CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – In recent weeks, Roy Williams has harped on the need for his North Carolina squad to play more home games. The Tar Heels proved his point yet again Saturday, demolishing Louisville, 99-54, to notch their best win of the season.
UNC (14-7, 8-5 ACC) improved to 8-0 at the Smith Center and had its eighth ACC win locked up by halftime. A 20-0 run in the second half had media members scrolling through the record books as the game clock ticked to zero. The 45-point victory was the Tar Heels’ largest in ACC play since a 107-56 win over N.C. State on March 9, 2017.
Louisville had not played a game in 19 days – the longest in-season stretch without playing in 54 years – and had limited practice opportunities due to a COVID-19 pause following its win over Georgia Tech on Feb. 1. That lengthy layoff was evident after a solid start as the Cardinals were unable to match UNC’s energy.
The Tar Heels blew open a close game with a 21-6 run in the final seven minutes of the first half to take a 48-29 lead into the break. The 48 points were the most UNC had scored in an opening half this season and the 19-point halftime margin was its largest of the season.
UNC shot 60.9 percent from the floor – its highest mark since shooting 62.3 percent at Wake Forest on Feb. 16, 2019 – and 44.4 percent from three, while holding Louisville to 32.8 percent shooting. The Tar Heels scored 26 points off 16 turnovers and managed a 14-6 edge in second-chance points.
Five Tar Heels scored in double figures, led by Day’Ron Sharpe’s 21 points and 11 rebounds and Kerwin Walton’s career-high 19 points. Armando Bacot contributed 14 points and nine rebounds, while Garrison Brooks added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Freshman Boost
Garrison Brooks’s free throw to give UNC a 15-13 lead with 13:14 to play before halftime was noteworthy because it was the last point a returning Tar Heel scored in the first half. The freshman class took the reins from that point forward, scoring the final 33 points of the half and outscoring the Cardinals by 16 points.
Walton knocked down a trio of 3-pointers and a jumper to score 11 points in that stretch, while Sharpe did his work at the rim with 12 points. Walker Kessler and R.J. Davis each added three points, while Love capped the half with a rim-rattling dunk at the buzzer.
Kessler finished with 10 points and four rebounds, while Love added nine points and three assists.
Free Throw Woes
As explosive as UNC may have been from the floor, its struggles continued from the charity stripe. The Tar Heels shot 38.9 percent from the free throw line (7-of-18), thereby dropping their season percentage to 64.9.
If that percentage holds, it would represent UNC’s worst free throw percentage since 2013-14 (62.6) and its third-worst percentage of the ACC era.
Highlight Play
Caleb Love closes out the half with an exclamation ????#ACCMBB | @caleb2love
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) February 21, 2021
Up Next
UNC will step out of conference once again to host Marquette at the Smith Center next Wednesday (7 p.m./ESPN2). The Golden Eagles (10-12, 6-10 Big East) have lost six of their last eight games.
