WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Jordan Nwora scored 20 points and No. 15 Louisville won its sixth straight game, routing Wake Forest 82-54 on Wednesday night.
Dwayne Sutton added 17 points and 10 rebounds, Malik Williams finished with 13 points and Ryan McMahon had 12 points on four 3-pointers for the Cardinals (16-5, 7-1).
They shot 52 percent and led by 35 while keeping themselves even with three other one-loss teams -- No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Virginia and No. 9 North Carolina -- atop the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Nwora, who averages 18 points, had 17 in the first half while Ryan McMahon hit three 3s in roughly 5 minutes. Behind those two -- and 8-of-13 shooting from 3-point range in the half -- Louisville needed less than 15 minutes to build a 20-point lead, and the Cardinals spent the rest of the game maintaining it.
Brandon Childress scored 13 points, Jaylen Hoard finished with 11 and Chaundee Brown had 10 for the Demon Deacons (8-12, 1-7).
They shot a season-worst 27 percent and missed 13 of their first 14 3-pointers. They have lost seven of eight and are off to their fourth 1-7 start to league play in five years under coach Danny Manning.
BIG PICTURE
Louisville: The Cardinals are riding the hottest streak of their five years in the ACC. Their 7-1 start to league play is their best since joining this conference, and their best in any league since they opened 8-0 in the old Big East in 2008-09. But things are about to get tougher -- their next four opponents are in the AP Top 25.
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons are off to yet another poor start to league play. They began 1-7 in the ACC in Manning’s first season in 2014-15, opened 1-13 in the conference the following season and were 1-8 last season. That’s bad, and this is worse: In none of those seasons did Wake Forest make a postseason tournament or finish above .500.