North Carolina vs Louisville: 2019 ACC Tournament game preview, TV schedule
By Cody Gerena
The North Carolina Tar Heels will try to lock up a number 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament against the Louisville Cardinals. In the rubber match of the season series, who will prevail and punch their ticket into the ACC semifinals?
TV Schedule: Thursday, March 14, 7:00 pm on ESPN
Arena: Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina
If you haven’t found out somehow by now, it is March. We are not just in March right now, we are in mid-March where the conference tournaments put on top-shelf in-conference matchups for the last time until next year. This time we’ve got the #3 in the nation and #2 in the ACC North Carolina Tar Heels 26-5 (16-2) taking on the #7 in the ACC Louisville Cardinals 19-12 (10-8) in a matchup that has a lot of value on the line which could greatly affect the Selection Sunday seedings.
The Tar Heels are coming into this game on fire with a 7-game win streak. This win streak included four tournament-caliber teams and has made them from a potential 2/3-seed to an almost 100% positive 1-seed for the NCAA Tournament. Some wins include an away at Clemson (81-79), home vs #16 FSU (77-59), and not one, but two wins against tournament-favorite Duke (away with Duke #1 88-72 and home with Duke #4 79-70). During this streak, only two games were decided by under double-digits, the Clemson game and one against Syracuse (93-85). In the past month, North Carolina has made themselves to be a threat that will be one of if not the safest pick to go far in the NCAA Tournament.
While North Carolina had a great recent stretch, the Cardinals have not. Winning only two of their last six including their second-round tournament matchup, they really haven’t been so hot. Since their 56-55 win against Clemson as the #16 ranked team, not only have they dropped off the national rankings, but they have also crashed in value as according to the ESPN Bracketology with Joe Lunardi they have gone from a 3-seed to a 7-seed over the past month.
Anyway, this is still a Cardinal team that the Tar Heels should take lightly, as they have beat them before in their worst loss this season 83-62 and only one out of two in-conference losses. Also, Louisville has some momentum as they just beat Notre Dame 75-53 slaughter.
If the Cardinals want to win, they will need to get some of the best games played out of their starters. They have junior forward Dwayne Sutton who averages 10.3 points per game (second on the team), 6.9 rebounds per game(second on the team), and 1.7 assists per game (again, second on the team). He also had a double-double in the Cardinal win against the Tar Heels with 17 points and 10 rebounds. He also had seven assists in that game. They also have sophomore forward Jordan Nwora, who leads the team in points and rebounds with 17.3 and 7.7 per game. He also scored 24 points and obtained nine rebounds in the second-round game against Notre Dame.
The Tar Heels will have senior guard Cameron Johnson at their disposal, who leads the team in points per game with 16.8 and is second in rebounds with 5.9 per game. He also shoots over 45% from three. Johnson is also coming off of a 14-point 10-rebound double-double against Duke. In addition, they have freshman guard Coby White, who is second on the team in points with 16.3 per game. White is coming off of a 21-point performance against Duke. Finally, they have senior forward Luke Maye, who has played all four years with the team and average a double-double of 10.5 rebounds and 14.6 points per game.
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In the end, North Carolina’s recent hot streak will prove to be too much for the Cardinals as they will easily win and lock up a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament.