University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels, Cards To Renew Rivalry
November 23, 2013 | Men's Basketball
By Robbi Pickeral, GoHeels.com
Playing third-ranked Louisville on Sunday is an early measuring stick for No. 24 North Carolina, a chance for the Tar Heels to test their mettle-as well as their outside shooting, rebounding and cohesion-against a defending national champion that ripped through its first four opponents by 17 points or more.
Today's championship game of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic will be an anticipated match-up. Because considering their long histories, showdowns between the two blue-blooded programs have been relatively rare.
All-time, UNC is 8-3 against the Cardinals. There have been quite a few noteworthy games:
• In the teams' first meeting, in 1929, Louisville topped UNC-then coached by James Ashmore—27-19. North Carolina finished 19-8 that season.
• The teams didn't meet again until 1972—in Los Angeles, in the Final Four third-place game. UNC won 105-91 behind Robert McAdoo's 30 points, but it was little consolation after falling to Florida State in the national semifinals.
• In 1986, UNC—led by Brad Daugherty and Jeff Lebo—came back from a dozen-point early-second-half deficit to tie the NCAA tournament game in Seattle, only to have the Cardinals go on a late-game run to advance to the Final Four. Louisville's Billy Thompson scored 24 points in the victory, and Pervis Ellison added 15.
• It took 11 years to get a little bit of payback, but in 1997 UNC guard Shammond Williams scored a game-high 22 points and recorded six assists to push the Tar Heels to 97-74 win in Syracuse-and to the Final Four. The win was the last of Dean Smith's head coaching career.
• And then there was 2008 in Charlotte, the last time these two teams met. In that game, Tar Heels big man Tyler Hansbrough had 13 rebounds and 28 points-including a couple of late jumpers, of all things—to push the Tar Heels back to the national semifinals. UNC prevailed 83-73 that time around.
Rematch, anyone?
"It would be a great test," UNC sophomore J.P. Tokoto said of the possibility, "to see exactly where we're at."
Where they seem to be, after four games, is in a frustrating, inconsistent state of limbo—trying to find the right combinations as they await the fates of last year's leading scorer, P.J. Hairston, and reserve Leslie McDonald, one of the best outside shooters on the team.
Both wings have sat out all four games as the school and NCAA sort out eligibility issues. Without them, point-guard-turned-shooting-guard Marcus Paige (20 ppg, including a career high 26 against Richmond on Saturday) and junior forward James Michael McAdoo (17 ppg) have tried to glue things together, but it seems more like a Band-Aid than the Crazy brand of sticky stuff, as the Tar Heels are missing firepower, depth and experience at the wing. And it shows.
Louisville, by comparison, may have lost floor leader Peyton Siva from last year's title team, but it still looks like a contender again to win it all, what with last year's leading scorer, Russ Smith, back; plus an experienced frontcourt that features Wayne Blackshear and Montrezl Harrell. Rick Pitino is looking to coach his team to its third Final Four in three years, and a win against UNC-even a struggling UNC-would be a push in the right direction.
Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said he rarely knows the entire field before he commits to play in a holiday tournament, half-joking that he decides where to take the team based on the "sunshine." He does like early tests, though. And Louisville will be one. "It's great to have these challenges,'' Paige said, "and it will give us a bar of what we need to work on and it will give us a test—if we want to be an elite team, this is what we need to do."
