By R.L. Bynum
PITTSBURGH — North Carolina came to Pittsburgh hoping to get off the NCAA bubble, and with sloppy, disjointed offense, the Tar Heels may have done that. Just not in the way they expected.
The Tar Heels are probably looking up at the bubble after blowing a 10-point first-half lead and falling 73–65 Tuesday night at the Petersen Events Center.
The continued discouraging results are taking their toll on UNC (13–9, 6–4 ACC).
“I think it’s a combination of a number of things — frustration, disappointment. I think it stops there. And I think it has to stop there,” said UNC coach Hubert Davis, whose team led by three with 5½ minutes left. “We’ve got to find a way to get better, not just late in games, throughout the entire game.”
The numbers for UNC were ugly: Pitt (14–6, 5–4) turned seven blocked shots into seven points and 14 Tar Heels turnovers into 22 points. It nullified Carolina’s hard work under the boards and led to a 38–28 advantage for the game.
“I think the timing of the turnovers was costly,” Coach Davis said, adding Pitt took full advantage. “It’s tough to overcome that. We had three looks at the rim to tie it with two minutes to go and just weren’t able to convert.”
Pitt had several runs to take control of a game that appeared to be within UNC’s grasp for much of the night.
“We have a thin margin for error, and those stretches throughout the game really hurt us,” Coach Davis said.
The margin for error to make the NCAA tournament is becoming razor-thin, with prominent projections before Tuesday’s game listing the Tar Heels as one of the “last four in.”
When Pittsburgh began switching on everything defensively in the second half, that threw off the Tar Heels, which seemed to reduce the ball movement.
“When teams do that, they make you play one-on-one. I felt like — instead of moving the ball — I felt like, at times, we tried to attack maybe a little bit too quickly off those switches,” Coach Davis said.
RJ Davis, who led Carolina with 16 points and three 3-pointers, said that the Tar Heels didn’t make the needed adjustments when Pitt changed its defensive approach.
“We were trying to get a mismatch with the five and set ghost screens,” he said. “And I think sometimes we did a good job of doing that. But other times, we got a little bit too stagnant, more times than we needed.”
Seth Trimble, who produced his second consecutive double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, said overdribbling made UNC ineffective.
“Just had a lot of silly turnovers,” Trimble said. “I feel if we take away half of the four shots that forced up from overdribbling — just being stagnant, whatever it was — it’s a different game.”
The offense generally flowed with Elliot Cadeau on the court but particularly stagnated when he was off of it, which happened because of his foul trouble.
Cadeau scored nine of his 11 points and dished out six of his seven assists in the first half before foul trouble changed his effectiveness. After sitting out the last 4:16 of the first half with two fouls, he picked up his third foul 3½ minutes into the second half and his fourth with 7:39 left in the game.
“Elliot is a big part of our game plan,” RJ Davis said, “and he does a good job just getting guys in the right stops and finding them. It wasn’t just him out in foul trouble. We had a lot of timely fouls as a team that kind of affected our momentum.”
Guard Jaland Lowe led Pitt with 18 points, seven 3-pointers, 6 rebounds and three steals, but Zack Austin was also huge with 15 points, five blocks and three 3-pointers. Ishmael Leggett also scored 15 points.
UNC scored the game’s first six points, opening with an 8–2 run with four points each from Ian Jackson (9 points, 4 of 10 from the floor) and Cadeau, the latter responsible for six of the Tar Heels’ first nine field goals. A 7–2 Pitt run cut the lead to two at 13:28, and a 6–0 Panthers run gave them their first lead, 25–23, at 9:43 of the first half.
RJ Davis scored eight points in a 15–6 UNC run to go back up by eight on back-to-back 3s from Drake Powell and Davis with 4:34 left in the first half.
A Ven-Allen Lubin bucket was UNC’s sixth consecutive point to go up by 10 with 2:11 left. Pitt guard Jaland Lowe converted two Davis turnovers into 3-pointers in a 35-second stretch to chop the lead to two, where it stood at halftime, 44–42.
A Trimble layup to give UNC five straight points to open the second half put the Heels up by seven. But two Carolina turnovers helped an 8–0 Pitt run that gave the Panthers a one-point lead on a Damian Dunn 3-pointer with 15:39 left.
A Powell follow shot ended a 4½-minute UNC scoring drought as the Heels took a brief two-point lead before a Guillermo Diaz Graham 3-pointer put Pitt up by 3 with 11½ minutes left.
