Louisville vs Wake Forest 1/7/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons and the Louisville Cardinals meet Saturday in college basketball action from KFC Yum! Center. Wake Forest is 10-5 this year and coming off a loss to North Carolina. As for Louisville, they’re 2-13 following a Tuesday loss to Syracuse. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Wake Forest managed a 7-3 run through their first 10 games this year, losing to LMU, Clemson and LSU along the way. The Deacons are 3-2 since then with wins over App State, Duke and Virginia Tech. 

In the Wednesday matchup versus North Carolina, the Deacons held a 38-37 lead going into the second half. Wake Forest was outscored 51-41 from there and lost 88-79. Damari Monsanto led the team with 17 points and seven boards. 

Over on the Louisville side, they hit a 0-9 run to start off the year before finally bagging a win over Western Kentucky on December 14. The Cardinals beat Florida A&M in the next game but they’ve lost four straight since then. 

On Tuesday versus Syracuse, Louisville held a slim 35-34 lead at the break. The Cardinals didn’t end up hanging on, though; they lost 70-69 in a tough outcome. El Ellis was the team’s lead scorer on 20 points and nine assists. 

PICK: I’ll probably take a stab on Wake Forest here. The Deacons had a bad second half in their last game versus a very good North Carolina team, but ultimately shot 49.1 percent from the field with a 33-28 rebounding advantage. The 15 turnovers and 13-of-20 (65 percent) from the line didn’t help matters, though. Wake Forest has been scoring pretty well this year (70 or more points in four of their last six) and they’ve stood tall against some tough competitors. If the Deacons can get off to a good start in this one I can see them covering. Louisville should hang around until later in the game but I don’t see the Cardinals getting very close.