Pitt Basketball
Tough to Beat Twice: UNC Once Again Heating up After Loss to Pitt
After Roy Williams’ North Carolina squads dominated Pitt from 2013-19, the Panthers have now flipped the series around, winning four of their last five games against the Tar Heels dating back to 2020.
Last year’s Pitt team — the same team that finished 11-21 and 6-14 in ACC play — took care of business in Chapel Hill, beating the Tar Heels comfortably behind Ithiel Horton’s 19 points, John Hugley’s 18, Jamarius Burton’s 14, and Mo Gueye’s 11. After that loss, North Carolina woke up, winning its last five regular season games and making it all the way to the National Title game where it lost to Kansas.
This year, the Tar Heels came into Pittsburgh and fell to the Panthers once again. Burton led the way with 31 points for Pitt in a career day, and the Petersen Events Center was rocking as Pitt came out on top with a narrow win.
But once again, a loss to Pitt has kickstarted the ‘Heels.
Hubert Davis’ squad has won six of seven games since losing to Pitt, cementing itself back into the NCAA Tournament conversation. Armando Bacot is still Armando Bacot — one the best rebounders and big men in the country. His 4.35 offensive rebounds per game put him at No. 4 in the nation in that category.
RJ Davis is also playing at an elite level for the Heels, however, has been a bit beat up lately. Near the end of his game against Syracuse last week, Davis was hit in the face. He had also been dealing with a finger injury recently. On Monday, Hubert Davis said that Davis has been improving and is in a “really good spot.”
“If things continue to improve, I anticipate him on playing [on Wednesday],” Davis said on the ACC Coaches Call.
Davis, at 17.7 points per game, ranks second on the Heels in scoring average in conference play behind Bacot’s 17.8. After those two, Caleb Love (scored seven points against Pitt this year), Pete Nance (ten points, five rebounds against Pitt), and Leaky Black (nine points, nine rebounds against Pitt) have been playing at a high level.
Pittsburgh area native Puff Johnson — who averages more than 13 minutes per game — has missed several games due to a knee injury. Davis said on Monday that he would be surprised if Johnson was available for Wednesday night’s game.
North Carolina HC Hubert Davis says Puff Johnson will be limited today in practice.
"I'd be surprised if he was available for Wednesday against Pitt."
— George Michalowski (@MichalowskiCBB) January 30, 2023
COMPARISON
Wednesday night’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. on ACC Network live from the Dean Dome. North Carolina is currently 10-0 on the year in home games, and Pitt is 5-2 on the road.
Who will prevail this time around?
Truly an Inverted World thru out. Pitt beating UNC in hoops since the flip/flop mass inversion year of 2020, 4 of 5 times. Even while having lousy bottom of ACC teams.
This is going to be a really tough game to win, but probably puts us in the top 25 conversation if we do. ACC is unfortunately getting undervalued this year by analysts, so these types of wins are obviously huge. Lunardi’s latest bracket still has us as one of the “last four in”, which is complete BS…but that’s what we’re up against.
The Big 12 shills on last night’s game were touting WV for the tournament with 9-losses and a 2 – 7 conference record. Oh, it’s the Big 12, bow down and kiss their collective feet. Bull puckey.