Lucas: Louisville Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Carolina got just enough to win out of a frantic second half, winning an absolute must-win ACC road game in overtime at Louisville and infuriating almost everyone in the Yum Center crowd. I'm not sure I have ever seen a game quite like that.

2. That game never should have been as close as it was. Carolina had a 55-45 lead with 12:45 left, but proceeded to take enough bad shots to let the Cardinals back into the game.

3. Without Malik Williams, Louisville's strategy in the post primarily seemed to be getting physical with Armando Bacot. They utilized backup big man Gabe Wiznitzer early in the game, a physical player who seemed to mostly be utilized to take advantage of his five fouls. Give credit to Bacot for handling the physical play, dispensing some muscle when he could, and staying in the game offensively and defensively. Bacot was huge in the closing minutes, as his defense forced a Cardinal turnover with three minutes left in a tie game. He then ran the floor hard and was there to grab an offensive rebound that led to the RJ Davis three-pointer that gave Carolina a three-point lead. And, of course, he was around the rim with under a minute to play and turned it into a three-point play that gave Carolina a two-point lead. Bacot finished with a gargantuan 19 points and 22 rebounds.

4. Louisville's unusually hot three-point shooting kept the homestanding Cardinals in the game in the first half. They hit 7-for-16 from the arc while making just 5-for-15 from two-point range. Only an RJ Davis last-second jumper kept the Tar Heels in the lead. It also got them back into the game when the Tar Heel offense went through a chuck-it-up phase in the second half, including five three-pointers in the final 11:30. Louisville finished 15-for-34 from three.

5. By the way, that Davis jumper was only created because Hubert Davis called his use-it-or-lose-it timeout with 10.7 seconds left in the first half. And then, with 8.3 seconds left in the game, Carolina called another timeout to set up the final play in a tie game. That play led to a Davis drive and what appeared to be a wide open layup before Jae'Lyn Withers erased it with a blocked shot. That all feels like it happened about two hours ago.

6. Brady Manek kept Carolina in the game late in the second half when they needed big shots. The Oklahoma transfer knocked in a three-pointer, hit a bank shot from the wing, got a dunk and scored on a follow shot. During a stretch when offense was hard to come by, Manek had a knack for knocking down shots. He finished with 24 on 10-for-18 from the field.

7. Terrific first half from Leaky Black. The senior, who quietly has shot the ball very well over the last four games, dropped in a couple of jumpers and handed out three assists. Black now has 33 points in his last four games. He had 33 points in the prior 13 games. Carolina sorely missed Black in the second half when he had to miss a couple minutes while athletic trainer Doug Halverson worked on his left leg. He recovered enough to hit a gigantic three-pointer with two minutes left in overtime, making him 4-for-4 from the field in the game.

8. Good news for Caleb Love: Duke is coming to town Saturday. Love traditionally shoots very well and plays very well against the Blue Devils, and he's had some shooting struggles recently. The Tar Heel point guard came into the game 10-44 from two-point range in his last five games, and hit just 3-18 overall and 2-12 from two on Tuesday night. Tuesday was a struggle. Everyone knows it. But it was also a win. Now move on to the next one.

9. Give some credit to the Carolina coaching staff for managing a helter-skelter second half and extra period and keeping the Tar Heels in the game emotionally and physically. It's very easy to let the emotional roller-coaster run over you in that scenario. The Tar Heels had just enough poise to earn the win and were good in set situations out of stoppages to get the right shot.

10. Bench points were ugly. Louisville won the category, 44-0. That's primarily because El Ellis was unconscious in the second half, scoring all 25 of his points after halftime. But the Tar Heels still need something from the bench in these types of games. The most productive bench play was a huge charge drawn by Puff Johnson late in regulation. Another area where Carolina didn't produce: fast break points. Two days after getting 25 in transition against NC State, Carolina got zero. Louisville won that category, 13-0.

11. Louisville's culture is unlike anywhere in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It's hard to describe unless you've been there, but it's definitely a unique State Fair-meets-the racetrack environment. And this was written before Louisville fans threw debris on the floor with Caleb Love at the free throw line with 1:10 left.

12. Roy Williams was in the stands behind the Carolina bench. A constant parade of selfie-seekers (autographs are so 1990s) made their way down the aisle before the game and at halftime.

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

RJ Davis

Puff Johnson

Caleb Love

Brady Manek

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