The Louisville Cardinals won their second straight on Saturday with a 72-55 rout over North Carolina at home. Louisville improves to 23-5 overall and 14-3 in the ACC. UNC drops to 10-17 and 3-13.
Jordan Nwora led the Cards with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Malik Williams added 17 points and 9 boards on 8-11 from the field. Louisville shot 46.8 percent from the field and connected on 9 of 25 three point attempts.
For the Tar Heels, Cole Anthony led the way with not much help from the supporting cast. Anthony finished with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists. No other Tar Heels scored in double figures. Carolina shot 39.6 percent from the field and only 27.3 percent from deep. Louisville out-rebounded UNC 38-29 and forced the Heels into 17 turnovers. starting forward Garrison Brooks(illness) and Senior Justin Pierce(ankle) were late scratches for North Carolina.
This was a relatively close game during the first 15 minutes before Louisville pulled away for a 13 point lead at halftime. Louisville came out of the break on a 11-0 run and the lead got out to as many as 23 points. The Cards held a double digit lead for the final 21 minutes of action.
This was already a bad North Carolina team that was without a starter and another key bench player. The Heels were shorthanded and Louisville took full advantage of the matchup. The game was never in doubt and Louisville cruised to its second straight win.
There is not much that can be taken from this win. UNC was already a huge underdog before the late injury announcements. Louisville looked as good as they had on Wednesday night. They brought the intensity and looked like every bit of a top-10 team. The difference in confidence is apparent just a week removed from two bad losses. You can only hope that last week was a momentary lapse in concentration that will not be repeated. The response this past week was encouraging to say the least. A crucial two weeks await this Louisville men’s basketball team.
Up Next:
Louisville travels to Tallahassee for a Big Monday matchup with Florida State at 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Here’s Coach Chris Macks press conference:
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