By Harrison Plank

The Cardinals fell short during their matchup against the Tarheels Monday night, failing to secure a ranked win just before tournament season starts.

Roll with the Punches

To start the game both teams traded blows back and forth but the Cards new if they wanted to come away with a win they had to apply some pressure. A double team was sent to lock down Jarin Stevenson but he was still able to finish at the rim, tying it all up yet again. Louisville answered with their signature early barrage of threes which ended with Ryan Conwell splashing one of his own. His shot gave the Cards a 14-11 lead.

Louisville surged off of this and a deep triple from Mikel Brown Jr. gave the Cardinals a 10 point lead during a 12-2 run. 

UNC had to have a response and Seth Tremble was ready. He capitolized on a messy Ali Khalifa turnover, splashing a three of his own while Brown Jr. guarded him. 

The Tarheels used this momentum to go on a run of their own. Louisville’s attempted pressure on defence gave them open looks from beyond the arc and near the cup that cut the Cards lead to one possession.

As quick as the Cardinals had gotten up, North Carolina was able to chop them down. Louisville’s well of three pointers went dry as UNC continued to drive and find their shots near the rim. Seth Trimble kept the ball in his hands, taking it on a fast break and completed a three point play to put them ahead 33-29. Louisville nailed a few triples on their subsequent posessions, but North Carolina carried their short lead into the break.

Louisville was hot and cold all throughout the first half. Although the team had long stretches where everyone’s shot was falling, there were streches even longer where no ones shots could sniff the rim. 

Louisville trailed at the half 39-38.

Seth Trimble and UNC carried their energy from the first into the second half. He emphatically finished at the rim for his 20th point and forced a Louisville timeout after only a few posessions.

The break did nearly nothing for the cards. As seven minutes passed in the second half all Louisville could muster up was two free throws.

While Louisville floundered, Trimble picked off Khalifa in the passing lane and finished at the rim with a monster slam. This brought their lead to 16 and forced another Louisville timeout to be called. UNC’s arena erupted while the Tarheels stampeded ahead 56-40.

The Cards began to show signs of life after this break though. Ryan Conwell hit the Cardinals first field goal in nearly 10 minutes and added another triple to cut the deficit down to nine.

Ryan Conwell and J’vonne Hadley kept the cards in it while holding unc scoreless. Despite their combined heroics with Mikel Brown Jr. too many missed shots added up and put them in a hole that they could not dig out of.

Both teams ended the game trading blows while going down swinging, but Louisville’s lackluster start out of the half ultimately was their downfall.

Louisville lost 76-74.

Can we skip to March already?

Louisville drops another tough ranked matchup but looked competitive throughout. Insignifigant mistakes and poor shot selection added up throughout the second half and untimately resulted in the Cards coming away with a loss.

If there is one takeaway from this game it is that Seth Trimble is the real deal. His 30 points came effortless as he led the Tarheels to secure their fourth ranked win of the season.

Mikel Brown Jr. and Ryan Conwell led the Cards in scoring with 24 and 23 respectively. This great scoring night was not enough however as inefficiency was their downfall. Both shot nearly 36% from the field and seemed to throw up any shot they could find when faced with a deficit.

Despite getting 15 offensive rebounds Louisville was only able to muster up 10 second chance points. Opportunities off of misses are nice, but points are better.

Louisville looks to redeem themselves in their next matchup, where they face Clemson Saturday, February 28.

The Cardinals fall to 20-8 and 9-6 in conference play.

Photo By Regan Beymer / The Louisville Cardinal