
Louisville vs Wake Forest Prediction 1/28/25 College Basketball Picks Today
Wake Forest (15-5) vs. Louisville (15-5)
January 28, 2025 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Louisville -8.5; Over/Under: 141.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons and the Louisville Cardinals meet Tuesday in college basketball action from KFC Yum! Center. Here’s a Louisville vs Wake Forest prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Louisville vs Wake Forest pick.
Wake Forest Demon Deacons Betting Preview
Wake Forest had a bit of choppy play back in November and December, but overall they’ve been a highly consistent team in the record column. The Demon Deacons have yet to lose consecutive games—but they’re at risk of it here if things don’t go well on the court. Wake Forest opened the season on a 9-4 run, losing to Xavier, Florida, Texas A&M and Clemson. The wins otherwise were versus Coppin State, North Carolina A&T, Michigan, USC Upstate, Western Carolina, Detroit, Minnesota, Boston College and James Madison. A win streak ensued over the next six games, featuring victories over Syracuse, NC State, Miami, Stanford, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina. Following a loss to Duke over the weekend, Wake Forest slipped to 15-5 overall through 20 games so far this year.
In the Duke game on Saturday, the Demon Deacons went into the locker room with a 35-22 deficit. Wake Forest came alive from there on a 34-28 run but didn’t get close enough in a 63-56 defeat. Leading the team in scoring was Juke Harris, who notched 14 points with five boards and one steal in 27 minutes of work off the bench. Tops among the starters was Hunter Sallis with his 12 points, four turnovers, and seven rebounds in 40 minutes on the floor.
Louisville Cardinals Betting Preview
Over on the Louisville side, they’ve similarly had a very consistent run so far this year—outside of a rough 1-4 stretch back in December, that is. Outside of that span, the Cardinals have only one loss in the books. That defeat came versus Tennessee in game two during a 5-1 start that had wins over Morehead State, Bellarmine, Winthrop, Indiana, and West Virginia otherwise. Louisville lost to Oklahoma, Duke, Ole Miss, and Kentucky with a win over UTEP in the next five outings. Since then it’s been wins over Florida State, Eastern Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, Clemson, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia, and SMU in succession for a 15-5 record as well though the first 20 outings of the 2024-25 campaign.
Matched up against SMU last Tuesday, the Cards surged to a 50-27 edge by the break. Louisville kept the pace up in the second half, rolling to a 48-46 advantage along the way to a 98-73 blowout victory. Reyne Smith led the team with 30 points, three rebounds, one assist, and one steal. Both J’Vonnne Hadley (seven rebounds) and James Scott (two rebounds; two blocks) had 16 points apiece, while Chucky Hepburn chipped in 13 points with 16 assists for a double-double in the victory.
Why the Louisville Cardinals will win
- Louisville has won each of its last 10 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Wake Forest has lost 10 of its last 11 games against AP-ranked opponents.
- Louisville has won the first half in each of its last 10 games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Why the Wake Forest Demon Deacons will win
- Wake Forest has won 10 of its last 11 night games.
- Wake Forest has won the first half in seven of its last eight road night games against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Louisville vs Wake Forest Prediction
I’ll stay with the Cardinals. Louisville took care of a good SMU team pretty easily in their last outing, hitting 46.3 percent from the field with a 41-33 rebounding advantage and just seven turnovers. On defense, the Cardinals held the Mustangs to just 40.4 percent shooting and scored 10 points off 11 turnovers. That makes nine straight wins for Louisville. They’ve scored 70 or more points in 11 straight games (a 10-1 run) as well.
As for Wake Forest, they held Duke to just 36.8 percent shooting and scored 12 points off 16 Blue Devils turnovers. The problem? The Deacons shot just 37.3 percent from the field themselves with only 3-of-18 (16.7 percent) from outside. The eight missed free throws from 23 opportunities (65.2 percent) didn’t help either. Wake Forest has scored a combined 123 points in their last two games, but they’re normally a better offense than that. Still, going up against a tricky Louisville team at KFC will be a tall order—even for a talented team like Wake.