By Elizabeth Scanland
Louisville will host the No. 9 North Carolina Tar Heels on Sunday in their fourth ranked matchup in five games.
UNC is currently tied with Louisville at third in the ACC. The Cards are coming off their biggest win of the season and will head into the game eager to keep their four-game winning streak alive.
Deja vu
The Tar Heels offense looks slightly different this season after lead-scorer Deja Kelly transferred to Oregon.
However, the team has been able to adjust quickly, averaging a respectable 71.8 points per game on a fairly slow pace.
UNC has five players who score eight-plus points a game, but no one who scores 11.5 points. Maria Gakdeng leads the way averaging 11.3 points a game. She shoots an impressive 61% from the field, making up for lack of any three-point shooting.
Right behind her in scoring is Alyssa Ustby who averages 10.7 points a game. She also leads the team in assists and rebounds at 9.4 and three a game. Ustby is a fifth year senior who has spent her entire college career with UNC so she is a familiar face to Jeff Walz’s program.
UNC’s other top scorers include Lexi Donarski, Reniya Kelly and Indya Nivar who score 9.9, 9.9 and eight points, respectively.
A major part of the reason the Heels have such a balanced scoring attack is that they play so many players. Ten players average double-digit minutes a game, with one additional player averaging 9.3 minutes.
Another factor for the UNC offense is how well they hold onto the ball. The Tar Heels only give the ball up 12.9 times a game, the 27th best mark in the country.
Louisville’s defense has feasted on force turnovers, and their perimeter defense has been especially dynamic this recent stretch. Sunday’s game will be a great litmus test of their newfound confidence.
Deja vu…again?
As strong as their offense is, UNC’s defense is what sets them apart.
They hold their opponents to 55.8 points per game, 1st in the ACC and 22nd in the country. They do so unapologetically, only allowing teams to shoot 35.7% from the field and 29.1% from deep.
Through all the chaos, they do a great job at forcing turnovers. They grabs 8.5 steals as a part of their 17.8 turnovers forced a game
Nivar averages two steals a game and Ustby, Donarski and Kelly each add 1.1. The interior of the Heels is just as tough as they swat 4.3 blocks a game, the 38th highest mark in the nation. Gakdeng is by far UNC’s biggest threat in the lane, getting 1.3 blocks a night.
If all of these stays on offense and defense sound familiar, it’s because they are very familiar. UNC plays a remarkably similar style as Duke.
Obviously, Louisville just got a tough victory on the road against Duke, so the Cards have what it takes to knock off the Tar Heels.
While a win would be difficult, it would put the Cards at 20-7 on the year and 13-3 in the ACC to give them sole possession of third place.
If it happened once, it can happen again.
Tip-off is set for Sunday at 2 p.m.
Photo Courtesy // Mallory Peak, Louisville Athletics
