At times, it appeared the KFC Yum! Center was descending into the Twilight Zone.
Questionable foul calls, gut-wrenching turnovers and breathless rallies were the name of the game Tuesday night when UNC took on Louisville, and through a chorus of boos and objects thrown onto the floor, the Tar Heels prevailed by the skin of their teeth, 90-83. It’s Carolina’s first road win since January 2.
𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐍.#CarolinaFamily | @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/ZzEuDu5MZB
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) February 2, 2022
Early on, some familiar bugaboos started showing themselves for the Tar Heels away from home. Louisville, which came into the night ranked 258th in the country in three-point shooting, used long shots from Noah Locke and Matt Cross to take a lead as large as six points.
But offensive contributions from an unlikely source shot Carolina in front: senior wing Leaky Black poured in seven points in a late first-half surge from the Tar Heels, who weathered another rally from the Cardinals to take a 36-35 lead into halftime. Carolina may have felt it could’ve been leading by more, but after disasters in Miami and Winston-Salem, it felt like a welcome reprieve.
“It just shows that we are tough,” said graduate forward Brady Manek, who finished with a team-high 24 points. “Everybody calls us soft, everybody tells us we can’t win road games… tonight, we flipped the switch.”
Indeed, Carolina began the second half even stronger, using three-pointers and powerful dunks from Armando Bacot to push the lead to as much as 10 points at 55-45.
Then, to put it lightly, things got weird.
The Cardinals’ three-point touch, absent since the first half, suddenly came back in full force. Louisville knocked down five three-pointers in the next four minutes to fuel a 15-3 run, electrifying the crowd inside the Yum! Center and giving the Cardinals the lead. Carolina didn’t help its own cause, as Caleb Love spectacularly missed a tomahawk dunk attempt and a layup from Bacot spun all the way around the rim and out. From that point on, the Louisville fans stayed loud and proud, which made an impression on the visiting Tar Heels.
“It was a crazy atmosphere,” said Bacot. “Probably one of the most intense games I’ve ever played in.”
“You can’t describe the atmosphere,” said Manek. “It was unbelievable. Heck of a crowd. Heck of an environment.”
Though a three-pointer from Manek briefly gave Carolina the lead again, another Cardinals three-pointer and a layup from Cross swung the hosts back on top, this time by two possessions. It was only three straight buckets from Manek which kept UNC in it down the stretch, as the Carolina defense, which shined at times during the game, could not stop the Cardinal offense.
“That was a time where usually, in the past, we would tuck our heads,” Bacot said. “But today, we said, ‘Hey, we’ve gotta fight, and we’ve just gotta keep going.'”
And keep going they did. Trailing 68-64 with four minutes remaining, Carolina found the toughness head coach Hubert Davis has searched for on the road this season. The team rattled off a 7-0 run to take a 71-68 lead, punctuated by a three-pointer from R.J. Davis off an offensive rebound from Bacot.
Though Louisville took the lead again with four straight points, it appeared Carolina sealed a victory with a Bacot dunk and free throw, and an ensuing missed layup from the Cardinals. But Louisville’s El Ellis, originally from Durham, picked Love’s pocket with seconds to go, giving the Cardinals a fast break opportunity and a layup to knot things up again at 74 apiece.
“There were times where we really messed up,” Hubert Davis said. “But it didn’t bleed to the next possession. We just moved on.”
After a timeout, R.J. Davis appeared to have an open lane to the bucket to win the game, but saw his shot swatted away by Louisville’s Jae’Lyn Withers, another North Carolina native.
“Withers made an unbelievable play,” Hubert Davis said. “I don’t know where he came from. His athleticism and want-to to be able to block that shot and send it to overtime? That was absolutely fantastic. It was a great play.”
Once in overtime, Love atoned for his turnover by knocking in his first three-pointer of the night. But as they did all game long, the Cardinals fought back, taking a 79-77 lead on five straight points from Ellis. Then, it was Black once again coming in clutch, following a Bacot basket with his third three-pointer. It ended up giving UNC the lead for good at 84-81.
Then things got weird, again.
After a Louisville miss, Bacot found himself in a tussle for the rebound with Cross. While fighting for possession, Cross fell hard to the ground, inciting the already lively Cardinal fans, who believed Bacot should’ve been called for his fifth foul. Officials called a jump ball instead, but not before Withers arrived on the scene and pushed Bacot. The 240-pound forward flung himself away from the action in ostentatious fashion, not too dissimilarly from the Brazilian soccer star Neymar.
The embellishment worked: officials assessed a technical foul to Withers, his fifth, disqualifying him from the game. In addition, Carolina was awarded two free throws and possession of the ball.
“He fully extended [his arms],” Bacot said. “It was a two-hand push. I’m not surprised about [the call]. I didn’t know what would happen, but I’ll take it.”
The fans didn’t take it. As Love made his second foul shot to give Carolina an 86-81 lead, what appeared to be an ice cube was hurled onto the court and shattered near his feet.
“There was stuff that was going on in the stands, and one of the things that I actually yelled at the guys is, ‘The action is here [on the court],'” Davis said. “I don’t care what’s going on in the stands. The action is us, on the floor.”
It would not be the last controversial play involving Bacot.
Undeterred by the technical foul, Louisville sliced the lead back to 86-83 and had possession of the ball. Cross took a three-pointer to tie the game which missed, and as the rebound fell toward Bacot and Louisville’s Sydney Curry, Bacot’s arm came up near Curry’s neck. No forcible contact was made, but as the two pursued the bouncing ball near the baseline, officials stopped play and called a foul on Curry.
Incensed, Louisville’s interim head coach Mike Pegues slammed his hand down on the scorer’s table, drawing yet another technical foul from the officiating crew. Love would hit both of his technical free throws and finished with 16 points (every Carolina starter scored in double figures), while Bacot made one of his from the common foul called before the technical. Those points sealed the game, and somehow, some way, Carolina escaped Louisville with a victory. It’s their first overtime win since 2019.
Controversial? Absolutely. But for a Carolina team trying to stay on the good side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, it was better than losing by 20.
“Coming back after losing to Miami and Wake Forest in the manner in which we lost, and to say in a week and a half we’ve won four games against four unbelievable, quality opponents, in conference?” Davis said. “That’s pretty good.”
Featured image via Associated Press/Timothy D. Easley
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