1. A poor second half doomed Carolina on the road, as Pitt beat the Tar Heels, 76-74. The Tar Heels have now lost four of the last five to Pitt.
2. Pretty simple equation in the second half: Carolina couldn’t stop Jamarius Burton, and the Tar Heels struggled on the field. Carolina only shot 9-27 from the field in the final 20 minutes and 1-for-9 from the three-point line (that one was a desperation conceded three by Caleb Love). During that time, Burton scored a career-high 31 points and did so against a variety of Carolina defensemen, including Caleb Love, D’Marco Dunn and even leaky black.
3. Some of the offensive struggles in the second half were due to Pitt cutting off what had been an important offensive source: second-chance points. Carolina scored 11 that way in the first half, but didn’t score on the offensive glass with less than three minutes left when leaky black hit a few free throws. The Tar Heels had just two offensive rebounds in the second half on 18 missed shots (after getting six offensive rebounds on 15 missed in the first half).
4. The Tar Heels had to use unusual rotations with Pete Nance limited by what appeared to be a nagging back injury. Nance, a streaky shooter, started the game hot and looked for a big day, but spent some big stretches on the bench in the second half as he moved cautiously. His absence was compounded by an uncharacteristically off day from Love, who went just 3-for-9 from the field, took just three shots in the second half and had a big turnover going out of bounds late in a three point game. That left Carolina’s offense down to mostly just Armand Bacot (which was great again, with 22 points and 13 rebounds) and 16 points from RD Davis.
5. Carolina didn’t capitalize enough on what looked like a potentially game-breaking play with 7:20 left in the second half. At that point, the Panthers sank a three-pointer to cut Carolina’s lead to 57-56, but Nike Sibandie was called for a taunting technical foul. It gave the Heels a chance to push the lead back to two possessions, but Davis only made one of two free throws and Dunn missed a good look at a three-pointer. Pitt tied the game on the next trip to the field.
6. Especially with Nance’s limited availability, it was nice to see Dunn back in uniform on Friday. Dunn had been out since the Virginia Tech game after breaking his hand in practice. He had played a combined 32 minutes in both games before the injury and was starting to play some of his best basketball at Chapel Hill. He was the first to book off the bench for Hubert Davis Friday, and gave the Tar Heels solid defense while hitting three-pointers.
7. Under Jeff Capel, Pitt always tried to make games against Carolina a physical battle. The Tar Heels responded early Friday, unafraid of contact, even through confusing whistles and no-whistles. The Tar Heels dominated the glass, holding a 22-12 advantage in the first half (6-3 on the offensive end). The Panthers rebounded much better in the second half and seemed to have a better chance of getting the loose balls they hadn’t recovered in the first half. The final rebound tally was 38-33 for Carolina, but only 8-7 on the offensive boards.
8. A poor streak midway through the first half kept Pittsburgh close at a time when it looked like Carolina had a chance to build a comfortable lead. After taking good care of the basketball early in the game, the Tar Heels had to turn it over six times in eight trips on the court. The Panthers didn’t fully capitalize, turning errors into six points, but it was enough to keep them close.
9. Strong Carolina contingent at the Petersen Events Center. With out-of-town students and unusual tipping weather, there was a significant amount of Carolina blue (on a day when the teams, for some reason, both wore blue uniforms, the third consecutive color-on-color game for the Tar Heels) in the venue.
10. Pitt has been very prone to turnover this season, and Carolina hasn’t done a good enough job of forcing errors into the game. The Panthers had just eight turnovers and Carolina scored just six points on those errors.
11. The game was the very rare Friday at noon in ACC basketball. Much of the reasoning has to do with the fact that the games are mostly TV inventory, and Friday afternoon was an open slot in the middle of all the weekend’s bowl and NFL games. Conferences, schools and television partners continue to seek locations that aren’t otherwise busy – the Big East hosted a championship game on Christmas Day this year and it got high ratings; Expect to see more of these types of dates/times (remember, the Tar Heels play at home at 11:30 a.m. next weekend) in the years to come. This year’s slate didn’t work out perfectly, because of the six ACC teams playing championship games on Friday, four of them also play bowl games today. It wouldn’t be surprising to see more flexible timings around the bowls to try to avoid this kind of crossover in the future.
12. A reminder that tomorrow is the annual vacation clinic at the Smith Center. The 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. Calabria’s hometown of Beaver Falls is just 45 minutes from Pittsburgh.
0 Comments