Louisville hosts Gakdeng and No. 9 North Carolina

By Canadian Press on February 22, 2025.

North Carolina Tar Heels (24-4, 12-3 ACC) at Louisville Cardinals (19-7, 12-3 ACC)

Louisville, Kentucky; Sunday, 2 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 9 North Carolina faces Louisville after Maria Gakdeng scored 21 points in North Carolina’s 68-58 victory against the Syracuse Orange.

The Cardinals have gone 8-3 in home games. Louisville is ninth in the ACC with 32.5 points per game in the paint led by Nyla Harris averaging 5.9.

The Tar Heels are 12-3 in conference play. North Carolina has a 3-1 record in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

Louisville makes 44.1% of its shots from the field this season, which is 8.4 percentage points higher than North Carolina has allowed to its opponents (35.7%). North Carolina averages 7.7 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.0 more made shots on average than the 5.7 per game Louisville allows.

The Cardinals and Tar Heels match up Sunday for the first time in ACC play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Tajianna Roberts is scoring 13.3 points per game and averaging 3.2 rebounds for the Cardinals. Jayda Curry is averaging 2.2 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Gakdeng is averaging 11.3 points and 7.1 rebounds for the Tar Heels. Reniya Kelly is averaging 11.8 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 8-2, averaging 72.2 points, 32.3 rebounds, 14.6 assists, 8.9 steals and 0.9 blocks per game while shooting 44.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.0 points per game.

Tar Heels: 9-1, averaging 68.7 points, 35.3 rebounds, 13.6 assists, 7.5 steals and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 43.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 58.3 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

The Associated Press

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