UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC VS Pittsburgh 67-66 Win

UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Escapes With a Victory Over the Pittsburgh Panthers With 2 Defensive Stops to End the Game

by Derrick Clyburn

The North Carolina basketball team faced off against the Pittsburgh Panthers for the second time in ten days on Saturday afternoon. The Tar Heels showed that they were prepared for the switching defense deployed by the Panthers in the last game. They exploited the switching which left Ven-Allen Lubin with a smaller player on him and he converted 11 first-half points.

UNC would continue to dissect the Pittsburgh defense with precise passes for easy buckets and RJ Davis began to heat up with back-to-back three-pointers. North Carolina was up by 10 points, shooting over 70% from the field, and it looked like they had control of the game. Then the Tar Heels would go into a 4-minute drought that allowed the Panthers to cut the lead to 3 points to end the first half.

In the second half, the game would be a back-and-forth battle with both teams trading buckets with no team having more than a five-point lead. The Tar Heels have become accustomed to close games. They were 5-4 in one-possession games entering today. It seemed that neither team could pull away from the other. Each possession became bigger as the time continued to wind down. North Carolina allowed Pittsburgh to stay in the game by going 4-10 from the free-throw line. Ven-Allen and Seth Trimble both missed the front end of 1 and 1 attempts that could have given them a cushion to seal the game, but they allowed this game to become a nail-biter and had to make 2 defensive stops. In the final stop, Ishmael Leggett missed a runner in the lane at the buzzer with Elliot Cadeau defending. The Tar Heels had 4 players in double-figures led by RJ Davis with 18 points and 3 assists.

UNC Game Stats

Final

	1	2	T
PITT	32	34	66
UNC	35	32	67

UNC Bright Spots  

RJ Davis had 18 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists. 

Ven-Allen Lubin had 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 block. 

Seth Trimble had 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 1 assist. 

Drake Powell had 10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 steals. 

Needs Work  

The Tar Heels must be better defensively. They must be more disruptive on that side of the floor. It starts with ball pressure using their speed and athleticism to their advantage. They cannot afford to get lazy defensively and not give their all on that end of the floor. They must be better at navigating screens, contesting shots, and defending the paint. It all starts with communication. The better they communicate, the better they will be able to defend and stay connected defensively 

North Carolina has to do a better job at finishing games. They allow their opponents to hang around by going through 4 and 5-minute droughts. They need to attack the basket more and get to the free-throw line when shots are not going in. The Tar Heels have to focus and concentrate more on the free throw line. They shot 53.3% from the stripe which is totally unacceptable.

Final Observations 

The Tar Heels improve to 14-10 on the season. They are now 6-4 in one-possession games. They have to do a better job holding leads and even pushing the leads to a more comfortable 3 or 4 possessions to secure victories moving forward. A win is a win and North Carolina has to take what they can get at this point in the season.

Hubert Davis and the staff must keep working on the team’s chemistry and identity. They still aren’t playing to their strengths. They are playing half-court basketball against bigger teams. North Carolina doesn’t trap and press or keep the pace at a high level which puts them at a disadvantage. Next up is Clemson on Monday at 7 pm on ESPN.