The Louisville Cardinals are out for revenge. The Cardinals currently sit ranked No. 10 in the league while being 5-2 in ACC play. One of those two losses came from the North Carolina Tar Heels three weeks ago. The game ended on a Marcus Paige go-ahead jump shot with just nine seconds left to play and Louisville could not get the last shot off. Now the two teams meet once again as both have win streaks they are hoping can continue.
The Cardinals fell to the Tar Heels and then to Duke at home. Since then, they have beaten Pittsburgh and Boston College where they were 6 of 12 from the 3-point line after shooting just 29.4 percent from beyond the arc before that. The team is relying heavily on a talented backcourt of Terry Rozier and Chris Jones who put up 49 points and 45 points respectively in the previous two wins. Rozier is currently averaging an ACC-best 20.8 points over his last 13 games. Jones went 6 of 9 from long range in the last two wins after getting just two 3-point shots against Duke. The team's biggest weakness could be Montrezl Harrell who must put up a better game after struggling in recent weeks. He is averaging 10.3 points on 45.9 percent shooting against ranked teams.
North Carolina got the win over Louisville from defense and rebounds. The team had 17 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points. That should fair well against Louisville who is allowing 12.0 offensive rebounds per game. UNC averages 15.6 per game.
Currently in the middle of a six-game win streak, the Tar Heels are 4-2 against ranked teams while shooting 52.6 percent overall over their last five games. Along with Paige, Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson are averaging a combined 28.0 points on 60.9 percent shooting in their last six games to lead the team. They each had 17 against Syracuse for the win while the team had a 47-27 rebounding advantage which they aim to repeat.
