U of L hopes lessons learned vs. UNC
A lot of basketball has been played since the last time Louisville and North Carolina met in Connecticut for the Hall of Fame Tipoff tournament two Novembers ago.
Forty-six games for Louisville and 44 for UNC, to be exact. And with that 90-game buffer between them, most of the memories from that last meeting, which UNC won 93-84, have been filtered out of the minds of U of L's players.
Except one.
"They got a lot of fast breaks on us," senior wing Wayne Blackshear said. "We definitely can't do that again."
When they met in 2013, UNC and Louisville were two top-25 teams still navigating the early ups and downs of the nonconference schedule. When they meet for a 2 p.m. tip-off on Saturday at UNC's Dean Smith Center, they'll be two top-20 teams hunting an Atlantic Coast Conference title.
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Fifth-ranked Louisville (14-1) expects another track meet on Saturday. UNC (11-4) plays the fastest tempo among ACC teams, and Louisville doesn't play much slower. That's what U of L's players want, coach Rick Pitino said Wednesday.
"These guys want to get up and down – they want to play," Pitino said.
But to avoid the same fate as that 2013 matchup, when UNC scored a whopping 52 points in the paint and seemingly scored at will in transition in the fastest-paced game U of L played last season, Pitino says Louisville has to quickly send perimeter players back on defense after missing shots.
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UNC, Pitino explained, leaks out its guards and wings up the court immediately after opponents shoot with the hope that a big man will grab the rebound, turn and start the fast break with a good outlet pass.
In that last meeting, the Tar Heels scored the most points in regulation against Louisville since 2003, and they did it by getting behind Louisville's defense repeatedly, especially in the second half.
"Our guards didn't get back," Pitino said. "They run very well, so you've got to be ready for that. They're a great transition team. They're a team that has great length, great size, great jumping ability."
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The quicker playing style – tempo is measured by a team's number of possessions per 40 minutes – still seems to better fit Louisville this season. Most of the Cards' best offensive performances have come in their faster-tempo games.
Chris Jones and Terry Rozier combined for 50 points on 16-of-34 shooting against Indiana and 31 points from 11-of-24 shooting against Minnesota, two of the highest-tempo games Louisville's played this season.
And faster games don't just help Louisville's offense, either. Louisville's defense thrives in frenetic, chaotic affairs.
The Cardinals will want to turn UNC over more than they did in 2013, when the Tar Heels only lost turnovers on 17.9 percent of their possessions, seven percentage points below Louisville's average last season.
This season, Louisville's turning over opponents at a similarly high rate – 26.1 percent of their possessions – and they do it with tenacious on-ball defense and trapping that coerces shaky pass attempts and shakier decision making.
"There'll be a lot more paying attention to transition baskets, rebounding, controlling your turnovers," Pitino said. "This should be a very exciting game for both teams."
Exciting, or at least fast, typically means a win for Louisville this season. Its only loss – a 58-50 decision to Kentucky – was played at the second-slowest pace of the season for the Cards. Only U of L's 45-33 win over Cleveland State had fewer possessions.
Louisville would love to continue that trend Saturday in Chapel Hill. But this time, the Cards are facing off against a team that's more talented than Indiana or Minnesota.
"On any given night, (UNC) can beat the best in the country," Pitino said. "They're talented enough to beat anyone."
Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).
TODAY'S GAME
NO. 5 LOUISVILLE AT NO. 18 NORTH CAROLINA
2 p.m., Chapel Hill, N.C.
TV: ESPN Radio: WKRD-790