U of L, UNC on collision course

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Minutes after Marcus Paige and his University of North Carolina team cruised to an 81-63 win over Boston College on Wednesday, the conversation turned to the game everyone expected.

UNC and the University of Louisville meet here in the Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament, with a tip time scheduled for 2 p.m. but realistically expected closer to 3 — as if the third meeting and rubber game between the fourth- and fifth-place teams in the ACC needed any more anticipation.

The Heels and Cards have already played 85 minutes of basketball against each other this season. They were separated by a point over the first 80, needing a late game-winner from Paige to decide the first game and an overtime period to decide the second.

And in both of those games, the visiting team led by double digits in the second half, only to watch those leads evaporate in front of raucous home crowds.

"They probably should have beaten us at home, and we probably should have beaten them at the Yum! Center," Paige said.

"We were up 18 and they wanted it more than us — basically took the game from us."

Funny that Paige feels that way about UNC's loss in Louisville, because U of L (24-7) felt that way about its loss in Chapel Hill.

In that first meeting, Louisville played up-tempo, solid basketball for about 32 minutes. The Cardinals built a 13-point lead, shot 47.5 percent and scored 13 fast-break points.

UNC (22-10) hustled back into it, and Paige banked in a scoop shot off the glass with nine seconds left to deflate a Louisville team that guard Terry Rozier later said was "too comfortable with the lead."

Three weeks later, U of L stormed back from an 18-point deficit to force overtime and then pulled away from the Tar Heels in the extra five minutes.

UNC, guard Nate Britt said, "didn't bring the intensity ... (and) that's why we lost the game."

And now here comes Thursday's tussle, the third installment of what has quickly become an entertaining rivalry in Louisville's new league.

If this one is anything like the previous two, it'll be worth the price of admission.

"The only thing I probably will not like: I have a funny feeling there will be more Carolina fans there than Louisville fans," U of L coach Rick Pitino joked on Monday.

But there's reason to think this meeting might be different. The stakes are much higher here in Greensboro.

For Louisville, this is the Cardinals' ACC tournament debut. It never hurts to make a good impression in your debut.

Beyond that, they are on the hunt for a favorable seed in the NCAA tournament, and winning Thursday's game will go a long way toward ensuring that.

"They know how badly I want to win this tournament," Pitino said Monday. "The team knows how much emphasis I put on this, and how much we want to win it."

Meanwhile North Carolina is itching to get back into the ACC title game after missing out last year. The Tar Heels had reached the final three consecutive times from 2011-13.

What's more, they're just 5-5 since that Jan. 31 overtime loss at Louisville, and the search for stability has been a challenging one.

"I'm definitely looking forward to it because that means I'm not going back and packing my junk up and going home," UNC coach Roy Williams said.

"We have had two sensational games … I would expect it to be a hard-fought game, but I have no idea. You just wait until you get out there."

Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj). –

THURSDAY'S GAME

ACC TOURNAMENT

THIRD ROUND

LOUISVILLE VS. NORTH CAROLINA

2 p.m., Greensboro, N.C.

TV: WAVE-3 Radio: WHAS-840