University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Head To Louisville
January 31, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Essential Info: No. 13/14 North Carolina (17-4, 7-1 ACC) at No. 10/9 Louisville (17-3, 5-2 ACC)
Saturday January 31, 2015 • 4 p.m. • KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky.
Tickets: Available
Rankings: Carolina is No. 13 in the Associated Press poll and No. 14 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. Louisville is ranked No. 10 by the AP and No. 9 by the coaches.
TV: ESPN. Dave O'Brien (play-by-play), Dick Vitale (analyst) and Doris Burke (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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Twitter: @UNC_Basketball | @GoCards
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Riding a six-game winning streak, North Carolina (17-4, 7-1 ACC) will begin a stretch that includes four road dates in five games on Saturday when it visits No. 10 Louisville (17-3, 5-2). Carolina and Louisville will meet on Saturday in the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville.
The Tar Heels are seeking their seventh ACC win in a row and 12th in 13 games overall. The 13th-ranked Tar Heels and the Cardinals will tipoff just after 4 p.m. on Saturday. ESPN will televise the game nationally. Dave O'Brien (play-by-play), Dick Vitale and Doris Burke (analysts) will have the call.
UNC edged the Cardinals by a point, 72-71, three weeks ago in Chapel Hill. Marcus Paige hit a layup with 8.5 seconds to go to give Carolina the lead, and Louisville missed a pair of shots in the final seconds.
The Tar Heels have won six in a row and are shooting 50.8 percent as a team during their winning streak. Carolina has shot 50.0 percent or better from the floor as a team in seven of the last 11 halves and is shooting 42.0 percent as a team from three-point range during the six-game winning streak (including 48.6 percent for Marcus Paige at 17 for 35).
Carolina is off to a 7-1 ACC start, tied as its second-best conference start under head coach Roy Williams. UNC's only better ACC start under Williams was 8-1 in the NCAA championship season of 2004-05.
The Cardinals have won three of their last four games since losing to Carolina in Chapel Hill three weeks ago. Since that Jan. 10 loss in the Smith Center, Louisville has beaten Virginia Tech, Pitt and Boston College while losing to Duke.
On Wednesday night, the Cardinals won 81-72 at Boston College behind 28 points from Chris Jones and 23 from Terry Rozier. Louisville is No. 14 in the KenPom.com rankings, coming in at No. 7 in adjusted defensive efficiency and 48th offensively in the website's KenPom.com adjusted efficiency ratings.
North Carolina leads the all-time series with Louisville, 10-3. Saturday will mark Carolina's third game in Louisville against the Cardinals, including its first in over 15 years and just its second there since 1929. UNC is 0-2 at Louisville, losing 27-19 on Jan. 23, 1929, and 97-80 on Dec. 23, 1999.
Including NCAA Tournament and neutral site games over the years, the Tar Heels are 4-7 all-time in the city of Louisville.
The Tar Heels beat Louisville three weeks ago in Chapel Hill, winning on a driving layup by Marcus Paige with 8.5 seconds remaining. Last year, 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.
After the Tar Heels visit Lousivlle, they will have a quick turnover for the second weekend in a row before hosting No. 2 Virginia on Monday night in Chapel Hill. After the game against the Cavaliers on Monday, Carolina will embark on a three-game road trip at Boston College, Pitt and Duke.
