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Off the cuff: This wild overtime victory at times seemed to be little more than a three-point shooting contest. The teams combined for 61 three-point shots. To a guy who enjoyed 60-55 games and the Four Corners back in the day, that's RIDICULOUS.

Louisville hit three more threes than Carolina. The Tar Heels made up those nine points by hitting six more two-point shots and four more free throws.

The Tar Heels might not have come unglued like the Louisville contingent did but they did hibernate for a few minutes once they got up by 10 at 55-45.

Carolina missed six straight shots with an out-of-control Caleb Love missing five of them. A couple of turnovers by Love added to the misery.

Also, if Love hadn't gotten his pocket picked with 15 seconds left in regulation, it would have never gone to overtime.

In overtime, Love hit a big three, made a nifty assist to Brady Manek and hit five free throws.

While Love should have been embarrassed by his play in regulation, Louisville should be embarrassed for their play in overtime as the players, coaches and fans lost their composure.

"We stayed together on the road with the crowd against us," R.J. Davis said. "We were able to focus and get some stops late when things got chippy."

The officiating was a little suspect as there were a number of no calls and then calls that could have gone either way going against the home team.

It was the first overtime game of the season for Carolina, which had lost its last three overtime games.

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Tar Heels 90, Louisville 83
Heels overcome unglued Louisville in OT

North Carolina survived Louisville's best three-point shooting game of the season and survived thrown cups and ice in overtime as the Tar Heels beat an unglued Cardinals team 90-83 in overtime. (2/1)

Louisville had erased a 55-45 UNC lead with five straight threes and forced overtime after Ellis slipped behind Caleb Love for a steal and layup to send the game into overtime at 74-all

After two ties and two lead changes in overtime, UNC's Leaky Black drilled a three from the right sideline in front of the Carolina bench to put the Heels up 84-81 with a little over two minutes to play.

That's when things got ugly in Louisville. Carolina's Armando Bacot got a defensive rebound but was quickly tied up by Matt Cross as the two wrestled for the ball. Louisville's Jae'lyn Withers took offence and pushed an already off-balance Bacot to the floor. After several minutes of reviewing replays, officials assessed a technical to Withers.

The entire arena seemed to go ballistic. Love, alone at the line, hit the two free throw shots to give the Heels an 86-81 lead with 1:10 to play. As he was shooting the second free throw, cups and ice flew on the court not far away from him.

The booing and shouting continued. After an R.J. Davis foul, Louisville's Noah Locke hit both ends of a one-and-one to draw the home team within three.

The booing and shouting escalated after Bacot and Sydney Curry got tangled up on a rebound attempt, and Curry was called for a foul. Louisville coach Mike Pegues slammed the scorer's table in anger and picked up a technical foul.

Love once again hit two free throws to put Carolina up 88-83 and prompted a Louisville timeout with 17.5 seconds to play. The Cardinals were unable to score again as free throws by Bacot and Love finished out the scoring.

After a first half that saw four ties and three lead changes, the Tar Heels led 36-35 when Davis hit a fade away jumper at the buzzer.

A 12-2 Carolina run early in the second half, highlighted by a Love to Bacot dunk, put the Heels up 48-39.

With their biggest lead at 55-45 with 12:33 left, the Tar Heels went cold and Louisville got hot from three-point land, popping in five straight threes - three of them from reserve El Ellis, who scored all 25 of his points in the second half.

After the 17-3 Cardinals run, the Tar Heels trailed 62-58. Carolina came back to take the lead 71-68 after Bacot hauled in an offensive rebound and kicked it out to an open Davis for a three from the top of the key.

Louisville scored four straight to go back up 72-71 when Bacot came up with a loose ball, scored and was fouled. Carolina seemed to be in a good spot, up by 74-72, and with the ball after a Cardinals miss. But Love was stripped and Ellis tied it to force the wild overtime.

All five Carolina starters scored with Brady Manek leading the way with 24 points. But Bacot not only scored 19 points, he pulled down 22 rebounds. Davis had 18. Love contributed 16 even though he was a dismal three of 18 from the field. Black hit all four of his shots and both free throws to finish with 13 points.

North Carolina, now 16-6 overall and 8-3 in the ACC, hosts Duke on Saturday. Louisville falls to 11-11 and 5-7 in the league.

Box Score

UNC's R.J. Davis scored 18 at Louisville. (UNC Sports Information photo)

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