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Can’t score, can’t win and Carolina went down with a thud.
The 73-65 loss at Pitt was much closer than the final score indicates with the teams exchanging scoring runs and, consequently, the lead in a game where the Panthers proved more resilient at the end.
The Tar Heels’ helter-skelter offense that was clicking for most of the first half hit the wall after halftime against the Panthers who ramped up their aggressive, switching defense as UNC dug itself deeper into the NCAA’s Big Dance bubble.
The loss was the Heels’ third in the last four games as they go to second-ranked Duke Saturday night, when a far deeper team will likely change defenses as much or more than former Duke assistant and Pitt coach Jeff Capel did in his home gym.
Starting center Jalen Washington did not play after injuring his leg in the overtime win against Boston College, and his status remains uncertain for the Cameron Crazies who are lying in wait after being swept by their archrivals last season.
Hubert Davis replaced Washington with Ven-Allen Lubin and six men played all but eight minutes of the game, each scoring at least six points and looking gassed by the last few minutes.
Like in other games this season, Pitt pressured the perimeter and dared R.J. Davis, Elliot Cadeau and Seth Trimble to make a shot or a play. Carolina could not get out and run much and was saddled with too much dribbling from an unsettled offense.
“They switched everything on defense,” Hubert Davis said after his team fell to 13-9 on the season and 6-4 in the ACC. “When teams do that, they make you into an isolated one-on-one team. And we just over dribbled and a lack of ball movement did not make them pay for switching. We have to go back and work on that because we’ve got to execute when other teams do it.”
The talking heads on ESPN, and likely the Carolina fanbase watching from home, harped on how disjointed the Tar Heels looked for a program with a heritage of a pass-first offense, as Davis lamented.
“We had some good looks around the basket and just didn’t make ’em,” he said. “The margin for error with this team is small, and turning the ball over and missing layups really hurt us down the stretch.
“We lead the ACC in free throw attempts and free throws made and lost the battle at the free throw line. A little foul here and there may not mean much if it’s not a shooting foul, but they put an opponent closer to the penalty that has hurt us this year and hurt us tonight.”
Carolina shot 57 percent and had six 3-pointers in the first half followed by its lowest scoring half of the season, missing its last seven shots and 10 of its last 11.
The Tar Heels have a chance to get even with Pitt in the home rematch a week from Saturday.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Maggie Hobson
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
