Top-5 showdown in ACC country as No. 3 Louisville women play at No. 4 NC State
With No. 3 Louisville coming to No. 4 NC State for an ACC showdown Thursday (7:30 p.m., ESPN), the Wolfpack is bound to be eager to play. Their ability to match that mentality with execution will decide how the game goes, according to NC State coach Wes Moore.
“That’s going to be what makes or breaks us — our energy and our urgency on defense and on the boards,” Moore said in a Wednesday presser.
“You’re going to have games where you don’t shoot well and to survive and stay in the hunt, you have to defend and rebound.”
Shooting well has been one of the Wolfpack’s greatest strengths with the highest 3-point shooting percentage in the country (.409), and NC State ranks third nationally in scoring margin (+22.9) while averaging an ACC-best 79.7 points.
Here are three more things to know about Thursday’s matchup.
How to watch: NC State women's basketball vs. Louisville: Game time, how to watch on TV, live stream
Hot-handed offense vs. lock-down defense
The Wolfpack’s numbers on offense are among the best in the nation, but Louisville ranks among NCAA leaders in scoring defense, giving up an average of 49.4 points to rank fourth in the country. ACC-mate Georgia Tech is No. 1, allowing just 46.3 points per game, but the Cardinals held them under the half-century mark, too, in a 50-48 win on Jan. 2.
That win was the 12th in a 15-game streak that included four victories over Top 20 teams.
Louisville (15-1, 5-0) hasn’t lost since Nov. 12 when then-No. 22 Arizona (now No. 4) won in overtime, 61-59.
During its winning streak, the Cardinals have held opponents to fewer than 50 points eight times, giving up a high of 71 points against Syracuse and a low of 25 against Bellarmine.
In wins against ranked opponents Georgia Tech, UConn, Michigan and Kentucky, Louisville gave up an average of 54.5 points and scored an average of 63.25.
The Cardinals also average an ACC-best 10.69 steals per game.
“They just play hard, now,” Moore said. “They put a lot of pressure on you, they get in the passing lanes, they pressure the ball, they may switch, they may show big, they may press.”
He said the Wolfpack (16-2, 7-0) will be forced to make good decisions on both sides of the ball in the face of that kind of defensive pressure.
NC State’s lowest scoring output of this season came in a 66-57 loss to No. 1 South Carolina. In a 4-1 run against five more ranked opponents, the Pack averaged 76 points.
Cunane can dominate
Louisville lost All-American guard Dana Evans from last year’s squad as she went on to win a WNBA title in her rookie season with the Chicago Sky.
NC State still has its All-American.
Six-foot-5 center Elissa Cunane, from Summerfield, has force and finesse in the paint for the Wolfpack to go with a nice 3-point shot when she’s feeling it.
The Cardinals would benefit from her getting into foul trouble, because that’s just about the only way to slow her down.
She routinely fights through double-teams and she’s averaging 14.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Those numbers balloon to 18.25 points and 9.0 rebounds in wins over Top-25 teams this season.
Another Wolfpack weapon that Louisville knows well is fifth-year senior point guard Raina Perez. She sank the game-winning jumper that beat the Cardinals and gave NC State a second-straight ACC tournament championship title last season.
This season, she’s scored in double figures in all of NC State’s games against ranked opponents except for a 72-45 blowout of then No.-19 UNC. Perez matched Jakia Brown-Turner’s game-high of 18 points against the top-ranked Gamecocks.
Diamond Johnson gives the Wolfpack a new wrinkle the Cards haven’t seen. She’s second on the team in scoring with a 12-ppg average, she responds well to big matchups and she has the ability to ignite a sold-out Reynolds and her teammates with highlight-reel plays.
ACC race
NC State and Louisville are the only ACC teams yet to suffer a league loss, and the winner of this game will gain an edge in the race for the league title.
But there’s a lot of season left, and talented squads Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Duke, UNC and Notre Dame are eager to gain the attention that would come with a win over NC State or Louisville.
The Cardinals and the Wolfpack stacked their nonconference schedules with quality opponents to prepare for the gamut of ACC play, but they’ll have to find a consistent level of energy and execution to take the best shot of all those teams throughout the winter.
Or, as Moore puts it, “The wind blows hardest at the top of the flagpole.
“But that beats the alternative.”
Sports editor Monica Holland can be reached at mholland@fayobserver.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: NC State women's basketball hosts Louisville in top-5 matchup
