By R.L. Bynum

WASHINGTON — It was personal for Seth Trimble and Harrison Ingram.

Both saw a Pittsburgh player take a spot they wanted when the ACC handed out postseason awards. That motivated both in Carolina’s 72–65 victory Friday in the ACC tournament semifinals at Capital One Arena.

“It’s easy to motivate yourself if you take everything personal,” said Ingram, whose Tar Heels (27–6) play for the ACC championship at 8:30 Saturday against N.C. State.

Trimble thought he should have been ACC Sixth Man of the Year, but that honor went to Pittsburgh’s Ishmael Leggett.

“I had a personal motive,” said Trimble, who held Pittsburgh’s Carlton Carrington to eight second-half points after the guard scored 16 in the first half. “Leggett was Sixth Man of the Year; I thought otherwise.”

Ingram had to settle for making the All-ACC Third Team while seeing Panthers guard Blake Hinson make the first team.

“We feel like a lot of people sleep on UNC because there are so many good players that might not put up big numbers,” Ingram said.

Ingram could more directly channel emotions about his perceived slight because he had the principal defensive assignment on Hinson.

The Pittsburgh forward, who came into the game averaging 18.9 points per game, didn’t look like an All-ACC player Friday. Ingram had a lot to do with that. He held Hinson to five points, which was tied for his lowest output of the season, with dogged defense.

“Harrison has been that guy for us on the defensive end all season,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “His size, his athleticism gives us versatility on the defensive end to be able to put him in a number of different situations, along with Armando, the two best rebounders in the ACC.”

Early in the game, when Pittsburgh built a nine-point lead in the first 7½ minutes, Coach Davis challenged the team.

“Eight-minute mark, coach pulled us in; he was chewing us out,” Ingram said. “At the end of the day, we had to get up and guard our man well. We were guarding the actions pretty well and they were beating us one-on-one.”

Trimble’s tremendous defense on Carrington was why he played 15 minutes and Elliot Cadeau only got in for seven after halftime. Carrington scored nearly half of Pittsburgh’s first-half points but couldn’t get it going against Trimble’s defense.

“Once he gets the ball, he’s a really good player,” Trimble said. “His tough shots off the dribble? Sometimes you just kind of live with the things he shoots. You can play the best defense, and he can just make it. It was just my challenge in the second half.”

Those tough shots didn’t fall much in the second half, which is one reason UNC is playing for a championship.

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ACC tournament

Capital One Arena, Washington
Tuesday’s first-round results
No. 12 seed Notre Dame 84, No. 13 seed Georgia Tech 80
No. 10 seed N.C. State 94, No. 15 seed Louisville 85
No. 11 seed Boston College 81, No. 14 seed Miami 65
Wednesday’s second-round results
No. 9 seed Florida State 86, No. 8 seed Virginia Tech 76
No. 5 seed Wake Forest 72, Notre Dame 59
N.C. State 83, No. 7 seed Syracuse 65
Boston College 76, No. 6 seed Clemson 55
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 1 seed North Carolina 92, Florida State 67
No. 4 seed Pittsburgh 81, Wake Forest 69
N.C. State 74, No. 2 seed Duke 69
No. 3 seed Virginia 66, Boston College 60, OT
Friday’s semifinals
North Carolina 72, Pittsburgh 65
N.C. State 72, Virginia 65, OT
Saturday’s championship
N.C. State 84, North Carolina 76

Photos courtesy of the ACC