Louisville Holds Off Wake Forest 88-80

Saturday, February 7

Winston-Salem, N.C.

12 p.m.

University of Louisville

17-6,7-4ACC

Wake Forest

11-12,2-8ACC

Louisville

Wake Forest

February 07, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes Pat Kelsey, Khani Rooths Postgame Press Conference

Sananda Fru leads the way as six Cardinals finish in double figures and Louisville outscores Wake Forest 8-0 in the final 4:44 of the game

By: Lori Harmon

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The No. 24/34-ranked University of Louisville men's basketball team used an 8-0 run down the stretch to beat host Wake Forest 88-80 Saturday afternoon at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

With the win, Louisville improves to 17-6 (7-4 ACC) while Wake Forest drops to 11-12 (2-8).

"We're fortunate to come out with the win, winning on the road in conference is always hard," said UofL head coach Pat Kelsey. "I've got a ton of respect for Steve Forbes, we've been in the business together for a long, long time. They're dealing with serious injury problems right now and they're competing and gave us all we can handle tonight. I feel good about how the game ended the last four minutes in terms of our defense and rebounding. I give Wake a lot of credit, their tenacity on the glass in the second half, it hurt us in that area, but our guys had the wherewithal to flip the switch and get stops and rebounds down the stretch. I felt like it was a phenomenal team win."

Six Cardinals finished in double figures in the game with Sananda Fru leading the charge, pouring in 17 points with a perfect 7-of-7 performance from the field and a 3-of-4 showing from the free-throw line while grabbing six rebounds and two blocks. J'Vonne Hadley added 15 points behind 5-of-7 shooting and going 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Khani Rooths finished with 12 points, shooting 4-of-10 from the field. Mikel Brown Jr., tallied 12 points including seven from the free throw line and dished out eight assists. Isaac McKneely and Ryan Conwell each had 11 points, with McKneely going 3-of-4 from deep and Conwell connecting on a pair of 3-pointers.

The Cards jumped to 7-1 lead in to start the game with Hadley scoring the first five points of the contest. After Wake cut it to 7-6 entering the first media timeout, Louisville responded with an 8-2 run fueled by McKneely who connected on a jumper and back-to-back 3-pointers. The Demon Deacons used a 12-5 run to pull within three at 23-20 with 7:26 left in the half.

Louisville countered with a15-6 run over the next 4:50, extending the lead to 38-26. The Demon Deacons fought back, outscoring the Cards 8-5 in the final 2:31 to make the score 43-34 entering the break.

The Cards took the lead into halftime after shooting 53.3% (16-of-30) from the field and 37.5% (6-of-16) from deep. Rooths led the way for Louisville in the first 20 minutes with nine points. Fru was 4-of-4 from the field and McKneely was 3-of-4 to deliver eight first-half points apiece.

Louisville started the second half with an 11-4 run to open up a 15-point lead, its largest of the game at 54-39. Wake Forest continued to claw back throughout the half, trimming the deficit to two when Myles Colvin connected on a pair of free throws to make the score 75-73 with 7:07 remaining in the game. Kasean Pryor drained a 3-pointer gave the Cards a 5-point cushion, but Wake answered with 5-0 run to tie the contest at 78-78.

Brown drained a pair of free throws to put Louisville back on top, but the Deacs answered with two free throws by Sebastian Akins to pull even again at 80-80 with 4:44 left in the game.

The Cards scored the final eight points of the contest, holding the Deacs scoreless on 0-for-11 shooting to secure the 88-80 win.

In the game, Louisville shot 53% (27-of-51) from the field including a 40% (10-of-25) from deep to go along with a 77% (24-of-31) showing from the free throw line. The Cards held a 34-30 advantage in points in the paint and a 22-21 edge in bench scoring.

"We had six guys in double figures," said Kelsey. "Everybody's contribution, whether it's subbing a guy in late for a defensive sub like Khani (Rooths) went in and got rebounds, got a big block, got a stop. I thought Kobe Rodgers coming off the bench was really, really good for us. I'm not a big plus-minus guy, but he was plus-15 in limited minutes, three offensive rebounds, two steals, two assists, that's just an example of something that we take great pride in. It's the individual contributions, whether you're a big minutes guy, a small minutes guy, high volume shooter, low volume shooter, it's everybody doing their job and I was proud of the collective team effort tonight."

Wake Forest shot 43% (27-of-63) from the field overall and 32% (8-of-25) from 3-point range. The Demon Deacons had four players finish in double figures as Juke Harris led all scorers with 25 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Both teams pulled down 32 rebounds with Wake Forest holding a 10-6 edge in offensive boards and 12-10 margin in second chance points.

The Cards will have a quick turnaround as they return to the KFC Yum! Center for a Monday matchup with NC State at 7 p.m. on ESPN.