Louisville basketball game grades: Cards lead UNC wire to wire in victory

Louisville basketball came into today’s matchup losing 10 straight road games vs top 15 opponents, with the last win coming against Cincinnati in 2014. That changed with a victory over #12 ranked UNC.

A tough loss on the road on Wednesday night against an extremely young Pittsburgh team, left Louisville basketball in a tough spot headed into Saturday’s game against North Carolina. The loss to Pitt wasn’t a “season ender” or anything to worry about when it comes to the future of Louisville basketball. However, it meant the Cards were going to have to steal a game that they weren’t expected to win.

After the loss to Pitt, Chris Mack didn’t hold back when talking about his team’s performance with the media.

“They had their way with us. Whether we switched, whether we hard-hedged, our defense was deplorable. Until our team plays with a little bit more dirt under its fingernails instead of playing they way we did tonight defensively, then we’ll get more ass-kickings in this league.”
Those comments wouldn’t lead you to believe that there should be much optimism against a team like North Carolina, who is the 12th ranked team in the country and is led by the ACC’s leading three point shooter, an elite freshman, and the always dangerous Luke Maye, all on the road.

It was a big test for this struggling Louisville team, but it was one the Cards were ready for.

Louisville came out hot right away against North Carolina, knocking down their first 7 shots of the game and getting out to a lead that UNC would struggle to fight back against the rest of the half. The toughness that Head Coach Chris Mack had been imploring his team to play with was present throughout the first half and Louisville stayed all over the Tarheels when they got the chance.

While Louisville started 7-7 from the field, UNC struggled to get going 6-17 through the first 12 minutes of the game, led by Luke Maye who missed his first five shots from the three. One of the best transition teams in the country, Louisville kept UNC from getting out in the open court and it really kept the Tarheels from getting any type of rhythm. As ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said in the second half, “This game was played in the halfcourt…Carolina has done nothing in the full court.”

Louisville would lead by as many as 15 points in the first half, leading almost the entire 20 minutes, led by Steven Enoch who scored 11 points off the bench. The Cardinals held North Carolina to just 37% shooting from the field, and an even better 14% from three. Louisville’s hot shooting is what really propelled them to a big lead as just about everyone was knocking down shots from the outside. The Cards got big shots from Enoch, McMahon, Sutton, Nwora, and even Darius Perry, who had really struggled coming into the game today.

Chris Mack acknowledged at the half time break that his struggled a bit down the stretch of half time, but when playing “one of the best in the country” you expect that to happen a bit. He also said that he felt his team was the “harder playing team” something that was the exact opposite on Wednesday night against Pitt.

North Carolina did cut the lead to just 9 at halftime, after a few big buckets from reserve big man Brandon Huffman. The key for the second half would be for Louisville to keep the pedal to the pedal and not let North Carolina get hot from the outside and creep back into the game.

The first four minutes of the half were crucial for Louisville if they wanted to pull off the victory, and man did they play their butts off in that time. The Cards kept pushing it, even when North Carolina hit back with a shot inside or a big foul that sent them to the free throw line. Louisville played smart, tough, and did what they had to do to make the right play.

The Cards took complete control and never relinquished it after a scrappy sequence led to a monster dunk for Steven Enoch. Louisville continued to control the glass, continued to out-hustle the Heels and continued to build their lead as the Dean Dome became increasingly more quiet and empty.

https://twitter.com/LouisvilleMBB/status/1084156564221636609

Three Cardinals led the way with 17 points: Steven Enoch, Jordan Nwora, and Dwayne Sutton. Steve certainly had his best game as a Cardinal and showed how well this team can play with a true paint presence. Nwora got back to shooting lights-out, hitting five of his eight three point attempts, and once again Dwayne Sutton was the man to beat. There were very few times in the game where he simply was not the best player on the floor. The talented Carolina freshmen were bothered, pushed, and simply outplayed by Mr. Sutton.

Chris Mack absolutely trashed his team’s defensive effort after the loss on Wednesday and man did he spark a fire in his players. Louisville controlled from the tip, out-hustled, out-worked, and HANDLED a very good Carolina team. This is a game that will strongly increase the Cardinals tournament résumé and is a huge conference win with a loaded schedule coming in February. This very well could be the win that will turn the tide for the Cards.

MVP: Steven Enoch. The EnochnessMonster went off in a 17 point/11 rebound performance highlighted by multiple crazy dunks. When Enoch plays like he did today anything in March will be possible for these Cards.

LVP: Coby White.The stud Freshman for the Heels got in foul trouble early and only scored 4 points. Honestly his only highlight was his 94-feet segment with Jay Bilas.

X-Factor: Jordan Nwora. This team seems to feed off of Nwora’s hot shooting early in games. Jordan came out and hit a few quick looks and showed Wednesday night’s shooting performance was a fluke. Nwora continues to be a constant scoring presence. Jordan will only play better and get better looks when Enoch is controlling the paint.