The No. 7 Louisville Cardinals went blow for blow for the first 24 minutes of the game on the road against the No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels. Sadly, college basketball games last 40 minutes and in order to beat a great team on the road, the Cardinals have to match the intensity they exhibited for the first 24 minutes for an entire game. Louisville fell to the Tar Heels 74-63.
Louisville tied the game up early in the second half at 43, after trailing by 3 at halftime. After that, it was like a team we hadn’t seen before. I know Virginia struggles are real, but I always saw 100% focus and intensity, tonight that was absent for the closing 16 minutes of the game. Louisville was led by Donovan Mitchell with 21 points. No other Louisville player scored double digits.
Up next, Louisville hosts Syracuse on Sunday at 2pm on CBS. The Orange defeated Duke tonight on a buzzer beater 3, which allows the Cards to remain in 2nd place with the tie breaker. It was a tough loss, but it’s one the team can learn from and use going forward. I’m still just as sold on this team as I was before tonight, one loss doesn’t diminish this team’s spotlight.
Go Cards!