North Carolina Upsets Louisville for Hall of Fame Tournament Championship
It was a game reserved for March. Two college basketball titans battled at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut in the finals of the Hall of Fame Tournament. No. 19 Carolina upset no. 2 Louisville, 93-84, in a game that was not even that close in the second half. The loss snapped a Louisville 21 game winning streak and Rick Pitino fell to 0-5 against UNC.
Carolina played without ineligible PJ Hairston, last year's high scorer. They did not appear to skip a beat, despite a disappointing loss to Belmont last week. Sophomore Marcus Paige had a career high 32 points and would have stolen the show, but for Russ Smith of Louisville who had 36. Frosh center Kennedy Meeks chipped in with 13 points and was a lion off the boards. Chris Jones added 20 for Louisville.
So what does the win mean? Well, the Heels are better than most thought and Louisville can have a bad day. Roy Williams was ecstatic over the win and Rick Pitino bemoaned how his team played poorly against Fairfield in a win yesterday and not much better today.
There is probably not a dominant team in the NCAA's as of yet and as many as eight teams can contend for the National Championship. Carolina will get better when and if Hairston comes back and Louisville can't be expected to have many off nights.
But for a few moments in November, it seemed like March.
