After forcing the Cardinals into a shot-clock violation, Paige and the Tar Heels had the chance to open up the scoring and take the first lead of the night. The 6-foot-2 senior positioned the ball, elevated and let it fly.
But it didn’t go in.
That first possession foreshadowed the 72 that would follow for UNC and what was to come for the Tar Heels, as Damion Lee and the Cardinals ended UNC’s 12-game winning streak with a 71-65 victory in the KFC Yum! Center.
UNC shot below 40 percent from the field for the fourth time in five games and lost for the first time in that same period. The Tar Heels couldn’t do enough — rebounding, limiting turnovers or getting points in the paint — to make up for it.
“They were just active,” said sophomore Joel Berry about Louisville’s defense. “They were switching from a man to a zone in the same possession, so it’s kind of like just them flying around. We had some opportunities at the basket, and we didn’t capitalize on it.”
The Cardinals length, their multi-look defense and their aggressiveness in denying the ball to UNC’s big men down low resulted in Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks combining for just 10 field goal attempts.
“They’ve got some big physical guys down low with good length that can affect a lot of those shots (near the basket) that I was talking about us getting,” Paige said. “That’s one thing that makes them tough is when you do get the ball inside they’ve got guys that can challenge the ball at the rim.”
That’s how Louisville managed five blocks on the night and held UNC to just 28 points in the paint compared to its 36. And when the buckets aren’t coming easily inside, naturally, you glance to the perimeter and see if things are looking any better there.
