Louisville's winning streak ends in home loss to North Carolina

Danielle Lerner
Courier Journal

For a split second after Luke Maye's layup caught iron, it seemed Louisville would have one last chance in the first half to chip away at a 14-point North Carolina lead. 

But the rebound was tipped instead to Tar Heels forward Nassir Little, who bobbled the ball twice, just out of reach of Malik Williams and Jordan Nwora, before forcing it toward the basket. 

Little's tip-in was good at the buzzer to give No. 10 North Carolina a 16-point halftime lead, one the Tar Heels never relinquished in a 79-69 win over No. 16 Louisville on Saturday at the KFC Yum Center. 

Three weeks after cruising to a 21-point upset in Chapel Hill, Louisville (16-6, 7-2 ACC) was force-fed a taste of its own medicine as North Carolina (17-4, 7-1) shot 42 percent from the floor and had a field day on the boards with a plus-17 rebounding margin. 

"I thought they were the aggressor," said Louisville coach Chris Mack. "We didn't come out with much fire, and I'm disappointed for our fans." 

Four North Carolina starters scored in double figures as the Tar Heels handed the Cardinals their second home loss of the season and first in league play in front of 19,985 fans, the second-largest Yum Center crowd this season. 

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The Tar Heels started off 3 of 10 from the field but drew a couple of early fouls and went 4 of 4 from the line to grab an early 10-9 lead. 

Once up 15-14, the Cardinals' shooting took a nose dive while the Tar Heels hit a few tough transition jumpers and had their big men force their way into the paint. UNC grabbed a 10-point lead with six minutes to go, and in the waning minutes of the first half Louisville found itself down 19, its largest deficit of the season. 

Luke Maye and Cameron Johnson, who had 19 combined points in the first meeting, teamed up for 24 in the first half Saturday and finished with 20 and 19, respectively. 

Dwayne Sutton scored 12 of his 19 points in the second half and Christen Cunningham added 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting for Louisville, which had won six games in a row. Jordan Nwora finished in double figures for the 20th game this season with 11 points. 

Here are some takeaways from the game: 

Rebounding falls short 

One game after giving up 20 offensive boards to Wake Forest, Louisville still looked lost on the glass Saturday. 

Both Sutton and Mack described the Cards as being "dismantled" on the boards. At halftime they were at a 28-12 disadvantage with zero offensive rebounds. The Tar Heels, meanwhile, scored eight second-chance points off seven offensive rebounds. 

UNC finished with 49 rebounds, the most given up by Louisville all season. 

"Carolina's really good on the glass. We knew that," Mack said. "I'd be surprised when I check the film if we were trying to block out, which is hard to believe." 

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Shaky offensive start

Louisville was reckless with the ball early on, throwing errant passes off the arms of UNC defenders, or worse, into their hands. The Tar Heels scored six points off turnovers in the opening 10 minutes. 

The Cards shot 11 of 31 in the first half and looked unsettled on offense, which translated to spotty transition defense and a few ill-timed fouls. Big men Williams and Steven Enoch were each saddled with two fouls by the five-minute mark. 

"We just got bullied," Cunningham said. "They pushed us off the line, made us run our offense from 35, 40 feet. We just didn't answer the bell." 

Punches started landing in the second half as Sutton hit three back-to-back shots from the corner to cut the lead to nine points with 10:50 to go, but that was the closest the Cards ever got. 

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Defense shows up too late 

Louisville took its defense up a notch in the second half with extended pressure on UNC's guards, but the effort came too late.

Darius Perry got some extended minutes in a smaller, three-guard lineup alongside Ryan McMahon and Cunningham, and the Cards at one point held UNC scoreless for 2:37. 

The Tar Heels, however, didn't buckle. They hit four 3-pointers and committed just two second-half turnovers on their way to a win. 

"We didn't compete until we’re down way too far," Mack said. "Our inability to end possessions and get defensive rebounds, we set the tone in the first half and never could get out of that hole."

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Danielle Lerner: 502-582-4042; dlerner@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @Danielle_Lerner. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/daniellel.