Carolina returns to Atlantic Coast Conference play when the Tar Heels host Louisville
on Saturday at 6 p.m. Carolina is 13-7 overall, 7-5 in the ACC. Louisville is 11-4 overall, 6-3 in the ACC. The Cardinals have not played since defeating Georgia Tech, 74-58, on February 1. Their subsequent scheduled games at Syracuse and Virginia and at home against Pittsburgh and Syracuse were postponed due to Covid safety protocols.
About UNC
- UNC defeated Northeastern, 82-62, on Wednesday. Three freshmen – Day’Ron Sharpe (15), Kerwin Walton (14) and Walker Kessler (10) – scored in double figures, another freshman, Caleb Love, had nine assists, and senior Garrison Brooks had a season-high 13 rebounds to lead UNC to its sixth non-conference win in eight tries this season.
- Kessler became the 10th Tar Heel to score in double figures this season. Bacot has scored 10 or more points a team-best 13 times followed by Brooks (12), RJ Davis (10), Love (10) and Sharpe (9).
- Three Tar Heels have scored 20 or more this season – Love with 25 at Duke and 20 vs. Wake Forest, Sharpe with 25 vs. Notre Dame and Bacot with 21 at Pittsburgh.
- The Northeastern game was Carolina’s first at home after four consecutive ACC road games. The Tar Heels went 25 days between home games (January 23-February 17).
- Carolina is 7-0 at home this season – 4-0 in league play and 3-0 against non-conference foes.
- The Tar Heels’ five ACC losses, all on the road, have come against teams that are 28-6 at home this season (82.4 percent). That’s better than the winning percentage for ACC home teams which is 67.8 percent (59-28).
About Louisville
- Louisville will play its first game in 19 days and its first road game in 24 days as the Cardinals visit the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C.
- Louisville is among the top defensive teams in the ACC, leading the ACC in field goal percentage defense (.401) and ranking third in scoring defense (64.2 ppg) and second in three-point field goal defense (.309). UofL has held eight opponents below 40 percent accuracy from the field.
- Louisville is 9-1 when outrebounding its opponent. UofL’s +7.2 rebounding advantage in conference games and its +6.1 margin on the season is second in the ACC. The Cardinals outrebounded Georgia Tech 56-39 on Monday.
- Carlik Jones, named to The Sporting News Mid-Season All-America team and the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 Watch List recently, ranks third in the ACC in scoring (17.4 ppg) and assists (4.9 apg). Jones has 97 career double-figure scoring efforts, including the last 37 consecutive games (all 14 at UofL). He needs four points for 1,800 in his career. Jones has collected 15 steals in the last seven games.
- David Johnson is the only player in the ACC among the top 25 in both rebounding (6.1, 21st in ACC) and assists (3.4, ninth in the ACC), adding 13.1 points per game. He has made 22-of-47 three-pointers in his last nine games (.468; 6-of-11 vs. Georgia Tech) and has made a team-leading 29-of-68 threes on the season (.426). He made just five threes as a freshman.
- Samuell Williamson has averaged 11.0 points and 11.7 rebounds while shooting 60.9 percent from the field off the bench over the last three games, grabbing double-digit boards twice.
UNC vs Louisville
- Carolina is 15-7 all-time against the Cardinals, including 6-4 since UL joined the ACC in
2014-15.
- Carolina is 3-1 at home (all four games have been played in the Smith Center).
- Louisville trounced the Tar Heels, 83-62, on 1/12//2019, in the previous meeting in the Smith Center. That was Carolina’s largest home loss since 2002. Less than a month later UNC returned the favor with a 10-point victory at Louisville.
- Roy Williams is 9-5 against Louisville (8-4 as head coach of the Tar Heels).
- Wake Forest was 5-1 against the Tar Heels in the three seasons UofL Coach Chris Mack was an assistant at Wake Forest (2001-04). Mack has a 2-2 record as a head coach vs. North Carolina.
- The teams have split the last four matchups. In last year’s meeting, Louisville prevailed 72-55 over the Tar Heels in the KFC Yum! Center (2-22-20).
How to Watch
Time: 6:00pm
TV: ESPN (Doug Sherman, Cory Alexander))
Stream: Watch ESPN
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas)