By Harry Barsan

Louisville closes out a tightly contested game against the North Carolina Tar Heels to get a huge win.

Both teams entered the day 8-5 and with plenty to prove about themselves. Louisville entered the day projected as one of the first handful of teams to be left out of the NCAA tournament field.

Too close for comfort

For much of the first half, the matchup stayed a one score game.

Noah Waterman opened with a dunk and three-pointer as the Cards jumped to an early lead.

The quick and high-scoring North Carolina offense quickly tied it and kept it within two until a pair of threes from Reyne Smith gave Louisville a 24-18 advantage.

The Tar Heels cut the score down to just three off of back-to-back scores from RJ Davis, but the Cards pushed their lead right back up to six points.

The half ended with a slew of free throws by both teams, as the final two minutes saw both teams combine for nine points with no field goals made.

The Cardinals went into the half ahead 37-31.

Return of the Cardiac Cards

After Chucky Hepburn and Ian Jackson traded baskets to open the second half, back-to-back dunks by James Scott and a nice three from Khani Rooths made it 51-40.

The Cards held this lead comfortably for a while, but after some mistakes and miscues on offense UNC began clawing back.

The Tar Heels went on an 11-2 run over four minutes to tie the game up at 61 a piece, the first time since 13:05 left in the first half.

Right after UNC closed the gap, Smith opened back up with a shot from deep.

Hepburn and Terrence Edwards Jr. then took over the game for a brief moment to grow the lead to 70-64. But UNC exploded offensively, cutting the lead down to one in just 28 seconds.

Hepburn, however, stayed calm and collected and drew a foul off a triple. After nailing all three from the stripe, the crowd booming and the Cards locked in, Louisville wouldn’t look back in stealing all the momentum.

They forced numerous mistakes, including costly turnovers and poor shooting from the Tar Heels as the clock winded down.

With around a minute to go and with a chance to ice the game, Scott slammed it down and surged across the court for a monster block. That was the dagger Louisville needed to put the game away before the clock hit zeros.

Louisville would be victorious 83-70.

All sails ahead

While the Cardinals have sometimes let opponents stay close in games for far longer than they should, they prove time and time again they know what they’re doing down the stretch.

While both Louisville and North Carolina shot poorly from the field, it was Louisville who could capitalize the most when it mattered. UNC shot 0-of-4 on their final four field goals including a pair of turnovers while the Cards ended the game on a 13-1 run.

Like he seemingly always does, Hepburn took over the game late, scoring 19 of his 26 total points in the second. He racked up seven assists and shot a solid 16-of-20 from the free throw line.

While the team shot a poor 23.1% from three, Smith made 4-of-10 from three as he put up a pivotal 17 points of his own.

Louisville picks up a huge second conference win against a perennial powerhouse to get to 2-1 in conference play and improves to 9-5 on the season.

The Cards will travel to Virginia on Saturday looking to win where they never have before: John Paul Jones Arena.

Photo Courtesy // Mallory Peak, Louisville Athletics