After Louisville misfired on its two final shots during the frantic ending to the game, Carolina and its fans exhaled in relief and excitement of coming out victors in a game versus an extremely well-coached, top notch program. Paige's game-winner capped a gritty, impressive comeback for the Heels that trailed by as many as 13 with 8 1/2 minutes to go in the game. Yes, Paige only scored 10 points and hit just 2 of 7 from long-range, but it was his intestinal fortitude, fighting spirit, and will to succeed that brought him through a turned ankle and plantar fasciitis to become the hero in a crucial game for the Heels early in ACC play.
"That's what I love, that's my favorite part of the game," Paige said with a smile after the game. "I wanted to be out there and help, and I was able to." Paige continued with his response to critics, "I know I haven't been playing the way I'm capable of playing, you guys know that, it's pretty well documented at this point. and I need to play better...But my teammates still have a lot of confidence in me and I still have a lot of confidence in myself."
Carolina (12-4, 2-1 ACC) found itself up against a wall halfway through the second half as the Cardinals (14-2, 2-1 ACC) had jumped out quickly from a 34-34 halftime tie to completely take the game over and build a double-digit lead. Louisville converted off three early Tar Heel turnovers behind Terry Rozier's outstanding performance (25 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds) and, suddenly, the Heels were facing a hard up-hill battle. But, the Heels would only turn the ball over one more time in the game and that's when UNC head coach Roy Williams implemented a few defensive changes that would change the tempo of the game and slowly, but surely, bring the Heels back. The Heels started to bring the heat on defense by running a fierce half-court trap that forced Louisville to turn it over a number of times in the final minutes. Carolina would start to light it up on the offensive end, as a late surge would push Carolina to a 51.7% field goal percentage in the second stanza. J.P. Tokoto nailed a couple of tough jumpers and freshman Joel Berry II drilled an outside trey that brought Carolina within striking distance. Williams sent in Desmond Hubert after a timeout with around three minutes to play, and, boy, did Desmond respond. He stopped Louisville's Preseason All-American Montrezl Harrell in the lane with his length and defensive aggressiveness and helped serve as the primer to Paige's heroics. Carolina continued to buckle down on defense in the final possessions and the Cardinals' lead simply evaporated.
The Heels dominated once again on the boards, winning the rebounding battle 40-30 overall and 17-9 on the offensive glass. Carolina converted 17 points off of those rebounds and was much more active in the paint. UNC found double-digit scoring from Kennedy Meeks (13), Tokoto (10), Paige (10), and Brice Johnson placed bookends on his double-double effort of 11 points, 11 rebounds opening it with two gigantic alley-oop jams...
...and closing it by putting Carolina in front at 70-69 with his jump-hook in the lane. Louisville quickly responded when Rozier drained a baseline jumper at the other end forcing the Heels to call timeout and setting the stage for Paige.
Rozier and Chris Jones provided the offense for the Cardinals with Jones adding 19 points. However, UNC defended Louisville's top star, Harrell, and limited him to a disappointing 9 point, 5 rebound output. Even with Rozier and Jones clicking on all cylinders, there just was not any contribution from the Cardinal bench. In the most telling statistical takeaway from this game, UNC outscored the Louisvile bench 20-0 and, yes, you read it right, Twenty to zip!
Let me recap the UNC bench performances...Nate Britt helped out the perimeter offensive numbers by connecting on two big three-point shots and Isaiah Hicks brought the power inside by using his strength to muscle up a few rebounded shots in the lane. Joel Berry II hit a tremendously huge three down the stretch and Joel James contributed an important three points when he was fouled and made a basket early in the second half. Louisville's bench only played 30 minutes compared to the 71 minutes played by the Heels' reserves. Carolina used its bench to fatigue the Cardinals and over the last 7 minutes or so, it was evident Louisville's energy had become much more stagnant. A credit to the bench and the UNC coaching staff for utilizing substitutions perfectly, running down the Cardinals and giving the Heels every chance it needed to finish the comeback in winning fashion.
Louisville has now lost its only two games in Chapel Hill, the other in December 1998, and Carolina goes to 4-2 over ranked opponents this season. After its 71-70 defeat to Notre Dame on Monday, Carolina had back-to-back one-point games for the first time since the 1981 ACC Tournament. Fellow Naismith Hall of Famers Roy Williams and Rick Pitino entered the game with a combined 1,445 wins and surely the two coaches will have many more battles to come as the Cardinals are now an official member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Carolina is now 6-0 over a Rick Pitino-coached team (3-0 vs Kentucky, 3-0 vs Louisville) and Roy Williams holds a 4-1 advantage over Pitino (3-0 as UNC Head Coach).
Next Game: #18 North Carolina (12-4, 2-1 ACC)
vs
N.C. State Wolfpack (12-5, 3-1 ACC)
Date/Time: Wednesday, January 11, 2015 @ 7:00pm EST
Location: PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC
TV/Radio: ESPN2 or ESPN3 / Tar Heel Sports Network
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