No. 2 Louisville Opens Three-Game Homestand against Wake Forest on Sunday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 2 Louisville women's basketball returns to the KFC Yum! Center for the first of three straight home games to host Wake Forest on Sunday afternoon. The game will tip off at 2 p.m. ET and broadcast on the ACC Network and 790-AM WKRD.

Tickets for Sunday's game are available and in celebration of head coach Jeff Walz's 400^th career victory, commemorative posters will be given away. In addition, former Louisville All-American Emina Ekic and her Racing Louisville FC teammates will sign autographs in the KFC Yum! Center lobby.

Walz recorded his 400^th career victory with a 63-53 win at Boston College last Sunday. He will be recognized at midcourt prior to introductions.

The Cardinals are 15-2 overall and 5-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

Olivia Cochran has scored in double figures in four of the last six games after having just one double digit scoring effort in her first 10 games. In the last six contests, she is averaging 11.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 53 percent overall and 20-28 (.714) from the free throw line. She tied a career-high with 19 points on 8-12 shooting to lead the way for the Cardinals at NC State, while pulling down seven rebounds.

Hailey Van Lith leads the team in scoring with 12.0 points per game. She has scored in double figures 13 times this season and in 10 of the last 11 games. Last season, she scored in double figures in 19 of 30 games, so overall she has scored in double figures in 32 of 47 games for her career. She has led the Cardinals in scoring five time this season. Over the last three games, she is averaging a team-high 16.3 points per game.

Louisville is forcing 21.1 turnovers over game, which ranks first in the ACC and 25th in the country. The Cardinals have forced double-digit turnovers every game this season and 11 times have forced more than 20 turnovers. They forced 35 turnovers in the win over Pitt, which is the program record for most turnovers forced in an ACC game.

Louisville is 9-0 when scoring 70-plus points this season. Last season, UofL went 21-0 when scoring 70 points or more and they are 51-0 the past three seasons. UofL is 280-23 when surpassing the 70-point mark under Walz.

UofL boasts a 174-18 record (.906) at the KFC Yum! Center. All-time at the venue, UofL holds a plus-22.3 scoring margin. Dating back to last season, UofL has won 11 straight at the KFC Yum! Center. The longest home winning streak in program history is 17 games when they won their final five home games in 2016-17 and their first 12 in 2017-18.

Just once in the last five seasons has Louisville lost back-to-back games. That was the 2019-20 season when they lost 67-59 vs. No. 17 Florida State on Feb. 6, 2020 and 59-51 at Syracuse on Feb. 9, 2020. Prior to 2019-20, UofL had not lost back-to-back games since February of 2017.

ABOUT THE DEMON DEACONS

Wake Forest enters Sunday's game with a 12-7 record, 2-6 in ACC play. In ACC games, they have a minus-13 scoring margin. They have lost four straight. The Demon Deacons are 3-3 in true road games with wins at Mercer (W, 68-55), at High Point (W, 79-50) and at Miami (W, 47-46). Wake Forest averages 66.0 points per game, which ranks 10th in the ACC, while giving up 59.0 points per game, which ranks seventh. Jewel Spear is their only double-digit scorer with an ACC high 19.5 points per game. In addition to scoring, she also leads the league in field goal attempts (295), minutes played (633), 3-point field goal attempts (157), 3-point makes (58) and 3-pointers per game (3.1). She shoots 36.9 percent from deep, which ranks fifth in the ACC. She has scored in double figures in 18 of 19 games this season, with seven 20-point games, three 30-point games and she scored 40 points vs. ETSU. Elise Williams ranks second on the team with 9.1 points per game, while Christina Morra ranks third with 8.3 points per game. Olivia Summiel is scoring 6.4 points per game and averages 7.6 rebounds per game, which ranks sixth in the league.

Series History - Louisville is 8-0 all-time versus Wake Forest. In those eight matchups, the Cardinals are 3-0 at home, 4-0 on the road and 1-0 on neutral court with a margin of victory of 18.9 points per contest. The two teams squared off twice last season with Louisville winning 65-63 in Winston-Salem after Dana Evans hit the game-winner with eight seconds left. The Cardinals also won 65-53 in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. In the two teams' last matchup at the KFC Yum! Center on Jan. 12, 2020, Louisville won 75-61. The two-point win at Wake Forest last season is the only matchup not decided by double digits.

Last Meeting (March 5, 2021) - Hailey Van Lith scored a season-high 24 points and helped Louisville pull away in the fourth quarter to beat Wake Forest 65-53 in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Dana Evans struggled to eight points on 3-for-15 shooting. But, the Cardinals got boosts from Van Lith, as well as reserves Ramani Parker and Ahlana Smith at key moments. Van Lith made 9 of 15 shots and hit 6 of 10 3-pointers, which included two during a decisive 13-0 run that finally broke the Cardinals loose from a tie game.

GAME FACTS
Date: Sunday, Jan. 23
Time: 2 p.m. ET
Site: Louisville, Ky. | KFC Yum! Center (22,000)
TV: ACCN (Sam Ravech, play-by-play; Kelly Gramlich, analyst)
Radio: 790-AM WKRD (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Adrienne Johnson, analyst)
Last Meeting: W, 65-53 (March 5, 2021 at ACCT Quarters)
Series History: 8-0 (W8, 3-0 home, 4-0 away, 1-0 neutral)
Series History w/ Walz: Same
Next UofL Game: Thursday, Jan. 27 vs. Florida State

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 Opens Three-Game Homestand against Wake Forest on Sunday

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Players Mentioned

Olivia Cochran

Dana Evans

Ramani Parker

Ahlana Smith

Hailey Van Lith

University of Louisville Athletics