Harrell, Louisville bolt past North Carolina in overtime, 78-68
He would never admit it. He is just too proud, too confident.
But Saturday's performance in a 78-68 overtime win over North Carolina will surely ease some of the frustrations of University of Louisville forward Montrezl Harrell.
Harrell was a preseason All-American. He spurned the 2014 NBA draft to play through his junior year at Louisville. And in the past few weeks, his numbers lagged and his annoyance levels rose.
He just didn't seem like his old self, and he certainly didn't look like an All-American or a first-round NBA draft pick.
Against UNC, he posted up. He attacked. He dunked. He screamed. He rebounded. He played like he did at Pitt last Sunday, but he took things to another level.
He finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds.
Harrell looked like a preseason All-American, and he took over the game during its most pivotal stretch. For the first time since the UNC Wilmington and Indiana games, he was the best player on the floor.
Overtime Terry. Star Louisville guard Terry Rozier didn't shoot the lights out on Saturday. He didn't have the type of game that he has had the past few times on the floor. But even with his cold-shooting start, Rozier kept working at it, and his overtime performance helped Louisville eventually outlast UNC.
His final line: 22 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and a block. Not bad for a guy who missed 14 shots.
Blackshear's big shot. Freshman Shaqquan Aaron played significant chunks of Saturday's game, and it was awfully hard to blame him for any struggles he had along the way. He was playing Wayne Blackshear's minutes, and Blackshear just didn't contribute for the first 30 minutes of the game.
But Blackshear came to life when it mattered most, and he deserves credit for sticking with it. He missed his first four shots and had two bad turnovers early on, but he grabbed some key rebounds in the game's final few minutes, and his wing 3-pointer with about two minutes to go in overtime was the biggest shot of the game for Louisville.
Mathiang's impact. The center position has been, like Blackshear, the source of a lot of Louisville fans' frustrations this season. But on Saturday, Mangok Mathiang did a lot of little things to have an impact on the game. He blocked shots, rebounded a bit and, more than anything else, gave Louisville some juice with his hustle.
Jeff Greer writes for The Courier-Journal, a Gannett paper
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