Louisville’s struggles with the biggest games on its schedule continued Monday night in a 74-71 loss at No. 18 North Carolina.
The 24th-ranked Cardinals led by 10 points early in the first half, but trailed for the entirety of the second on their way to an 11th consecutive road loss against a top 25 opponent. U of L’s last road victory over a ranked foe came all the way back on Jan. 18, 2020 against No. 3 Duke.
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Carolina won despite not having the services of superstar freshman Caleb Wilson, who missed his fourth straight game with a fractured left hand. Seth Trimble more than picked up the slack, torching the Cardinal defense for a career-high 30 points, the bulk of them coming right at the rim or the free-throw line.
Mikel Brown Jr. (24) and Ryan Conwell (23) combined for 47 points, but it took the pair 44 shots from the field to get there. J’Vonne Hadley added 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. No other Louisville player scored more than four points.
With the loss, Louisville fell to 1-11 in Quad1A games under the direction of Pat Kelsey. The Cards are 46-4 in all other games under Kelsey.
That’s pretty much the crux of the issue at the moment. Losing these types of games was already grating on the fan base. Losing another one to a team playing without its best player only adds to the frustration.
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The good news? There’s another Quad1A opportunity coming up on Saturday, and it’s against a team that’s suddenly lost four straight.
The bad news? The game will be played inside the only ACC building where Louisville has yet to win (not counting the new members), and against a team that will have had a week off to prepare for the contest.
Until then, we all get to stew around for another four days and debate why these last four months haven’t been nearly as enjoyable as we all thought they were going to be.
