CHARLOTTE — North Carolina’s opponent in tomorrow’s ACC Tournament quarterfinals has been set.
The No. 2-seeded Tar Heels (26-5, 16-2 ACC) will play No. 7 seed Louisville (20-12, 11-8 ACC) on Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the Spectrum Center.
The Cardinals beat No. 15 seed Notre Dame, 75-53, on Wednesday night. Jordan Nwora, the ACC's Most Improved Player, had 24 points for Louisville, and the Cardinals established a 50-38 rebounding advantage over the Fighting Irish.
It’ll be the third meeting this season between the two teams. On Jan. 12, Louisville marched into the Smith Center and blew out North Carolina, 83-62. It was the worst home loss in Roy Williams’ tenure as head coach.
That loss, however, lit a fire under the Tar Heels. North Carolina won 14 of its next 15 games — including comfortable wins over ranked Virginia Tech and Florida State teams, and a sweep of rival Duke. The only loss in that time came at home to Virginia, the top seed in this week’s tournament.
UNC, which won a share of the ACC regular-season title with the Cavaliers, also got its revenge on Louisville on Feb. 2. North Carolina beat the Cardinals, 79-69, in the KFC Yum! Center. Forward Luke Maye (20 points, 11 rebounds) and guard Cameron Johnson (19 points, 10 rebounds) both logged double-doubles in the win.
Now, with the season series split at 1-1 and a spot in the ACC semifinals on the line, the teams will meet for a third time.
