MENS BASKETBALL

North Carolina 86, Louisville 70

BY BOB SUTTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - RJ Davis scored 21 points and No. 4 North Carolina beat Louisville 86-70 for its seventh straight victory, the Tar Heels’ longest winning streak in five seasons.

Armando Bacot had 19 points, Cormac Ryan added 17 and former Louisville player Jae’Lyn Withers scored 15 off the bench for North Carolina (14-3, 6-0 Atlantic Coast Conference).

The Tar Heels have won seven in a row for the first time under third-year coach Hubert Davis. They’re off to their best ACC start in eight years.

Skyy Clark scored 16 points, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield had 15 and reserve Tre White added 12 for Louisville (6-11, 1-5), which has lost five of six.

Davis and Ryan both made four 3-point shots.

But there was an uncomfortable stir in the crowd when Louisville scored seven straight points to pull to 53-45 and then regained possession. It was 55-50 as Louisville was amidst hitting nine of its first 10 second-half shots from the field.

Withers, in his first season with the Tar Heels, drove for a baseline basket to cap a 7-0 spurt as the lead grew back to 65-52. Withers then converted a three-point play on the next possession.

North Carolina broke out to leads of 15-4 and 26-9 and was up 46-29 at halftime. But unlike Saturday’s romp over Syracuse, the Tar Heels had more work to do.

After losing 22 consecutive true road games, Louisville was trying to win two in a row following last week’s upset at Miami.

BIG PICTURE

Louisville: The Cardinals committed nine first-half turnovers and fell to 0-3 against AP Top 25 opponents this season.

North Carolina: Carrying their highest ranking since holding the No. 1 spot in November 2022, the Tar Heels stayed alone in first place in the ACC. They improved to 8-0 at home this season.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

North Carolina athletics press release

January 17, 2024