Davis’ driving layup and transition 3-pointer started a 7–0 UNC run as the Heels went up by four on a Jackson transition layup with 8:40 left. Pitt went up by one on a Zack Austin 3-pointer with 3:41 left to cap a 7–2 run.
A driving Cadeau layup with 3:21 left gave UNC a 65–64 lead, but the Tar Heels didn’t score again. On successive UNC possessions, Lubin turned the ball over, missed a layup attempt, and Austin blocked Jackson’s shot during a 10–2 Pitt run to put the Panthers up by four on Cameron Corhen’s jumper with 1:04 left.
Cadeau, Davis and Trimble all missed 3-point attempts in the last 41 seconds. Trimble also missing two close-in shots on the same possession, with UNC trailing by four in the final 30 seconds.
NOTES — Carolina visits No. 2 Duke at 6:30 p.m. Saturday (ESPN), with ESPN’s “College GameDay” broadcasting from Cameron Indoor Stadium that morning. The Blue Devils (18–2, 10–0) come off a surprisingly tough 74–64 home Monday win over N.C. State for their 14th consecutive victory. … Jalen Washington participated in early warmups but wasn’t in uniform for the game because of a strained knee. Coach Davis said Washington wasn’t close to being able to play but was improving fast. … Pitt broke a two-game losing streak against the Tar Heels, who still lead the series 17–9, including 7–4 in Pittsburgh.
Pitt 73, UNC 65
| Team | League | Overall | NET* |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 4 Duke | 9–0 | 20–1 | 2 |
| No. 20 Clemson | 8–1 | 18–4 | 31 |
| No. 18 Virginia | 7–2 | 18–3 | 18 |
| N.C. State | 7–2 | 16–6 | 26 |
| Miami | 6–3 | 17–5 | 39 |
| No. 14 North Carolina | 5–3 | 17–4 | 25 |
| No. 24 Louisville | 5–4 | 15–6 | 17 |
| Virginia Tech | 5–5 | 16–7 | 56 |
| SMU | 4–4 | 15–6 | 34 |
| California | 4–5 | 16–6 | 51 |
| Syracuse | 4–5 | 13–9 | 78 |
| Stanford | 3–6 | 14–8 | 77 |
| Florida State | 3–6 | 10–12 | 102 |
| Boston College | 2–6 | 9–12 | 152 |
| Georgia Tech | 2–7 | 11–11 | 143 |
| Notre Dame | 2–7 | 11–11 | 85 |
| Wake Forest | 2–7 | 11–11 | 70 |
| Pittsburgh | 2–7 | 9–13 | 114 |
* — Through Saturday games
Saturday’s games
No. 14 North Carolina 91, Georgia Tech 75
No. 4 Duke 72, Virginia Tech 58
N.C. State 96, Wake Forest 78
No. 20 Clemson 63, Pittsburgh 52
No. 18 Virginia 73, Boston College 66
No. 24 Louisville 88, SMU 74
California 86, Miami 81
Florida State 88, Stanford 80
Syracuse 86, Notre Dame 72
Monday’s game
Syracuse at No. 14 North Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPN
Tuesday’s games
Boston College at No. 4 Duke, 7 p.m., ACC Network
Pittsburgh at No. 18 Virginia, 9 p.m., ACC Network
N.C. State at SMU, 9 p.m, ESPN2
Wednesday’s games
Notre Dame at No. 24 Louisville, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Georgia Tech at California, 8 p.m., ACC Network
No. 20 Clemson at Stanford, 10 p.m., ACC Network
Saturday’s games
Virginia Tech at N.C. State, noon, The CW
Syracuse at No. 18 Virginia, noon, ESPN
No. 24 Louisville at Wake Forest, noon, ACC Network
Miami at Boston College, 2 p.m., ACC Network
SMU at Pittsburgh, 2 p.m., The CW
Florida State at Notre Dame, 4 p.m., The CW
No. 4 Duke at No. 14 North Carolina, 6:30, ESPN
No. 20 Clemson at California, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Georgia Tech at Stanford, 8 p.m., ESPNU
| Date | Month/day | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. No. 13 BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 14 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 7 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 17 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. Syracuse | ESPN |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | vs. No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at Miami | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 14 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | vs. Pittsburgh | ESPN |
| 17 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 21 | Saturday | 1 p.m. | at Syracuse | ABC |
| 23 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 20 Louisville | ESPN |
| 28 | Saturday | 6:30 or 8:30 | vs. Virginia Tech | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 22 Clemson | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | at No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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