University of North Carolina Athletics
No. 5 Louisville Visits Saturday
January 10, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Essential Info: No. 18/17 North Carolina vs. No. 5/5 Louisville
Saturday January 10, 2015 • 2 p.m. • Smith Center, Chapel HillTickets: Sold out
Rankings: Carolina is No. 18 in the Associated Press poll and No. 17 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. Louisville is No. 5 in both polls.
TV: ESPN. Dan Shulman (play-by-play) and Dick Vitale (analyst) will have the call.
Watch Online: ESPN3
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Network (list of affiliates). Jones Angell (play-by-play), Eric Montross (analyst) and Dave Nathan (host) will have the call. GoHeels TV subscribers can listen online.
Game Notes: Carolina | Louisville
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On The Web: GoHeels.com | GoCards.com | Live Stats
Twitter: @UNC_Basketball | @GoCards
Smith Center Information: Tickets | Parking Information | Tar Heel Express | Smith Center Info (Directions, Policies, etc.)
Saturday's contest will include a pair of Hall of Fame coaches on the sidelines, with Carolina led by Roy Williams (Hall of Fame class of 2007) and Louisville guided by Rick Pitino (class of 2013).
The Tar Heels are facing their second consecutive ranked opponent, hoping to bounce back from Monday night's loss to No. 13 Notre Dame. That defeat snapped a five-game Carolina winning streak.
Tipoff is set for just after 2 p.m., and Dan Shulman (play-by-play) and Dick Vitale (analyst) will have the call for ESPN's national television audience.
Louisville is ranked No. 5 in both national polls this week and enters Saturday's game with a 14-1 record, including a 2-0 ACC mark. The Cardinals have won at Wake Forest and at home against Clemson in conference play, beating the Tigers 58-52 in Louisville on Wednesday night.
The Cardinals are ranked No. 8 by KenPom.com, posting very strong defensive stats (the nation's second-best adjusted defensive efficiency, seventh-best effective field goal percentage defense and fourth-best turnover percentage).
Carolina leads the all-time series with Louisville, 9-3. The Tar Heels beat the Cardinals, 93-84, in championship game of the Hall of Fame Tipoff in Uncasville, Conn., last season on Nov. 24, 2013. Marcus Paige scored a then career-high 32 points (later surpassed at NC State). UNC out-scored the Cardinals 49-40 and shot 56.7 percent in the second half in snapping the defending NCAA champions' 21-game winning streak.
Nine of the 12 previous meetings between Carolina and Louisville have come at neutral sites, two were in Louisville and one was in Chapel Hill. The only previous meeting on UNC's home court was a 77-72 Tar Heel win on Dec. 17, 1998 under head coach Bill Guthridge.
