LOUISVILLE, KY – A depleted North Carolina team took the floor at the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday and the Tar Heels left with their seventh consecutive defeat in falling 72-55 at No. 11 Louisville.
Starting forward Garrison Brooks (illness) and key reserve forward Justin Pierce (sprained ankle) didn’t play and their absence showed, especially not having Brooks.
The Tar Heels shot 39.6 percent from the floor, including 6-for-22 (27.3 percent) from 3-point range, thus 41.5 percent of UNC’s field goal attempts came from the perimeter.
Cole Anthony led Carolina with 18 points as no other Heels were in double figures.
Here are 5 Takeaways from UNC’s loss at Louisville:
11-2 Became 22-2
Cole Anthony’s free throws cut Louisville’s lead to 25-21 with 4:09 left in the first half, but from that point on, the Tar Heels struggled getting quality looks – more so than had been the case – and the Cardinals got as many clearly open shots as they did over the first 16 minutes of the game.
The result: Louisville closed out the Heels 11-2 and took a 36-23 lead into the locker room at halftime. This was particularly damaging considering the Tar Heels had competed well to that point and were giving the impression if they could stay within striking distance who knows with the way this season has gone.
The run continued to start the second half, as the Cardinals scored the first 11points of the half to take a 47-23 lead, capping the run at 22-2.
“I guess we weren’t playing good enough defense and they were making shots,” Christian Keeling said. “When the ball goes in the net, stuff gets a little easier for you. I guess we’ve got to be better on the defensive end… and credit to them, they’re a good team.”
Giving Them Points
Needless to say, the Tar Heels had precious little room for error going into this game, so self-destruction of any kind would only make a huge task even more challenging. That’s what made the Heels’ benevolence so devastating.
In the first half alone, UNC’s eight turnovers led to eight Louisville points and for the game the Cards scored 18 points off of 17 UNC turnovers, and they came in a healthy variety: Long leads either on the break or in half court sets; a high lob on an inbound play; players slipping on the perimeter losing their handle; and one time turning it over just past midcourt after forcing a steal in Louisville’s back court. That’s happened a few times in recent weeks.
And it’s not that the Cards directly scored, though they did get some secondary-break buckets, but it was the swings that hurt so much. UNC would get a stop, grab a tough board, head the other way and a snafu gave Louisville the ball and several shot opportunities before the Heels were set defensively.
“Eighteen points off turnovers (and) for us to have 17 turnovers in a relatively low possession game is not going to work for us,” UNC Coach Roy Williams said.
Nine Starting Lineups
This was UNC’s ninth starting lineup of the season, a new record for the Roy Williams era. Garrison Brooks had started every game but sat out here due to an illness. Armando Bacot is now the only Tar Heel to start a game, and he played in just seven minutes versus Ohio State, leaving with a sprained ankle, and he left after three minutes at UNC Wilmington after suffering a concussion.
Starts by player this season: Bacot 27; Brooks 26; Black 26; Robinson 17; Anthony 15; Platek 9; Keeling 8; Smith 3; Francis 3; Pierce 1.
The starting lineup for this game had not played together at all yet this season tipoff.
“Last year we started four guys every regular season game,” Williams said. “We started the same lineup except for Coby White missing one game. This year is exactly the opposite, but a lot of teams have injuries.”
Broken Glass
As noted in the 3 Keys to beating Louisville, it was one of the few teams the Tar Heels have played this season that compared to them in rebounding stats. The Cards entered at No. 19 nationally in rebound margin at plus-6.6 while the Heels were No. 5 at plus-8.7. Not having Brooks certainly didn’t help, and the end result was a clear advantage for the Cardinals on the boards.
Louisville outrebounded UNC 38-29 and at one point had a 13-rebound edge on the Tar Heels.
Low Energy Then Some Fight
The Tar Heels didn’t look ready to start the second half, and that was backed up in their play, as Louisville scored the 11 points of the half to go up 47-23, capping what was a 24-4 run spanning both halves.
To their credit, the Heels didn’t go away and kept fighting on both ends, eventually cutting the margin to 65-51 with 2:54 to play. Cole Anthony had a couple of impressive 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions and the Heels had a few possessions in which they executed and got some tough buckets. But it wasn’t close to enough.
The lesson learned here, again, is the lousy stretch did them in. Maintain energy for 40 minutes and maybe the Heels would have been in this game at the end.
