Cardinals’ Late Comeback Falls Short in Top 25 Matchup

Monday, February 23

Chapel Hill, N.C.

7 p.m.

University of Louisville

20-8,9-6ACC

North Carolina

22-6,10-5ACC

Louisville

North Carolina

Players pick each other up off the ground

Cardinals’ Late Comeback Falls Short in Top 25 Matchup

February 23, 2026 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Pat Kelsey Press Conference Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes

Louisville rallied to get within two at No. 16/19 North Carolina, but ultimately fell 77-74

By: Sara Miller

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The No. 24/20 University of Louisville men's basketball team's comeback fell short in a 77-74 loss to No. 16/19 North Carolina Monday night at Dean E. Smith Center.

"Credit to Carolina. there are four things we focus on that determine winning and losing and one is effective field goal percentage, the second is free throw rate, the third is rebounding percentage and last is turnover rate. And they beat us in two of those four pretty good," said UofL head coach Pat Kelsey. "One is effective field goal percentage, they were much more efficient from two – they were 17-for-22 from two and we were 12-for-26 there was a big disparity in the game. Our paint poise wasn't great when we got to the paint… The second is free throw rate, we weren't able to generate free throws, they were, those two areas were big discrepancies."

After trading baskets to begin the contest, Louisville (20-8, 9-6 ACC) began to pull away with three unanswered triples in a row by Mikel Brown Jr., Ryan Conwell then Adrian Wooley. The Cards held the largest lead by either team in the half with a 23-13 lead with 13:28 left on the clock.

North Carolina (22-6, 10-5 ACC) shifted the momentum in its favor with a 13-4 run to take its first lead since the first two minutes of the game. Throughout the remainder of the period, neither team held a lead for more than two minutes with the Tar Heels having a slight 39-38 edge heading into the break.

While the first half saw seven ties and four lead changes, North Carolina pushed the pace during the second half by starting on a 17-2 run. The Tar Heels continued to hold a double-digit lead for the majority of the second half until the Cards chipped away at the deficit with a 13-7 run that put them within three with 51 seconds remaining.

During the final minute, UNC nailed two free throws to go up 76-71 before Brown scored a second-chance three-pointer with 1.3 seconds on the clock. The Cards quickly fouled to force North Carolina to take two shots from the charity stripes, where they missed one. Down three with 0.8 seconds left, Conwell forced up on a shot that was too wide, giving the Tar Heels a 77-74 victory.

"I felt like from the 20-minute mark to the eight-minute mark, in the second half, we weren't good enough during those 12 minutes," said Kelsey. We'll watch the tape and go through it, but at right about that eight-minute mark, we put that lineup in, Kobe (Rodgers) was in there, Ryan Conwell was in there, Khani Rooths was in there, J'Vonne Hadley was in there and Zou [Vangelis Zougris] was in there and I thought Zou gave us a great lift. I thought Zou played tough, nasty, you go into tough venues like this, you've got to be the aggressor. Rebounded very well, we did play hard. I just thought he gave us a big boost. Kobe gave us a big boost. I think it was 16 at one point, at the eight-minute media, I think it was 10, maybe nine, something like that and those guys really gave us a huge boost, got us going, got on a run and I thought that last eight minutes played like the team that has a chance to be elite. The first 12 minutes of the half wasn't that - credit Carolina."

Brown led the team with 24 points earning his fifth straight game with 19 or more points. He added on three rebounds and two assists in the effort. Conwell was one point shy of the team lead with 23 points and tallied two rebounds, two blocks and an assist.

North Carolina's Seth Trimble led the way for the Tar Heels with 30 points, four rebounds, four assists and a steal. The senior's point total is a career-high and is the most by an UNC player this season.

Louisville finished the game 26-of-67 (38.8%) from the field, 14-of-39 from deep (35.9%) and 8-of-11 (72.7%) from the free throw line. The Cards outrebounded the opposition 41-32 with three different players pulling down six boards in Khani Rooths, J'Vonne Hadley and Vangelis Zougris, matching a career-high for the Greece native.

The Cards will look to bounce back with a conference game on Saturday, February 28 against Clemson. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2.