Senior guard Seth Trimble pumped in a career-high 30 points and No. 18 North Carolina held off hard-charging No. 24 Louisville down the stretch for a 77-74 victory Monday night in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Henri Veesaar and Luka Bogavac both provided 12 points for North Carolina (22-6, 10-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), which has won two in a row since last week’s blowout loss at North Carolina State. The Tar Heels, who overcame an early 10-point deficit, shot 53.6% from the field.
Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr. slowed down after a fast start and finished with 24 points on 9-for-25 shooting, though he bagged six 3-point shots.
Ryan Conwell racked up 23 points and J’Vonne Hadley added 14 points for the Cardinals (20-8, 9-6), who lost for only the second time in their last eight games.
Louisville held a 41-32 rebounding advantage, including 16 offensive boards. But the team’s 38.8% shooting from the field proved troublesome.
The Tar Heels built a 16-point second-half lead before Louisville responded with a 9-0 run. North Carolina’s lead was 72-61 with 2:49 to play.
But the Cardinals kept coming and closed with 74-69 on Brown’s basket with less than two minutes to play. After a defensive stop, Louisville had a chance to apply more pressure, but Brown missed a 3-pointer.
North Carolina’s Jarin Stevenson missed a pair of free throws before Conwell sank a pair of foul shots with 51 seconds left to make it 74-71.
Louisville had another chance to close the gap, but Brown missed on a drive to the basket. Trimble hit two free throws before Brown’s long 3 in the final two seconds. Derek Dixon added a free throw for North Carolina.
Trimble finished 11-for-16 from the field.
North Carolina led 39-38 at halftime behind Trimble’s 16 points after the Cardinals were up 23-13 earlier. Eight of Louisville’s 15 first-half field goals were 3-pointers, but the Tar Heels countered with 60.7% shooting from the floor.
