What to expect when No. 8 UNC men's basketball takes on No. 7 Louisville

The No. 8 North Carolina men’s basketball team hosts No. 7 Louisville at 9 p.m. tonight in the Smith Center. The Cardinals trail the Tar Heels by one game in the ACC standings, and they’ll look to pull even with a victory.

The two teams met just once last year — a 71-65 Louisville win that handed North Carolina its first conference loss of the 2015-16 season.

How do they play?

For the second game in a row, the Tar Heels will match up with an opponent whose strengths are on the defensive end of the floor.

The Cardinals currently rank fifth in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to kenpom.com, and they are among the top-15 teams in the nation in field goal (39.4) and 3-point percentage (30.2) defense.

Louisville is also a terror to score against inside. The Cardinals block opponents on 15.7 of their two-point attempts, and Anas Mahmoud — a 7-foot junior from Cairo, Egypt — ranks fifth in the nation in block percentage and second in the conference in blocks per game (2.1).

But Louisville is no slouch on the offensive end, either — a trait head coach Rick Pitino’s team showed in its 94-90 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday.

In that game, the Cardinals shot a solid 51.5 percent from the floor, turned the ball over a season-low three times and tied their season high with 12 made 3-pointers. It was the fourth time in the past seven games Louisville has hit 10 or more threes.

Who stands out?

Donovan Mitchell paces the Cardinals on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.

The sophomore guard leads Louisville in scoring (15.6 points per game), minutes (31.4 per game) and made 3-pointers (63). Against the Hokies on Saturday, Mitchell tallied 26 points — the sixth time he’s scored 20-plus in a game this season.

Over his last 13 games, the guard from Greenwich, Conn., is averaging 19.5 points per game and knocking down 44.4 percent of his 3-point attempts. Mitchell also ranks first in the ACC in steals, racking up 2.1 per game.

Mitchell’s backcourt mate, Quentin Snider, is picking up where he left off after missing six games in the middle of the season with a hip flexor injury.

He’s scored at least 13 points in each of his first three games back on the court, including a 19-point outing against Virginia Tech on Saturday.

Snider is also the resident playmaker for the Cardinals, leading the team in assists (4.1 per game) and ranking second in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.7).

His teammates seem to have followed his lead this season, as Louisville ranks second in the ACC in turnover margin.

What’s their weakness?

The Cardinals don’t really have a bad loss this season, as all five of their defeats are to current top-25 teams, but there is a common thread that ties them together.

In its five losses, Louisville has shot a combined 21-of-90 (23.3 percent) from 3-point range, including a 2-for-14 performance against Virginia and a 2-for-13 outing at Florida State.

For the season, the Cardinals rank 12th in the ACC in 3-point percentage (36.5 percent). All of their volume outside shooters — players who have attempted at least 100 threes on the season — are making less than 39 percent of their attempts.

If the Tar Heels can force Louisville to settle for outside shots, it could be a long day for the Cardinals.

How could they win?

Louisville has found the most success in recent years when employing its infamous matchup zone defense.

The strategy gave North Carolina fits in the teams’ meeting last season. In that game, UNC shot 34.5 percent from the floor — the lowest mark for the Tar Heels in a game all season — and went 3-of-17 from three. North Carolina bigs Brice Johnson and Kennedy Meeks were limited to just 10 combined shot attempts on the night.

UNC has struggled this season when teams have broken into zones — an ugly loss at Georgia Tech and a nail-biting home win over Pittsburgh showed that. If the Tar Heels can’t figure out a way to break the Cardinals’ defense and play to their strengths, namely getting the ball inside, they could fall at home for the first time this season.

@jbo_vernon

sports@dailytarheel.com