Trimble's Career Night Leads Tar Heels By Louisville, 77-74

Monday, February 23

Chapel Hill

7 p.m.

North Carolina

22-6,10-5ACC

Louisville

20-8,9-6ACC

Louisville

North Carolina

Seth Trimble

Photo by: DALTON WAINSCOTT

February 23, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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By: Matt Bowers

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Seth Trimble scored a career-high 30 points as No. 18 North Carolina used a 17-2 second-half spurt to take the lead, then outlasted No. 24 Louisville, 77-74, in a tense final minute on Monday night in the Smith Center.

The Tar Heels trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half, exploded to lead by as many as 16 in the second and hung on as the Cardinals rallied in the final minutes.

Trimble hit a career high 11 field goals in 16 attempts, adding four rebounds and four assists while hitting 7 of 11 free throws. It was his third 20-point effort of the season and the fourth of his career.

"I guess as soon as I hit nine points, I felt, I don't know if I had missed a shot yet, but I just felt in groove, in a really good rhythm," Trimble said. "And I just knew there was gonna be more to come in a good way."

Henri Veesaar and Luka Bogavac both scored 12 as the only other Tar Heels in double figures. Jarin Stevenson contributed nine points, seven rebounds and two steals. Derek Dixon hit two big three-pointers and scored seven, and Zayden High played the handyman role again with a high-energy four points, six boards, three assists, a blocked shot and a steal.

Mikel Brown Jr. led Louisville with 24 points with Ryan Conwell adding 23. The Cardinals hit 14 three-pointers.

Winning the first installment of a three-game homestand, the Tar Heels improved to 22-6 this season overall and 10-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Louisville lost for the second time in three games after winning five in a row from January 31 to February 14, falling to 21-7, 9-6.

This is the 49th season the Tar Heels have won 10 or more regular-season ACC games, including the sixth season in a row and the fifth in as many seasons under head coach Hubert Davis.

Carolina is 16-0 at home this season. Its 16-game, home winning streak is the program's longest since winning 23 in a row between February 2016 and December 2017.

UNC shot 60.7 percent in the first half, its second consecutive half at 60+ percent, and finished at 53.6 percent in the game. The Tar Heels are 46-2 under Davis when making at least half of their field goal tries. Many of those points came in the lane, as Carolina dominated points in the paint, 40-24, despite being outrebounded (41-32, including 16-7 on the offensive end).

"I'm so happy about tonight, but we got outrebounded by nine," Davis pointed out. "We gave up 16 offensive rebounds, and I'm just a huge believer in rebounding being the number one determining factor in an outcome of a game."

The UNC defense shined, limiting the Cardinals to just 38.8 percent from the floor. Davis-coached teams are 57-4 when holding opponents under 40 percent.

"We were ready, just being ready on the defensive end and making them score over us," Veesaar said. "I feel like on the defensive end most of the time, most of the games, we control the way we play, as long as we don't make any [mistakes]. Today we were talking, communicating the whole game. So that was really good."

The Tar Heels made just 9 of 19 free throws after shooting after going 15 for 28 at the stripe in Saturday's win at Syracuse.

Trimble's 16 first-half points and 60.7 percent shooting overall by the Tar Heels led them to a 39-38 lead at intermission. Carolina used its 17-2 run early in the second half to build a 56-40 lead with 13:38 remaining, then allowed the Cardinals to pull within a basket in the final minute.

How It Happened
First Half
• For the second game in a row, the Tar Heels started a lineup consisting of Dixon, Trimble, Bogavac, Stevenson and Veesaar.
• Louisville hit five three-pointers in the opening nine minutes and built an early, double-digit lead at 23-13.
• The Tar Heels responded with an 8-0 run to make it 23-21 minutes later.
• Carolina hit 13 of its first 20 shots (65.0 percent) and took its first lead at 29-27 on an alleyoop from Trimble to Veesaar.
• The Tar Heels held Louisville scoreless for the final 2:39 and led, 39-38, at the break.
• Trimble led all scorers with 16 first-half points on 7 of 10 shooting.
• The Cardinals took 21 three-pointers in the opening half, hitting eight of them, while Carolina controlled inside with a 24-14 edge in points in the paint.
• UNC shot better than 60 percent in the half for the second half in a row (after also doing so in Saturday's second half at Syracuse), marking the first time the Tar Heels posted back-to-back halves at 60 percent or better since early in the 2017-18 season.

Second Half
• Carolina started the second half on a 7-1 run in the first 1:48 to lead, 46-39, and force a quick Cardinal timeout.
• Five minutes of game time later, the Tar Heels were on a 17-2 run and led, 56-40, after a steal and breakaway dunk by Trimble.
• The Cardinals responded with a quick, 9-0 run of their own to pull back within single digits at 56-49.
• Louisville never let Carolina fully pull away in the latter portions of the game and eventually clawed back within as few as two points in the final seconds.

Up Next
Carolina will host Virginia Tech on Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2 as it continues its three-game homestand.