Louisville Basketball: Cards hand Tarheels a daggum blowout in Chapel Hill

I cannot think of a much better way to spend a snowy Saturday early afternoon then watching Louisville Basketball hand UNC their worse home lost in the Roy Williams era.

Still reeling from the overtime loss to Pitt just a few days prior, when I woke up on a snow covered Saturday morning here in Louisville I had just enough time to see everyone’s snowman photos on Facebook before it was time for Louisville basketball to take the court against the number 12 ranked Tarheels in the Dean Dome.

Following the overtime loss to Pitt the narrative on this teams potential this season took a nose dive if you scrolled through your Twitter timeline or checked in on the Louisville Facebook groups.

The feelings were this team had derailed and there was no way they could go to North Carolina and beat a top 15 team whom unlike UL had been playing very well since a loss to Kentucky.

So  what was it going to take for Louisville to pull off this upset? I am sure you all would have said UL would need a much better night from Jordan Nwora after going just 2-14 in the loss for Pitt, the Cards defensive effort would need to be much improved, and they would need to get back to a more balanced scoring attack. Now lets take a look at what led to the good times in the Dean Dome.

The Good: Double, Double-Doubles

Look I am a Louisville fan. I am a Louisville homer and while there are several places you can get your feel of Louisville news, notes, and opinions that have no issue tossing shade at student athletes this is not one of those places.

I am a fan of every kid on this team and when kid emerges and has a breakout game like Steven Enoch had against UNC it is going to be celebrated here at Big Red Louie. 17 points and 11 rebounds for The Enochness Monster (even your favorite BucketHat wearer loved the nickname) in 27 minutes off the bench.

Enoch is another kid that has kept his head high as Coach Mack has played with the starting lineup and handled being moved to the bench with grace. Enoch also flexed on em’ with this rim rattling highlight dunk.

Then there is the utility man Louisville’s own junkyard dog Dwayne Sutton who also put up a double double with a team high 17 points, 10 rebounds, and flirted with the triple double adding 7 assists which was also a team high. While that is a very impressive stat line the biggest standout for Sutton to me was 0 turnovers in 38 minutes of action and you guess it those minutes were also a team high. Sutton has been the very foundation of this team and has done any and everything Coach Mack has asked of him. As great as he has been all season long this was a breakout with the eyes of the nation on him.

Revisiting the keys to victory mentioned earlier, a balanced offense. As already stated Enoch and Sutton both had team highs 17 points but Jordan Nwora also added 17 points including 5 for 8 from beyond the arc. When Nwora has it going and is shooting the ball that well this team will always be games and if he continues to get this kind of support Louisville can play with anyone in the country. Also hitting double figures was the rock of this team. The man who controls the pace of the game and does so like the veteran he his Christen Cunningham dropped in 10 points off a perfect 4-4 from the field that really helped the Cards get off to such a hot start going a perfect 7-7 from the field in the first segment. Everyone’s favorite sharpshooter was right behind CC on the scoring chart pouring in 8 including 2 from deep, one from which was put up from Sarasota.

We have covered offense but the main talking point the last couple of games were the defensive effort. There was even some thinking that maybe Mack’s version of the pack line just was not going to work in the ACC after a really bad showing that led to Pitt’s first ACC win in 23 efforts. Against UNC the defense was much improved. The one thing that stood out to me was UL was not switching on every screen as they did against Pitt. That on several occasions led to Enoch being pulled out of the post and then stranded defending a shooter that could just shoot over him or drive around him. Against UNC that was not the case as Enoch fell back in the post instead of switching on all the picks UNC was setting. I think that alone threw Roy’s game plan out the window and also led to Louisville winning the battle of the boards 40-31 and limiting UNC to one shot on most possessions which was a huge key to victory for the Cards.

The Bad: Turnovers

When the team you cover goes on the road and hands a blue blood like UNC their worse loss of their hall of fame coaches 16 year tenure it is hard to find a negative take away. Louisville beat the Tarheels by 21 and led nearly every minute of the game.

They never took their foot off the gas and played hard for 40 minutes. The Cards did everything I thought it would take to win this game so the only negative I could find on the box score was the double digit (14) turnovers. You always want to see your team limit the turnovers to single digits.

Next up for Louisville they return home to the KFC Yum! Center to host Boston College. BC has not looked very impressive this season but I hope to see Louisville continue to grow from the big win over North Carolina. Every conference game is a big one for the Cards this year so get out to YUM and get rockin’.

As always Go Cards #LsUp!