The Tar Heels return to action tonight, as they travel to Pittsburgh, to take on the Pitt Panthers, in a game that has NCAA Tournament ramifications for both teams. Carolina is coming off a dramatic win over Boston College from over the weekend, where they erased a four-point deficit with less than 20 left to play, to force overtime, where they’d go on to win 102-96. After the win, Hubert Davis delivered an emotional post-game message, pleading with his team to buy in and play the type of basketball that they are capable of playing. Tonight begins a stretch of four games, all of them in the first two quadrants, that one way or another, will impact their NCAA Tournament credentials.
After Pitt lost four straight games, Pitt got back to its winning ways, with a narrow win over Syracuse in their last game, to improve to 13-6 on the season, and an even 4-4 in the ACC. They are led in scoring by Jaland Lowe, who averages over 17 points and is one of three Pitt players to average double figures scoring, on a team that averages over 80 points per game. After losing back-to-back home games in ACC play to Louisville, and Clemson, you know they’ll be looking to defend homecourt, in a game that they need to help their NCAA Tournament standing.
Jalen Washington left Saturday’s win over Boston College after appearing to hurt his knee. Washington said after the game that he was fine. Still, Hubert Davis opted to hold him out of Sunday’s practice. Washington was going to check back into the BC game, but by the time he had recovered from his injury, the game was all but over. Having him available would be a godsend for Carolina, especially considering he’s coming in one of his best games as a Tar Heel, scoring 18 points, and grabbing 6 rebounds.
Tonight is a Quad 1 opportunity for Carolina, in the first of many opportunities to secure themselves as an NCAA Tournament team. Carolina beat Pitt in both games last year, finally getting over a Pitt program that has prided itself in beating UNC under Jeff Capel. If Carolina hopes to emerge victorious tonight, it starts with responding to the message Hubert Davis voiced on Saturday afternoon.
Play With Intensity Defensively: A big reason why Carolina struggled defensively against Boston College, is because they didn't play with energy, let alone intensity. They sagged off in the halfcourt, they didn’t press until they absolutely had to, and their communication in the pick-and-roll left a lot to be desired. So tonight, Carolina needs to play with the defensive energy, and effort that we saw during the four-game winning streak earlier this month, which propelled Carolina to be among the better defensive teams in the league. It’ll be interesting to see what adjustments Hubert and the coaching staff make going into tonight’s game.
Control the Glass: Quietly, Carolina ranks third in the conference in rebounding in ACC games and is coming off a game where they outrebounded Boston College by thirteen. The addition of Seth Trimble back to the starting lineup gives Carolina more athleticism on both ends of the floor and gives Carolina a legitimate offensive rebounding threat. The most important thing is that Carolina limits the offensive rebounding opportunities, so they can control the pace of the game. Winning the rebounding battle is the equivalent to running the football on the road in that sport, if Carolina controls the glass, they control the tempo, and we’ve seen how good this team can be when they are in control of the pace of play.
Limit Turnovers & Make Free Throws: The other thing UNC needs to do is take care of the special teams and do the little things it takes to win on the road in this conference, On Saturday, Carolina valued the basketball, and with the four-guard lineup, which limited the turnovers, but also opened up the floor for driving lanes, and allowed Carolina to get to the foul line, 33 times. That formula needs to carry over onto the road tonight, to give UNC a better chance of coming away with a much-needed win.
Series History:
Carolina is 17-8 all-time against Pittsburgh, with a 10-7 mark against the Panthers since they joined the conference. In Pittsburgh, Carolina is 7-3, but they are just 4-3 in the current venue, The Petersen Center.
KenPom:
North Carolina - 38th overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 116.0 (46th) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 98.1 (48th)
Pittsburgh - 34th overall. Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 119.1 (21st) Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 100.5 (71st)
NET:
North Carolina - 40th.
Pittsburgh - 35th.
TV Info:
Tonight’s game will tip at 9 PM on ESPN.
The Four Corners Podcast:
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