UNC Basketball: Keys to Beating Louisville in ACC Clash

With 14 conference opponents and just 18 league games, North Carolina only has four foes it will face twice during the regular season.

The first of those rematches comes up next, when the Tar Heels face the team against which they began their current hot run.

No. 13 UNC (17-4, 7-1 ACC) visits No. 10 Louisville (17-3, 5-2) at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday in a game it needs to win in order to keep conference leader Virginia in its sights. The Tar Heels host the unbeaten Cavaliers two days later.

As simple as it may seem, the mission of winning in the KFC Yum! Center isn't an easy one. Granted, two of the Cardinals' three losses have been at home, but those have been to top-ranked, unbeaten Kentucky and Duke, with their other setback coming by one point at UNC on Jan. 10.

Since that game, North Carolina has won all six of its contests, including Monday's 93-83 victory at home against Syracuse.

The Tar Heels are playing their best ball of the season, but in order to continue that momentum, there are certain things they must do at Louisville.

Rally Early, Not Late

The final score of the last meeting between Louisville and UNC doesn't begin to tell the swings the teams went through. The Tar Heels won 72-71 but trailed for nearly all of the second half. With eight minutes and 43 seconds left, they were down by 13 points.

That's when a light went on, collectively, for North Carolina's players, with six of them contributing to a 22-8 run to end the game.

Guard Marcus Paige did his part with five points, including the game-winner with 8.7 seconds remaining, but forwards Brice Johnson and J.P. Tokoto had six apiece while forward Kennedy Meeks had three. Guards Joel Berry II and Nate Britt had two each.

Unlike last year, when late rallies were almost always sparked—and carried—by Paige, that game showed UNC's ability to get clutch contributions from a variety of players.

However, expecting to be able to make such a comeback in hostile territory on Saturday won't fly. Louisville has to have learned from the way the last game ended, and if given the chance to go up big again, it won't let up once the lead gets comfortable.

A strong start is key to winning Saturday, negating the need to rally late.

Balance the Backcourt

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Maybe all Britt needed to find his game was to take a shot to the mouth to find his shooting stroke.

Five days after getting 15 stitches inside his upper lip against Wake Forest, Britt had a career-high 17 points in Monday's win over Syracuse. Playing more than 20 minutes for just the third time this season, the sophomore guard was 5-of-7 from the field and made 4-of-5 three-pointers.

He came in having only made 13 of 40 threes all season, not making one since Jan. 10, as his much-publicized switch in shooting hands from last year had yet to yield results.

"He's a kid that works extremely hard, and he took advantage of his opportunity," Paige said of Britt, per Andrew Carter of The News & Observer.

Because of a lack of production from UNC's guards not named Paige, head coach Roy Williams regularly goes with Tokoto at the 2 and hopes that Britt and freshman Berry II can give him a few minutes of good time on the court.

Berry has missed the last five games with a groin injury, while Britt had been slowed by not only the stitches but the recent death of his grandfather.

If Britt's performance against Syracuse is a sign he's breaking out of his funk, it can only help UNC in the long run.

Paige remains the only consistent outside scoring threat, having made 52 percent of the team's threes, but with Britt also being able to contribute and possibly hit a few shots, it lessens the ability for opponents to smother Paige on the outside.

Keep Harrell from Getting Loose

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At 14.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, Montrezl Harrell is producing at a higher level than during his monster sophomore season in 2013-14.

But considering that his return to college—rather than entering the NBA draft—was so surprising, there was an expectation that he'd absolutely explode this year.

That hasn't been the case so far, at least not on a consistent basis. Though still one of the most imposing presences on the inside, the 6'8" forward has found himself taken out of the game plan by numerous opponents. As a result, he's been pressing.

Harrell had 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting on Sunday at Pittsburgh, but in his previous four games, he's shot less than 44 percent (compared to 57.9 for the season) and averaged nine points.

He only had nine points on 4-of-10 shooting against UNC, one of three games this season during which he hasn't scored in double figures.

Harrell then had 12 points and five rebounds in Wednesday's win at Boston College.

Louisville will look to get Harrell involved early and often, which will put a lot of pressure on North Carolina's post players to deny good looks.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.