N.C. State may have won the only regular-season matchup against Louisville in ACC play, but Louisville won the only game that mattered Friday to move on to the Elite Eight.
The Cardinals avenged their Feb. 14 home loss in a 75-65 victory over the eight-seeded Wolfpack (22-14) in the East Regional in Syracuse, N.Y. It is the 14th time in school history Louisville (27-8) has made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, and the 11th time under coach Rick Pitino.
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Montrezl Harrell scored 24 points to go with seven rebounds and four assists to lead the No. 4-seeded Cardinals. Guard Terry Rozier recorded a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
"We stuck together," Harrell said in an interview with Turner Sports after the game. "We gotten this far by playing together and playing as a team, so we've got to keep sticking together and keep moving forward."
Louisville dominated the paint in the first half, outscoring the Wolfpack 20-8. But six 3-pointers from N.C. State put the Wolfpack up 33-31 at the break.
Louisville used a 16-2 run to take a 47-41 lead midway through the second half, but the Wolfpack answered with a run of their own to take the lead with 7:19 remaining after a Trevor Lacey 3-pointer. Louisville had zero bench points until Anton Gill scored seven in three minutes during a 12-3 run late in the game that put the Cardinals up 65-57 with nearly three minutes left.
Lacey scored 18 points and grabbed five rebounds for the Wolfpack in a losing effort.
Louisville will move on to the Elite Eight and face the winner of Oklahoma and Michigan State.