Adam Lucas1. Pitt plagued Carolina away in the second half when they beat the Tar Heels 76-74. The Tar Heels have now lost four of his last five fights with Pitt.
2. A very simple second half equation: Carolina couldn’t stop Jamalius Burton and the Tar Heels struggled out of the field.Carolina in the final he shot just 9-27 from the field in 20 minutes and three-pointers he shot 9-for-1 from the line. Caleb Love). Burton, meanwhile, scored a career-high 31 points and did it against a variety of Carolina defenders. Caleb Love, Dimarco Dan and even leaky black.
3. Some of the offensive struggles in the second half were attributed to Pitt cutting off second-chance points that were key offensive sources. Carolina scored 11 goals like that in the first half, but didn’t tally on the offensive grass until they had less than three minutes to play. leaky black Hit some free throws. The Tar Heels had only 2 offensive rebounds in the 2nd half after 15 misses and 6 offensive boards in the 2nd half. .
4. The Tar Heels had to use some insane rotations Pete Nance Limited by what appeared to be a nagging back injury. A hardcore shooter, Nance started the game hot and looked set to have a big day, but moved cautiously in the second half, giving him quite a stretch on the bench. His absence was compounded by Love’s unusual off day, hitting just 3-for-9 from the field, taking only three second-half shots, and a big turnover going out of bounds late in a three-point game. .Carolina’s attacks were largely reduced by it. Armando Baco (again great with 22 points and 13 rebounds) and 16 points from RJ Davis.
5. Carolina failed to capitalize on a potentially game-changing play with 7:20 remaining in the second half. At that point, the Panthers sank his 3-pointer to cut Carolina’s lead to his 57–56, but Nike’s Sivandy was whistled for a foul on his provocative technical. This gave the heels a chance to push the lead back to his two possessions, but Davis stayed on one of his two free throws and Dunn converted his 3-pointer. I just couldn’t get it right. Pitt tied the game on the next trip down the court.
6. It was nice to see Dunn back in uniform on Friday, especially with Nance’s limited availability. did not. He played 32 minutes combined in two games before he got injured and was starting to play some of the best basketball in Chapel Hill.he was the first reserve off the bench Hubert Davis On Friday, he gave the Tar Heels a solid defense while knocking in a 3-pointer.
7. Under Jeff Capel, Pitt consistently tried to make the game against Carolina into a physical fight. I didn’t hesitate to contact them even if I didn’t have them. Tar he heels dominated the grass and in the first half he maintained a 22-12 lead (he was 6-3 in the offensive end). The Panthers improved a lot in the second half rebounding, and he seemed to catch the ball better than he could get in the first half. The final rebounding tally was Carolina’s, although he went 38-for-33, but only 8-for-7 on the offensive board.
8. With a bad stretch midway through the first half, Pittsburgh were closing in when Carolina felt like they had a chance to build a comfortable lead. The Heels had a string of experiences, moving around the court eight times and flipping six.
9. A strong Carolina contingent at the Petersen Event Center. There was a fair amount of Carolina Blue as students were out of town and had an unusual tip time (a day when the teams were both wearing blue uniforms for some reason, the third straight color-on-color game for the Tar Heels). . venue.
10. Pitt was very turnover prone this season and Carolina didn’t do enough to force mistakes in the game. won.
11. The game was a very rare Friday noon ACC basketball start. It has to do with the fact that it was an empty slot. Meetings, schools, and TV partners continue to seek out locations that are otherwise unoccupied. The Big East played a league game this Christmas and got great reviews. Expect to see more of these types of dates/times in the future (remember Tar Heels will be playing at home next weekend at 11:30am). His slate didn’t quite work out this year, as four of the six ACC teams that played in the league on Friday are also playing in bowl games today. It wouldn’t be surprising to see more flexible scheduling around the bowl to try and avoid such crossovers in the future.
12. Tomorrow is the annual Holiday Clinic at the Smith Center. This event is a great way for kids to play on the Smith Center floor and learn from Tar Heel players. Registration information is available here.
13. Pennsylvania royalty on hand for the game, as Dante Calabria was in the building. Beaver his Falls, his hometown in Calabria, is just 45 minutes from Pittsburgh.