Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. North Carolina Tar Heels

North Carolina Tar Heels (15-6, 7-3 ACC) at Louisville Cardinals (11-10, 5-6 ACC)

- Tipoff: Tuesday, February 1st at 8:00 p.m. EST
- Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.
- How To Watch: ACC Network
- How To Listen: WHAS 840 AM
- Betting Favorite: North Carolina -5.0
- All-Time Series: North Carolina leads 16-7
- Last Meeting: North Carolina won 99-55 on Feb. 20, 2021 (Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C.)

Projected Starting Lineups

Louisville

F Roosevelt Wheeler (6-10, 240, Fr.)
F Dre Davis (6-6, 210, So.)
C Sydney Curry (6-8, 270, Jr.)
G Noah Locke (6-3, 210, Sr.)
G Mason Faulkner (6-1, 185, Gr.)

North Carolina

F Armando Bacot (6-10, 240, Jr.)
F Brady Manek (6-9, 23,0 Gr.)
G Leaky Black (6-8, 195, Sr.)
G Caleb Love (6-4, 195, So.)
G RJ Davis (6-0, 175, So.)

Main Storylines

Here are the more significant storylines to follow ahead of Louisville's matchup with North Carolina: Points of Emphasis: Louisville vs. UNC

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Tar Heels, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of The Tape & Prediction: Louisville vs. UNC

Game Notes

Louisville

Louisville fell 74-65 to No. 9/7 Duke in the KFC Yum! Center last Saturday as the Blue Devils collected 20 offensive rebounds among their 47-34 advantage on the boards. El Ellis led the Cardinals with 18 points off the bench, Dre Davis scored 16 and blocked a career-high matching three shots, and Malik Williams produced his 11th career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
UofL and Chris Mack mutually agreed to part ways on Jan. 26. Mike Pegues, a Louisville assistant coach since 2018, will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Pegues is 5-2 as the Cards’ coach this season.
Malik Williams is suspended for the Cardinals' game vs. North Carolina.
Louisville made 8-of-22 three-pointers vs. Duke, its ninth game this season and third straight with at least eight made threes. UofL made a high of eight threes in a game three times last year.
Louisville has averaged 28.3 points per game from its bench this season. The Cardinals have had 24 double-figure scoring efforts off the bench this season, including 18 points from El Ellis vs. Duke. Louisville’s bench has contributed 30 or more bench points on 10 occasions this season (28 vs. Duke). The Cards are 20th in the nation in bench minutes (41.3 percent).
Louisville committed nine turnovers, its third straight game, and fourth in the last five, that the Cardinals have finished with single digit turnovers. The Cards have averaged just 8.6 turnovers over its last five
Louisville’s leading scorer has come from the bench nine times this season , including the last three straight
The Cardinals grabbed 10 offensive rebounds against Duke, their ninth game with at least 10 this season
Opponents have shot nearly 10 percentage points higher against the Cardinals in their nine losses (.467) than in their 11 victories (.372)
Dre Davis scored 16 points against Duke, two shy of his season high and his seventh game this season in double figures. He is averaging 12.7 points over his last three games. He missed UofL’s Jan. 19 game against Boston College (right ankle sprain), but returned to start against Notre Dame and totaled seven points and a career-high three steals. Davis leads UofL in free throw percentage (.811, 30-of-37)
Jarrod West had made 12 three-pointers on the season in his first 18 games before making 8-of-12 threes over the last three contests. He scored a season-high matching 14 points in two of the last three games. West has made 240-of 648 threes over his collegiate career (.370)
Noah Locke has scored in double figures 13 times this season and seven times in the last 11 games. Locke has made multiple three-pointers in eight of the last 11 games and at least three of them in 10 games this season. Locke has made 45.8 percent of his three-point field goals in ACC games (.464; 27-of-59) and has made 23-of-51 threes over the last 10 games (.451)
Malik Williams has scored in double figures in 12 games this season, including four of the last five contests. Williams has made 41.2 percent of his three-pointers in ACC games this season (14-of-34).

North Carolina

UNC finished a sweep of a three-game homestand on Saturday with a 100-80 win over NC State. The Tar Heels made 10 first-half threes to build a 25-point lead at the half and finished with season highs in points (100), field goals (34), three-pointers (15) and fastbreak points (25) in beating the Wolfpack for the fourth straight time at the Smith Center and 51st time in the last 63 games.
Caleb Love (21 points, five assists), Armando Bacot (18 points, 13 rebounds, six blocks), Brady Manek (17 points, five threes) and RJ Davis (17 points, four assists) led the Tar Heels over the Pack. Carolina was 15 for 27 from three for the game and shot 62.5% from the floor in the opening half when it built a 56-31 lead.
Carolina’s last seven games have been decided by 10 or more points, the first time that has occurred since a 10-game stretch of double-digit outcomes to start the 2017-18 season.
Since a five-point loss at Notre Dame, Carolina has defeated Virginia by 16 and Georgia Tech by 23, lost to Miami by 28 and Wake Forest by 22, and beat Virginia Tech by 10, Boston College by 11 and NC State by 20.
Carolina’s wins over Virginia Tech (1/24), Boston College (1/26) and NC State (1/29) mark the first time UNC followed consecutive losses by 10 or points with at least three straight wins by double figures since the 2000-01 season. In that season, the Tar Heels lost to Michigan State by 13 and Kentucky by 17 then defeated Miami by 22, Texas A&M by 22, Buffalo by 21, UCLA by 10 and UMass by 31.
UNC is 12-0 at the Smith Center this season and 22-1 over the last two seasons.
UNC is 3-6 away from the Smith Center this season, 3-3 in true road games and 0-3 on neutral courts.
The Tar Heels have road wins this season at the College of Charleston, Georgia Tech and Boston College and losses at Notre Dame, Miami and Wake Forest. Five of the six games have been decided by 11 or more points (three by 20 or more).
Despite an 11-point win at Charleston, a 17-point victory in Atlanta and a 26-point win at BC the Tar Heels have been outscored by one point (471-470) in their six road games.
Armando Bacot leads UNC in scoring (17.5) and rebounding (12.8) in the six road games.
The Tar Heels are out-shooting their hosts from the floor (45.5% to 43.0%) and out-rebounding them (43.0 to 32.7) on the road, but the home teams have a higher three-point percentage than UNC (38.4% for the home teams, 34.3% for the Tar Heels).
RJ Davis, Caleb Love and Kerwin Walton are making 42.6% of their threes on the road, but the rest of the team is shooting 26.4% from beyond the arc.
The big statistical difference on the road is assist-turnovers. Carolina has 89 assists and 79 turnovers in the six games, while the home teams have 75 assists and only 49 turnovers. That’s 30 fewer turnovers (5.0 per game) by the home teams.
At home, UNC has 1.4 assists per turnover; on the road, the ratio is 1.1.
Carolina has scored 61 points off those turnovers and the opponents have scored 103. That’s a margin of 7.0 points per game for the home teams and includes a 19-15 advantage by Notre Dame, 30-5 for Miami and 21-7 for Wake Forest. Carolina outscored Georgia Tech, 13-4, in the Tar Heels’ win in Atlanta.
In Carolina’s 15 wins this season, UNC is scoring 12.7 points off turnovers, while the opponents are scoring 12.9 per game, a margin of just 0.2 points per game.

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