The Louisville Cardinals are knocked out of the ACC tournament after a 83-70 loss Thursday night to North Carolina in Charlotte. The Tar Heels move on to the semifinals tomorrow night.
Louisville got themselves down 34-21 at the under-8 timeout in the first half before using a quick 12-0 run to cut it to 1 point with 5:37 until the break. Carolina responded with an 11-2 run of its own to make it 45-35 at halftime. From there, the Cards could only cut it to 6 points in the second half. The Tar Heels went back and forth with Louisville, but eventually cruised to their 8th straight win overall.
Coby White and Luke Maye led all scorers with 19 points each. Cameron Johnson added 14 for UNC. Dwayne Sutton led Louisville with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Malik Williams notched a double-double with 10 points and 13 boards for the Cards.
Louisville looked good at times tonight but could not get enough stops to keep up with North Carolina. After Carolina extended their lead into halftime they never looked back. Louisville had some opportunities to cut the deficit, but couldn’t stop UNC defensively when they needed it most. 36 of Louisville’s 66 field goal attempts came from behind the 3 point line. You could argue that North Carolina is playing better than any team in the country right now. It’s not a terrible loss to take heading into the NCAA Tournament next weekend.
Louisville is now 20-13 overall heading into Selection Sunday. The brackets will be revealed at 6:00 p.m. ET Sunday nighton CBS. Their seed remains to be seen, but the Cardinals should be a lock for an at-large selection.
