Lucas: A Familiar Sight

By Adam Lucas

LOUISVILLE—The team on the floor on Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center looked familiar. They were a team with championship aspirations rounding into late February form. They were a group getting contributions from starters and reserves alike, a team with some potent offensive firepower also learning how to cohesively defend on a consistent basis.

Carolina fans have seen this team repeatedly over the last 17 years. Unfortunately, this time it was the opponent.

Louisville continued a march towards what should be a long postseason with a 72-55 victory over North Carolina. For the Tar Heels, the day encapsulated everything that's been frustrating about this season.

Late-breaking absence of a key player? Garrison Brooks missed the game with an illness, meaning Roy Williams had to start five players who had not played one second together on the court this year.

The absence of Brooks, Carolina's most consistent offensive player and an essential piece to battling Louisville's physical interior game, means the Tar Heels have now missed 85 games due to injury this year. Brooks, who has played through a scratched cornea and a painful mouth injury during his Carolina career, was so sick he wasn't even in the building.

Imagine that you'd told Roy Williams back in October that in late February he'd be starting Cole Anthony, Brandon Robinson, Leaky Black, Armando Bacot and Christian Keeling, and the first two players off the bench would be Andrew Platek and Walker Miller.

Carolina's injury situation even left Louisville coach Chris March amazed: "I'm not sure I've ever been in a situation like that as a coach," he said of the Tar Heel injuries.

Poor shooting? Carolina was again sub-40 percent, finishing the game at 39.6 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from the three-point line. Only two players made more than 50 percent of their shots: Andrew Platek went 3-for-5 and Caleb Ellis was 1-for-1, converting on a sweet pass from K.J. Smith during an impressive two-minute stretch for the fivesome of Ellis, Smith, Shea Rush, Robbie O'Han and Ryan McAdoo.

Turnovers? Oh yes. In a relatively low-possession game, Carolina turned it over 17 times, including at least three times in transition when trying to force some offense instead of playing under control, as Roy Williams frequently demands. Only two Tar Heels had more assists than turnovers: Robinson had three assists and two miscues, while Smith had one assist and zero turnovers.

For the game, Carolina had those 17 turnovers against just ten assists, and the Cardinals used them to hold an 18-5 advantage in points off turnovers. Without Brooks, the Tar Heels' usual offensive rebounding prowess was diminished, grabbing just nine offensive boards on 32 missed shots; when coupled with the turnover issues, it meant the Cardinals hoisted seven more field goal attempts than the visitors.

If you're getting the feeling that it was a thorough win for Louisville, you're right. The Cardinals raced to a 24-point lead early in the second half during a stretch when Carolina simply didn't match Louisville's competitiveness, and you got the sense throughout much of the second half that Mack's team could have almost named its final score, especially during a stretch during the middle of the game that saw the Cards mount a 17-0 run and the Tar Heels put up little resistance. Louisville shot more free throws than Carolina, had nine more rebounds than Carolina, had more points in the paint and second chance points than Carolina, and—right now, on February 22, 2020—is simply better than Carolina.

"It wasn't very pretty," Williams said, "and we have to play better."

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cole Anthony

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

Caleb Ellis

Christian Keeling

Ryan McAdoo

Walker Miller

Robbie O'Han

Andrew Platek

Brandon Robinson

Shea Rush

K.J. Smith

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