UNC Basketball Moments After – UNC vs. Pittsburgh 65-64 Loss

UNC Tar Heels Basketball Team Gets Bruised by the Panthers in Their First Home Loss

by Derrick Clyburn

The North Carolina basketball team came off a short break looking for revenge against the Panthers who have won 2 out of the last 3 games versus the Heels. This was a very physical defensive game with 38 fouls called between them. The officials allowed Pittsburgh’s rough style of play to set the game’s tone and the Tar Heels didn’t adjust very well.

It was a back-and-forth game in the first half with both teams going on mini-runs but they could never create enough of a lead to seize control. Pittsburgh did just enough to take a one-point lead at the half.

In the second half, it was much of the same back and forth with more mini-runs by both teams. The difference in the game was that the Tar Heels struggled from the 3-point line shooting 18.5% from the field and 59.1% from the free-throw line. They also had only 6 assists. That is what cost them the game. Caleb Love led the Heels in scoring with 22 points and 6 rebounds.

UNC Game Stats

	1	2	T
Pittsburgh 16-7	34	31	65
North Carolina 15-7	33	31	64

North Carolina

STARTERS	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
C. Love	22	6	1	8/18	4/11	2/3	2	37	0	0	1
A. Bacot	15	11	1	3/10	0/0	9/15	3	35	0	1	2
P. Nance	13	4	1	6/14	1/5	0/0	0	37	0	1	2
R. Davis	8	8	3	3/15	0/6	2/4	4	37	1	0	2
L. Black	2	9	0	1/5	0/3	0/0	4	30	0	2	1
BENCH	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
D. Dunn	2	0	0	1/2	0/1	0/0	3	9	0	0	0
T. Nickel	2	1	0	1/2	0/1	0/0	0	6	0	0	0
D. Styles	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	1	0	0	0
S. Trimble	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	1	5	0	1	0
J. Washington	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	3	0	0	0

Pittsburgh

STARTERS	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
N. Cummings	21	2	3	8/11	5/6	0/1	5	33	1	0	2
J. Burton	19	5	0	6/18	1/5	6/6	2	34	0	0	3
F. Federiko	8	4	0	4/5	0/0	0/0	4	29	0	3	1
G. Elliott	5	4	1	2/4	1/2	0/0	1	27	0	0	0
B. Hinson	2	6	1	1/7	0/4	0/1	4	30	0	1	1
BENCH	PTS	REB	AST	FG	3PT	FT	PF	MIN	STL	BLK	TO
N. Sibande	10	7	0	4/7	0/1	2/3	0	29	1	0	0
N. Santos	0	1	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	3	6	0	0	0
G. Diaz Graham	0	0	0	0/3	0/1	0/0	1	9	0	0	2
J. Diaz Graham	0	2	1	0/0	0/0	0/0	1	3	0	1	0

UNC Bright Spots

Caleb Love had 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist.

Armando Bacot had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 1 assist. 

Pete Nance had 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist.

Needs Work

The Tar Heels need to attack the basket more aggressively when their shots are not falling. They need to crash the boards more consistently. The players seem to be watching rather than going to the basket other than Bacot.

Hubert needs to mix some zones and traps more in his defensive schemes. Pittsburgh played a lot of one on one isolations and was very successful. Also, they need more bench production. The bench provided just 4 points.

Final Observations

This is not what North Carolina fans expected for a revenge game that they should have won at Pittsburgh. They allowed Pittsburgh to bully them and they dictated the type of game that they wanted to play on the Tar Heels’ home floor which is not acceptable.

R.J. Davis struggled tonight and it showed that he wasn’t fully healthy. Armando Bacot struggled against the double team turning the ball over at inopportune times of the game. They missed 9 free throws which cost them the game. Next up is Duke on Saturday at 6:30 pm in Durham.