No. 2 Louisville Plays at No. 4 NC State in Top 5 Matchup

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In the midst of a Division I high 15-game winning streak, No. 2 Louisville plays at No. 4 NC State in a top five matchup on Thursday night. The game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET and broadcast on ESPN and 790-AM WKRD.

The Cardinals are 15-1 overall and a perfect 5-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

Head Coach Jeff Walz, already the winningest coach in program history, recorded his 400th career win on Sunday with a 63-53 victory at Boston College. Walz is one of 13 active head coaches to record 400 Division I wins at their first school.

"It's quite an honor, but it's because we've had good players and I've had a great staff," said Walz on getting his 400^th win. "We've been able to go out and sell our women's basketball program and get some really talented players to be a part of this the last 15 years."

The Cardinals' 15-game winning streak is tied for the fourth longest winning streak in program history. The longest winning streak in program history is 20 straight when Louisville started the 2017-18 campaign at 20-0. Last season, they opened the season with 16 straight wins, which is tied for the second longest streak in program history. The Cardinals also won 16 straight in 2013-14.

The 15-game streak is the third in program history as Louisville also won 15 straight games in 2006-07 and 2015-16.

Kianna Smith helped the Cardinals get wins over Syracuse and at Boston College last week by averaging a team-high 19.0 points per game on 64 percent shooting overall and 6-10 shooting from deep. She had 20 points on 8-12 shooting, 4-7 from beyond the arc, while adding five assists and two steals in the 84-71 win over Syracuse. She then had 18 points on 8-13 shooting, 2-3 from deep, while adding two assists and a block in the win at Boston College.

Smith leads the Cards with 12.2 points per game and six times this season has led the team in scoring. She leads the ACC and ranks 12th in the NCAA with a 45.8 3-point field goal percentage and ranks eighth in the ACC with 2.1 made 3-pointers per game.

Over the past five seasons, the Cardinals are 72-10 (.878) in ACC regular season and tournament games combined. UofL is 64-7 (.901) in ACC regular season games. They are 33-4 (.892) in home games and 31-3 (.912) in road games.

Under Walz, UofL is 92-24 (.793) all-time in January. He is 19-0 in January the past three seasons. In the last four seasons, he is 27-1 with the lone defeat an 82-68 setback at No. 1 Notre Dame on Jan. 10, 2019. Over the past nine seasons, the Cardinals are 64-5 (.928) in January.

ABOUT THE WOLFPACK

NC State enters Thursday's game with a 16-2 overall record and they are 7-0 in ACC play. Their lone losses are at No. 15 South Carolina (L, 66-57) in the first game of the season and at No. 15 Georgia (L-OT, 82-80). They have won six straight since that loss at Georgia on Dec. 16 and their smallest scoring margin during that stretch is 12 points in a 76-64 win at Miami. The Wolfpack lead the NCAA with a 40.9 3-point field goal percentage and have made 153 3-pointers which leads the ACC and ranks 11th in the country. They rank second in the ACC and fourth in the country in both field goal percentage (47.6%) and scoring margin (+22.9). NC State averages 79.7 points per game, which leads the ACC and ranks 13th in the NCAA. ACC Preseason Player of the Year Elissa Cunane leads NC State with 14.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. She is shooting 54.4 percent from the floor, which ranks third in the ACC. She is shooting 83.8 percent from the stripe, which ranks second in the ACC, and her 74 free throw attempts rank fourth. Diamond Johnson comes off the bench and is the Wolfpack's only other double-digit scorer with 12.0 points per game. Raina Perez averages 8.8 points per game and her 3.2 assists rank 11th in the ACC.

Series History - UofL is 8-5 all-time against NC State and 3-1 in Raleigh. They are 8-3 since joining the ACC. Nine of the last 11 games have been decided by 10 or less points, five by five or less points, and four by two or fewer. Louisville had won six in a row against the Wolfpack prior to going 0-2 against them last year with a 74-60 loss at the KFC Yum! Center in the regular season and a 58-56 loss in the ACC Tournament final. It will mark the sixth straight time these teams have faced off both ranked in the AP Top 10 and third straight both in Top 5.

Last Meeting (March 7, 2021) - NC State's Raina Perez hit a jumper from near the left elbow with 2.1 seconds left as No. 5 Louisville lost a heartbreaker 58-56 to the No. 3 Wolfpack in the championship game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. Perez's shot broke a tie game in a tense finish between two of the nation's top teams in which neither led by more than one point over the final 4 minutes. Elissa Cunane scored 20 points to lead the Wolfpack. UofL had a chance to win it, but Dana Evans missed a 3 off Kianna Smith's inbounds pass at the horn.

GAME FACTS
Date: Thursday, Jan. 20
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Site: Raleigh, N.C. | Reynolds Coliseum (5,500)
TV: ESPN (Ryan Ruocco, play-by-play; Rebecca Lobo, analyst; Holly Rowe, reporter)
Radio: 790-AM WKRD (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Adrienne Johnson, analyst)
Last Meeting: L, 58-56 (March 7, 2021 at ACCT Final)
Series History: 8-5 (L2, 2-2 home, 3-1 away, 3-2 neutral)
Next UofL Game: Sunday, Jan. 23 vs. Wake Forest

For the latest on Louisville women's basketball, visit GoCards.com, follow the team's Twitter account at @UofLWBB or on Facebook at facebook.com/UofLWBB.

No. 2 Louisville Plays at No. 4 NC State in Top 5 Matchup

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Players Mentioned

Dana Evans

Kianna Smith

University of Louisville Athletics