Louisville basketball: Cards dominate UNC start to finish

Louisville basketball kept the ball rolling on Saturday with a dominant win over North Carolina.

It was a wire-to-wire victory for Louisville basketball on Saturday night as the Cardinals improved to 23-5 on the season with a 72-55 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Louisville used a great defensive game plan, the type of game we’ve expected to come from Jordan Nwora, and solid games from its supporting cast to soar ahead of UNC and never look back.

After UNC led 3-0, Louisville never trailed again, and the Cards cruised to one of their most consistent victories of the season.

The crowd showed up early and was loud and into it throughout, and Louisville fed off the positive energy that was good enough to make fans forget about the rough week the Cardinals were coming off of.

Let’s hand out some awards.

MVP: Malik Williams

This could go to a number of people, but Williams warranted an unusual amount of minutes on Saturday because of his stellar play.

Hitting double digits only minutes into the second half, Williams was more assertive and dominant on the glass than we have seen him all season.

Williams had 17 points on 8-11 shooting, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists in perhaps his best performance of the season.

Stat of the game: 38-29

Louisville basketball got out to its big lead and held it by annihilating the Tarheels on the boards 38-29.

At the start of the second half, Louisville led the Heels 30-14 on the boards and the Cards only took over from there.

Roy Williams-coached teams typically hang their hat on the ability to take over on the boards and make things difficult for opponents by getting second chance points.

Louisville was having none of that on Saturday as the Cards were the aggressors on the boards and took over the game by limiting possessions on the offensive end for the Tar Heels.

Walk-on of the game: Hogan Orbaugh

Keith Oddo loves milkshakes, but what does Hogan love? I bet he’d love to get a post-up opp in the next couple of games (looking at you, Chris)

Play of the game: Malik Williams dunk from David Johnson

David Johnson was a monster in the middle of the North Carolina zone, and maybe the best example was on a pass that came on a hockey assist from Dwayne Sutton.

Sutton entered the ball into the elbow to Johnson, who skipped a bounce pass to Williams on the baseline. Williams flushed it with ease against a well-defended play.

Drink of the game: Evan Williams and ginger ale

I’m not saying beer drinkers are doing it wrong, but this is the bourbon capitol of the world and the KFC Yum! Center has an excellent, reasonably priced selection and the bartenders are more than generous with their pours.

We all know Cardinal Stadium beers are like 40 percent alcohol, but when it’s basketball season, it’s time to switch over to that Kentucky nectar and warm your soul more than a Chris Mack post-game shimmy.

LVP: The officiating?

I question this one because I don’t know if it was even that horrible.

College basketball officiating has been decidedly bad this season, so this game wasn’t a major head scratcher. However, early on in the contest, Louisville was called for some pretty bad charges that were not even close to being the case.

The officiating evened out as the game progressed, but in a game where everyone simply did his job, there aren’t many grievances to air.

Main takeaway: Louisville is back to its winning ways and championship mentality

After dropping two complete start to finish clunkers against inferior foes, Louisville basketball was able to secure two victories against hungry teams this week.

This time last year, Louisville folded like a cheap table at the first sign of adversity.

This year, however, appears to be much different.

Coming off of a season that showed promise early only to see the Cards drop seven of their last ten, Louisville has answered two two-game losing steaks with emphatic wins on the backs of stellar play.

That’s what championship teams do, and that’s why Louisville is still in the mix to win the whole thing.