Two meltdowns in 36 hours does not a Happy New Year make.
The hangover from Carolina’s Holiday Bowl loss had barely lifted when the basketball team let a nine-point lead slip away by going 6-plus minutes without a field goal and losing to the obviously much-tougher Pitt Panthers.
Yes, an opposing player (Jamarius Burton) went off for a career-high 31 points, but the Tar Heels would have still won if they could have scored a dad-gum basket or two during the Panthers’ rally.
“We didn’t have an answer for Burton,” Hubert Davis said after the 76-74 road loss. “No one on our team could guard him. NO ONE.”
The narrative from this game will be how physical Jeff Capel’s retooled team is and, once again, how soft the Heels can be when the going gets tough. And those themes will continue until either or both teams change them. For now, Pitt (3-0) is in first place in the ACC and UNC has dropped to 1-2 with difficult home games against well-coached Wake Forest and Notre Dame coming up this week.
While Armando Bacot might have had another monster game, Carolina needs more than Mondo’s double-double of 22 and 13. Pitt outscored Carolina in the paint, 42-26, the fourth straight time in a loss this season that has happened to a program that ruled the lane last year.
Pete Nance started hot with five straight points then seemed hampered by an injury throughout the second half, finishing with 10 point and five rebounds and contributing two of UNC’s critical three free throw misses down the stretch when no field goals were made.
Caleb Love, who entered the game as the ACC’s leading scorer, looked lost most of the afternoon with four points in the first half and making only his desperation banked 3-pointer with :06 left and the game out of reach. Earlier, he committed his lone turnover on a crucial possession by stepping out of bounds in the middle of a personal seven-point run by Pitt’s Blake Hinson, who was the other Panther in double figures on the day.
“We have to give credit to Pitt and hold ourselves accountable,” Davis said. And there was plenty of accountability to go around.
Hubert will take some of the blame himself for losing to a team that shot 5-for-25 from 3-point range and not changing defenses to try to cool off Burton, who made 14-of-17 from the floor as Pitt’s only real threat with the rest of the team going 15-for-46.
After hitting 52 percent and leading by six points at the half, the Heels made just 9 of 27 for 33 percent. And after draining 6-of-13 from the arc, they clanked 1-of-9 in the second half, Love’s deep heave the one that went in. Bacot was the only Tar Heel to make more than one field goal in the second half.
R.J. Davis had 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, but he was one of the defenders who was abused by the 6-4, 200-pound Burton and among the ball handlers who were bothered by Pitt’s aggressive play on defense. In this case, Davis’ size really hurt him.
While Leaky Black had 9 points and 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, he missed 7 of his 9 shots, some of them ill-advised attempts in traffic or from the perimeter. He surpassed 700 career points and 600 rebounds during the game.
Hubert Davis tried to play his bench in the first half before Puff Johnson’s three quick fouls in 2:24 ended that plan. D’Marco Dunn returned from a fractured hand and was the only sub who saw considerable minutes (20), making his fourth 3-pointer of the season.
To use the old sports cliché, it looked like Pitt wanted it more, which kept Carolina from pulling away and left the home team smelling blood when the game got tight in the closing minutes. It was strangely similar to what Oregon did to the football Tar Heels as the Ducks got close to the end zone in San Diego late Wednesday night.
The hoopsters had pulled it together with four straight wins, including those two street fight victories over Big Ten bullies Ohio State and Michigan, and returning to the rankings. However, losing like they did to the unranked Panthers while allowing Burton to more than double his 14-point average makes winning all their games at home almost imperative and stealing a few on the road if they want to avoid returning to the NCAA bubble by the February 1 rematch with Pitt, now one to circle.
So Carolina ends the calendar year with another week to regret and forget. It wasn’t quite as bad as the Thanksgiving loss-arama, when women’s basketball was the only marquee sport to win by capturing the Phil Knight Invitation in Portland, where the men’s team began its four-game losing streak and sudden plunge from the polls and football lost the second of what would end its season with four straight defeats.
On December 28-30, football lost a game it should have won, 13th-ranked women’s basketball lost at home to a far-more physical Florida State and the basketball men gave one away they will never get back.
You can read all the feel-good stories you want about UNC’s wonderful kids and unmatched athletic success across the board, but every day is a new day. Hopefully, 2023 will get off to a better start; our high-profile head coaches know the Tar Heels have to play harder and finish the game because foes are always ready to take it from them.
And, when that happens, no one is feeling sorry but us.
Featured image via Pitt Athletics
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You are going to lose basketball games and we lose a ton of them these days (and it will continue).
But losing football games year in and year out to bad teams and NEVER beating great teams is what we do (even with a “Hall Of Fame” head coach). And the sad part about it is that we accept it as is and won’t do anything about it (like asking the coach to step down).
But we did win the Pickle Ball National Championship, so we gave that going for us!
Mack is on his 4th year, starting his 5th and we’re no better than we were but thank the Lord he can recruit (Howell, Maye, etc). Sonny Dykes is brand-new to TCU and is a win away from playing for a National Championship. But he’s not a “Hall of Fame” coach. And Mike Elko is a first time head coach and his TEAM is better than ours, although we have much more talent. For now!!!!!