CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Roy Williams suffered his worst home loss in 16 seasons with North Carolina as Louisville stunned the 12th-ranked Tar Heels 83-62 on Saturday.
Connecticut transfer Steven Enoch had season highs of 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Cardinals. Dwayne Sutton added 17 points and 10 rebounds while flirting with at triple-double, and Louisville (11-5, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) bounced back from a frustrating loss to long-struggling Pittsburgh.
The Cardinals jumped on the Tar Heels in the opening minutes and led nearly the entire game, turning a 43-34 halftime lead into a lopsided margin. Louisville shot 52 percent, made 11 3-pointers and finished with a 40-31 edge on the glass against one of the nation’s best rebounding teams.
Kenny Williams scored 12 points for the Tar Heels (12-4, 2-1), who shot 35 percent — including 3 of 22 on 3-pointers — and committed 11 second-half turnovers.
BIG PICTURE
Louisville: The Pitt loss certainly was a low point considering the Panthers had lost 23 straight ACC regular-season games since February 2017 and 25 of 26 against league teams overall. The Cardinals didn’t spend much time sulking, instead hitting their first seven shots with four 3-pointers in what turned into an unexpected rout and quite a win for first-year coach Chris Mack.
UNC: It was hard to see this coming. The Tar Heels had won four straight games, the first three by at least 20 points followed by a victory at 15th-ranked rival North Carolina State on Tuesday night. Yet all that momentum vanished in a woeful performance that included bad shooting, too many turnovers, a poor performance on the glass and defense that frequently failed to beat the Cardinals to a spot.