No. 17 North Carolina 72, No. 5 Louisville 71: Marcus Paige hit the go-ahead basket with 8.5 seconds left as the host Tar Heels pulled out a thrilling victory over the Cardinals.

North Carolina trailed by as much as 13 points in the second half, but moved ahead 70-69 on a jumper from Brice Johnson with 38 seconds to go. Louisville’s Terry Rozier answered on the other end with a bucket but Paige drove to his left following a Tar Heels’ timeout and laid a scooping layup high off the backboard to retake the lead for North Carolina, which survived two misses from the Cardinals in the final seconds to hold on.

Kennedy Meeks led the way with 13 points and Paige scored 10 and was one of three other players to finish in double figures for the Tar Heels (12-4, 2-1 ACC), who improved to 10-3 all-time in this series. Terry Rozier poured in 25 points and Chris Jones added 19 for the Cardinals (14-2, 2-1).

Louisville led by as many as six and North Carolina pulled ahead by five before Jones drained a 3-pointer to spark a 7-2 spurt over the final four minutes of the first half to send the teams into intermission deadlocked at 34-34. The Cardinals came out of the break red-hot, connecting on 13 of 20 shots – including seven in a row at one point – en route to taking the biggest lead at 63-50 on a triple from Wayne Blackshear with less than nine minutes left.

Joel Berry II and Paige made consecutive 3-pointers to ignite a rally by the Tar Heels, who closed their deficit to three after a pair of free throws from Nate Britt and again on a bucket by Johnson with less than four minutes to go. J.P. Tokoto accounted for the only points by either side over the next three-plus minutes, leading to the dramatic finish.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Louisville coach Rick Pitino fell to 0-6 against North Carolina – his most losses against any opponent without a win. … Johnson tallied 11 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. … The Cardinals, who shot 47.5 percent, became only the third team to shoot above 40 percent against the Tar Heels.