No. 4 UNC basketball keeps rolling. Three takeaways from Tar Heels win over Louisville
Add another win to the No. 4 North Carolina Tar Heels record after a late-night ACC game Wednesday.
UNC defeated Louisville, 86-70, at the Smith Center to win its seventh straight game and remain atop the league standings. It’s the longest win streak under head coach Hubert Davis.
Senior RJ Davis led the Tar Heels (14-3, 6-0 ACC) with 21 points, going 4-7 from deep. Graduate student Jae’Lyn Withers added a double-double, contributing 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Here are three takeaways from UNC’s win.
Heels start hot
UNC didn’t show any signs of slowing down, despite coming off a 103-point performance against Syracuse Saturday. The Tar Heels jumped out to an early 15-point lead over Louisville (6-11, 1-5 ACC) behind impressive shooting and high energy.
The Heels took their first double-figure lead 4:45 into the game when graduate student Cormac Ryan knocked down a triple. Senior RJ Davis followed that up with a perimeter bucket on the following possession.
Roughly three and a half minutes later, UNC had made 11-of-15 field goal attempts (73%) while the defense gave up just 11 points total.
North Carolina’s hot shooting cooled off considerably after that, unable to score for 4:43, but the team still ended the half with 46 points. Ryan logged 4-4 from the arc.
“We needed (Ryan’s) outside jump shots tonight, because when he when he scores from outside, that opens up everything for Armando (Bacot), Elliot (Cadeau) and everybody to be able to drive. He was big for us,” Hubert Davis said.
For a team that’s struggled with consistently starting well, it needed to put up big numbers in consecutive games.
Making the effort plays
Fans are probably sick of the team talking about games being won in the trenches — Hubert Davis, Harrison Ingram and RJ Davis have all said something in recent weeks — but there’s clearly truth to the adage.
RJ Davis nearly committed an early first-half turnover but he tracked the ball down to retain possession. Bacot found himself on the floor attempting to grab the loose ball about four minutes into the second half, easily identified by his hot pink sneakers. Cadeau added a one-handed dunk in transition.
Ryan punched the ball out of an opposing players’ hands with 12 minutes left in the game.
Ingram, a junior, showed tenacity on the offensive end, pulling down three offensive rebounds and assisting on four shots.
Those plays weren’t singularly make-or-break. Their combination, however, was — especially when the game got tight in the second half. Things ended in disappointment for UNC last season, and part of that was due to its inability to outwork opponents the entire game.
This time, Carolina pulled it off and looked like a legitimate contender with its ability to close.
Tar Heel defense holds off Cardinals
Carolina’s defense continued to impress in its midweek outing against the Cardinals, especially with its ability to disrupt opposing offenses.
Most notably, the UNC defense has held opposing teams to 7.8 assists per game since its win over Oklahoma last month. Aside from the Dec. 29 matchup against Charleston Southern, the Heels haven’t given up more than 10 assists until Wednesday. It’s still among the fewest since the Heels allowed 15 against Kentucky and 25 against UConn.
The ability to stop ball movement played a key factor in its previous wins and helped significantly again.
Its 3-point defense wasn’t as effective against Louisville, allowing the Cards to shoot 8 for 18 from deep. It started well, holding Louisville 2 for 10 in the first half.
Lackadaisical effort and missed assignments, however, allowed the Cards to make 9 of its first 10 second-half baskets. That gave Louisville an opportunity to cut the game to five. Still, it managed to pick up the victory with 10 late-game rebounds and a couple of blocks from Bacot.
“I think we need to continue to work on staying hungry and staying active defensively and not having those letdowns and it’s across the board,” Ryan said. “I know everybody on the team takes the defensive end personally and we take a lot of accountability with that.”
This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 11:24 PM.
