LOUISVILLE — What goes up must come down. And boy, did NC State come down hard on Monday night against Louisville in a brutal 118-77 loss at the KFC Yum! Center. The Wolfpack had three starters finish with double-figure points, but was manhandled on the boards, gave up 18 3-pointers and shot just 4-of-22 behind the arc in its worst offensive and defensive performance of the season.
Louisville’s 18 3-pointers were the most ever allowed by an NC State defense. It was also the second-most points allowed in program history — topped only by Maryland (124) in 1978. It was a historic beatdown handed to the Pack, but it was also just one loss in the grand scheme of things.
Here are the immediate takeaways from NC State men’s basketball’s blowout loss to Louisville on the road to snap its six-game winning streak and 6-0 start in ACC play on the road.
Mikel Brown Jr. Eviscerates the Pack’s Defense
Ryan Conwell did his thing like usual, but the Louisville lead guard’s 31-point outing was nowhere near the biggest story of the night. It was freshman Mikel Brown Jr., who had the best game of his young career with 45 total points, 14-of-23 shooting and 10-of-16 from behind the arc in an offensive masterclass to put the Pack out of its misery.
In the past four games, Brown Jr. was 6-of-27 from behind the arc and had just nine total 3-pointers in five ACC contests thus far. He smashed all of those marks with 10 triples against the Pack — five in each half — while also grabbing a team-high nine rebounds, two assists and three steals. Brown and Conwell alone had 15 triples on 22 attempts, which was more than three times what the Wolfpack shot from behind the arc on the same amount of attempts as a team.
Wolfpack Can’t Match the Cards’ Perimeter Shooting or Physicality
If Monday’s game was the Kentucky Derby, Louisville was riding Secretariat while the Pack appeared to be riding a donkey. The Cardinals raced out to a 10-point lead before the under-16 timeout and led by double digits for the final 9:01 of the first half. Despite leading by 20 at the half, Louisville jumped out to a 19-6 run in the first 4:15 of play in the second half to take an astounding 35-point lead with nearly 16 minutes left to play.
Of course, that got worse. The Pack ultimately lost by 41 points and even allowed Louisville to go on a 7-0 run in the final 1:31 as State never once matched the moment all night long.
The Wolfpack’s three-point offense that’s been so potent in ACC play shot just 18.2 percent overall with Paul McNeil, Quadir Copeland, Darrion Williams and Tre Holloman going 3-of-16 alone. The Pack only rebounded six of its 40 missed shots to get dominated on the boards by a final of 42-28. State struggled to generate assists all night, allowing 21 dimes while getting just 10 as reigning ACC Player of the Week Quadir Copeland had three assists to four turnovers in 21 minutes. That’s about all that needs to be said.
It’s Just One Loss
It’s an embarrassing loss. It’s an eye-opener for the Wolfpack. And it’s certainly a missed opportunity. But at the end of the day, it’s just one loss on the schedule — and a Quad 1 loss at that — to drop to 9-3 in ACC play and still sit at 11 games above .500 overall.
Will Wade put it bluntly after the game and immediately started looking forward.
“We got whipped. So there’s no two ways about that,” Wade said in the postgame press conference. “We’re gonna be judged on how we respond. Our team’s responded all year. I told the guys afterwards I still believe in them. We had a major setback. I thought we were beyond these type performances. I thought we had kind of grown past this, but we hadn’t. We’ve got to respond the right way this week with some good practices and and get ready for Saturday.”
That matchup on Saturday isn’t a walk in the park, either. The Wolfpack will host a Miami team that’s currently 7-3 in ACC play, 5-1 away from home and sitting just two games behind the Wolfpack after Monday’s shellacking for the Pack.
Suffice to say, State must flush this loss and move on. Allowing this to turn into two losses before hosting No. 11 UNC-Chapel Hill, then going to No. 15 Virginia would make it extremely difficult to still earn a double bye in the ACC Tournament or continue to rise in the seeding for the NCAA Tournament.
date: 2026-02-10 06:49:00