisville went up by nine, and the last field goal they made was a little under seven minutes to go when [Kasean] Pryor made the heave from half court. But we didn't dive on the ball. He can't get the shot off. [Louisville] went 15-for-18 from the line after that. We fouled too much. …When we got the game tied, we started jacking a couple balls in. We reached the double bonus but were jacking threes in transition instead of driving and putting pressure on Louisville. It's easy to play from behind. When it's game time, you have to execute. That was a really bad job.

"Just to give an example of playing good offense, we were 11-for-13 at the rim. We scored 51 points on 36 paint touches on just playing off of paint touches. We didn't shoot it, but we kicked it out. But we were 4-for-16 on long twos. A lot of those were late, and that's when we were in the double bonus.It's frustrating – sort of like our game versus Miami. This is our home court. I talked to the team about this before the game prior to this year. We've rarely lost here. When is enough enough? I'm not into moral victories. But it was a great crowd today – they got the building going. We got going. It's our job to get the crowd going. So, I appreciate that – I always appreciate our fans."- head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest will travel to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech on Wednesday evening at McCamish Pavilion.

Tip-off is scheduled for 9 p.m. and the matchup will air nationally on the ACC Network.