Seth Trimble scored a career-high 30 points and UNC withstood a late Louisville rally to beat the No. 24 Cardinals 77-74 Monday night at the Smith Center.
Trimble’s 30 points surpassed his previous career high of 27, achieved last season against Dayton at the Maui Invitational. The senior finished 11-16 from the field while adding four assists, four rebounds and a steal in an all-around effort. He, Henri Veesaar and Luka Bogavac (both of whom scored 12 points) were the only Tar Heels in double figures. Defensively, Trimble also drew the assignment of guarding star Louisville guard Mikel Brown, Jr. The future lottery pick in the NBA Draft scored 24 points in 33 minutes of action, but shot just 9-25 from the floor.
“Seth was huge for us tonight on both ends of the floor,” said head coach Hubert Davis after the game. “He had the responsibility of guarding Brown, and what a responsibility that is. He’s a fantastic player. But against their defense… you have to find ways to be able to break down their defense and be able to consistently score, and Seth was our guy.”
Powered by Trimble’s aggressiveness on offense, Carolina dug itself out of an early 23-13 deficit by outscoring the Cardinals 26-15 to end the first half and take a one-point lead into halftime. Trimble had 16 points in the opening 20 minutes, nearly equaling the 17 he scored in the previous two games combined.
“I was able to get out and either create for my team or get downhill and make a play,” Trimble said. “It’s as simple as that.”
The Tar Heels threatened to run away with the game early in the second half, blitzing the Cardinals on offense and defense while pushing the lead to as large as 16 points at 56-40. Between the final 1:51 of the first half and the opening 6:57 of the second, UNC’s defense forced 15 consecutive missed shots from the Cardinals. Louisville entered the night as the ACC’s top scoring offense.
Trimble punctuated the strong Carolina run with a steal and breakaway dunk, firing up the striped-out Smith Center crowd. From UNC’s 10-point deficit to the 16-point lead, the Tar Heels outscored the Cardinals 43-17.
“Zayden [High] told me how loud it was,” Trimble said of the play. “But I was just screaming myself. I wasn’t really paying attention to anything but just letting out some emotion.”
But Carolina wasn’t out of the woods yet, as Louisville got itself back into the game thanks to three-pointers from Brown and Ryan Conwell, who combined for 47 points. In a frantic final minute, the Cardinals had the ball trailing by three points at 74-71, but Brown missed a driving layup over Veesaar, and the Tar Heels recovered the rebound. Trimble made both ensuing free throws for his 29th and 30th points of the night, but Brown made one more three to make Carolina sweat out the final 1.3 seconds. Derek Dixon got the inbounds pass and was fouled, but only made one of his two free throws. But with just 0.8 seconds remaining, Louisville couldn’t capitalize on its last gasp. Conwell received a long inbounds pass but did not get off a shot before the buzzer sounded.
UNC finished the night just 9-19 at the free throw line, meaning the Tar Heels are now 24-47 (51.1 percent) on free throws across their last two games. Davis, an outstanding free throw shooter in his own right, noted free throws are a particularly difficult skill to coach. When he was asked how to improve the team’s percentage, he offered a blunt answer:
“Pray,” Davis said.
Carolina is now 21-8 all-time against Louisville, 12-5 in ACC play and 7-1 in Chapel Hill. Monday’s win improves the Tar Heels to 22-6 overall and 10-5 in ACC play. The team will be back in action when it hosts Virginia Tech at the Smith Center Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
Featured image via Todd Melet. For a full photo gallery of the game, click here.
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