The first ever ACC tournament for the Louisville Cardinals was expecting to be a good one. They had the North Carolina Tar Heels up first in the quarterfinals. UNC came into the game a 3 point favorite and was looking to avenge a loss from January 31st where they led by 18 points but lost the game in overtime. This time around the Tar Heels got their revenge and it came at the most important time.

The 1st half was all Cardinals for the most part. Montrezl Harrell was destroying UNC on the board as he looked like a man among boys. They started off the game hot from the field but died down toward the end of the half. Louisville shot 52% from the field looking in control the entire time. The thing that plagued the Cardinals though was their turnovers. North Carolina was capable of chipping the deficit to only 5 points heading into halftime.

“We had our way against man-to-man,” said Pitino.

The 2nd half was a complete different story for both teams. North Carolina switched to a zone defense and completely shut down Louisville. Marcus Paige started the half with a deep three that set the tone for the rest of the game. Louisville missed 15 of its last 17 shots and shot 4 from 22 from downtown. Brice Johnson was the x-factor for North Carolina as he scored 18 points after halftime. Harrell was unable to get many good shots against the zone defense. Meeks wasn’t supposed to play because of an illness but came off the bench for James. He capped off the 8-0 run with a tip in and blocked Rozier’s shot the next play. North Carolina ran away with the game at the end after freshman Quentin Snider missed two crucial shots and looked shaky towards the end.

“They manned up and decided to play better in the second half,” said Williams.

Louisville 60 North Carolina 70

Game Notes: Terry Rozier 20 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists. Montrezl Harrell 14 points and 12 rebounds. Wayne Blackshear 18 points and 3 rebounds. Mangok Mathiang 4 points and 7 rebounds. Brice Johnson 22 points and 7 rebounds. Marcus Paige 13 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds. Kennedy Meeks 9 points and 5 rebounds. Bench Scores: UofL 4 UNC 23. Louisville went 12-20 from the free throw line. Louisville went 4-22 from beyond the arc, compared to 5-11 by UNC.

Next Games;

North Carolina - Virginia 3/13/15

Louisville: NCAA Tournament lock predicted by ESPN