UNC basketball plays its best game of the season as it runs past Louisville
Had fans been present, the biggest crowd noise as North Carolina pummeled Louisville 99-54 Saturday in the Dean E. Smith Center most certainly would have come – not from walk-on Creighton Lebo scoring. Not from Sterling Manley getting off the bench to enter the game for the first time this season. But from the Tar Heels’ falling just shy from surpassing the 100-point mark and securing everyone with a ticket for free biscuits.
Freebies aside, it was arguably the best game the Tar Heels (14-7, 8-5 ACC) have played this season. And that’s even while considering Louisville (11-5, 6-4) was coming off a 19-day layoff due to positive cases of COVID-19 within the program including head coach Chris Mack.
“The biggest thing for us is we shot the ball well which we haven’t done very often this year,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “And we didn’t turn it over very much 29 (assists) 11 (turnovers). Those are kind of things that we’ve been trying to emphasize more than anything, but we caught a team that didn’t have their game legs.”
U of L welcomed back its 6-foot-11 center Malik Williams after missing the entire season with a foot injury. But Williams wasn’t ready to play big minutes and it left them undersized in the frontcourt.
Carolina took advantage of that from the start of the game, as sophomore Armando Bacot and senior Garrison Brooks combined to score eight of its first 14 points.
The Tar Heels shot a season-high 60.9 percent from the field thanks to scoring a season-high 58 points in the paint. That was powered by the Heels’ frontcourt who had all four bigs -- Day’Ron Sharpe (21 points), Bacot (14), Brooks (12) and Walker Kessler (10) – score in double digits for the first time this season.
“We just keep throwing in different bigs,” Bacot said. “We bring a lot of energy, we get on the boards and we getting their big man in foul trouble. It just changes the game. And that’s when they start sinking in. And when we hit shots, we’re a really hard team to beat.”
No one sinks 3-point shots for Carolina at the rate of guard Kerwin Walton. The freshman with the baby ‘fro hair, which he jokes is where his power comes from, secured a new career-high scoring the first half as he was perfect in his first five shots – including his first four 3-pointers.
He finished with 19 points and a new high with five 3s.
But while shooting 44 percent from 3, he showed a new wrinkle in his game against U of L. He put the ball on the floor and got to the rim for baskets. He’s used his pump fake before in the season, but it has generally been to take a dribble and still shoot a jumper. Walton said it’s because he’s getting “very, very comfortable,” within the offense.
“I know a defense is going to come up on me because I’m a shooter and they’re going to try their hardest to take that away from me,” Walton said. “So I’m just going to take what they give me and they’re going to give me the drive. I’m just going to go in for a layup and go in strong and go in hard and just try to finish the basket.”
Walton is part of the reason why Carolina’s freshmen combined for a school-record 71 points.
Aside from a stretch to start the second half when freshman point guard Caleb Love had all four of his turnovers, this was a game where the Heels’ freshmen collectively showed maturity.
It’s why Roy Williams was so assertive that Carolina not have any more holes in its schedule. The Heels’ win over Northeastern on Wednesday came after only being added to the schedule 48 hours prior due to UNC’s game against Virginia Tech game being postponed. Carolina has a little more time to prepare for Wednesday’s newly added game against Big East foe Marquette, which will replace UNC’s postponed game against Boston College.
“At the beginning of the season, we was like turning the ball over a lot more and just wasn’t making good plays,” Sharpe said. “But I feel like we started to understand like what’s a good play, what’s a bad play.”
There weren’t many bad plays in UNC’s second biggest margin of victory in a conference win under Williams. There just weren’t any biscuits to go with it.
Here are updates from earlier in the game:
Carolina cruising toward a win
The Heels haven’t played with a big lead many times this season, and it showed in the opening minutes of the second half. They committed five turnovers in the first 3:30 minutes including four by Caleb Love, who had the ball stolen by Carlik Jones three times.
UNC regained its focus after that clumsy start, again getting baskets in the paint to quell any thoughts of a Louisville rally. The Heels scored seven of their first eight baskets of the second half in the paint, including Garrison Brooks scoring six of his 11 points.
Carolina leads 72-44 with 7:55 remaining.
UNC leads big at half
Caleb Love got a run out and emphatically dunked the last basket before the buzzer in arguably the best first half Carolina has played this season. The Tar Heels 48-29 lead is both the most points they’ve scored in a half this season and their biggest halftime lead.
Freshman guard Kerwin Walton led the Heels with 14 points including making his first four 3-point attempts. Walton’s second 3 with 9:18 sparked a 16-6 run to turn a game tied at 17 into a 33-23 lead.
They added another spurt to close out the last four minutes of the half, outscoring the Cards 15-6. UNC forward Day’Ron Sharpe powered that run scoring six of his 12 first half points.
Heels leading early from their board play
Carolina has forged a 23-19 lead by dominating the offensive boards. The Heels already have 10 offensive rebounds on 12 missed shots, which has led to six second chance points. What’s kept the Tar Heels from having a bigger lead with so many extra chances to score is their free throw shooting. UNC, which is shooting just 64 percent in ACC play, is just 2-for-8 from the line.
Louisville has not resembled a team that hasn’t played a game in 19 days. The Cards have only turned the ball over three times.
Starting lineups
North Carolina: Caleb Love, Kerwin Walton, Leaky Black, Garrison Brooks, Armando Bacot
Louisville: Carlik Jones, David Johnson, Samuell Williamson, Dre Davis, Jae’Lyn Withers.
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 5:30 PM.