Three takeaways as North Carolina holds off Pitt for important ACC basketball victory
It was moments after North Carolina’s 67-66 win over Pittsburgh and Ven-Allen Lubin had blood on his white jersey.
What happened?
“I have no idea,” the UNC center said, smiling,
Just that kind of game?
“Yeah, that kind of game,” Lubin said. “We knew it was going to be a dogfight. It was going to be blood, sweat and tears, going to be all over the floor, and we were going to do whatever it takes to win.”
It was that kind of game Saturday in the final seconds, with victory on the line at the Smith Center. It had players chasing after loose balls and diving on the court and vowing during timeouts that they were not — not today — going to lose this ACC game.
And UNC did win it. The Tar Heels (14-10 overall, 7-5 ACC) won it with defensive hustle and making big shots and showing the kind of urgency needed by a team that still believes it will be playing in the NCAA Tournament come March.
R.J. Davis’ stepback jumper with 51.2 seconds left pushed the Tar Heels ahead 67-66. Pitt’s Jaland Lowe got off a pair of shots on the Panthers’ next possession, but neither shot dropped and Lubin was fouled with 19.8 seconds showing.
Lubin missed the front-end of a one-and-one, but UNC retained possession after a loose-ball scramble for the rebound. Seth Trimble then was fouled but also missed at the line, and the Panthers called time with 13.5 seconds showing.
The Heels nearly forced a turnover, Lubin getting a hand on Pitt’s inbounds pass and causing a madcap loose-ball chase into the backcourt. The Panthers retained possession with 7.2 seconds left, but a rushed jumper by Ishmael Leggett from the foul line at the buzzer was short as UNC’s Elliot Cadeau walled up in front of him.
“We’ve lost a lot of games recently, and things didn’t go our way,” UNC’’s Trimble said. “To get this game is huge. We really needed it and it should be a huge confidence boost.
“We had a desperate approach. We know if we don’t win this game, we don’t get to see March, that type of thing. It may not be true but it may be true. I don’t really know. But if that’s the approach we can take, it can give us that extra motivation.”
Lubin’s 17 points were a season high for the junior transfer. Davis had a game-high 18 points and Trimble 17. Pitt (14-9, 5-7), which had won its last three games in Chapel Hill, got 17 points from Cameron Corhen and 15 from Lowe, who starred in Pitt’s 73-65 win over UNC on Jan. 28.
UNC now is hoping for a quick carryover effect — the Tar Heels are at Clemson on Monday.
Here are three takeaways from the UNC win:
A need to bounce back
Both the Heels and Panthers were coming off losses that were hard to stomach, a collective gut punch for each.
UNC had the 87-70 dismantling at Duke in what was a serious mismatch. But that was Cameron Indoor Stadium. Pitt, on the other hand, was pummeled at home — by Virginia. Pitt was 10-2 at home this season before the Cavaliers rolled in, had an early 17-0 run and took a 73-57 victory.
UNC entered Saturday’s game No. 45 in the NET rankings used to set the NCAA Tournament field. Pitt was No. 47 in the NET. No one had to explain the importance of this game.
“Consistently in the huddles, the guys kept saying, ‘We’ve been here before, we’re not losing this game,’” UNC coach Hubert Davis said.
UNC, without a midweek game, had extra time to work on the “little things that make big things happen” — a phrase often used by the head coach.
Davis also wanted a better presence in the post and Lubin gave the Heels just that, scoring nine early points and 11 in the first half., taking advantage of mismatches.
“We don’t win this game, we don’t come close to winning this game, if it wasn’t for Ven,” Trimble said. “He gave us that push in the first half and then kept that high-level play the whole game.”
Defending Davis
UNC’s R.J. Davis has seen a lot of defensive looks thrown at him this season, usually involving someone taller than him.
Pitt opened Saturday’s game with Corhen, a 6-10 junior with a big wingspan, matched up against Davis, a 6-footer. To Davis’ credit, he did not force shots as the Heels looked to get the ball into the post to Lubin.
At the first media timeout, the Panthers made a switch, moving Leggett on Davis, who promptly nailed a 3-pointer over the 6-3 guard. A few possessions later, the Panthers had Guillermo Diaz Graham, a 7-footer, on Davis and Davis made another 3.
Pitt later used Damian Dunn, a 6-5 guard, on Davis as Panthers coach Jeff Capel kept fresh bodies on UNC’s top scorer. Jaland Lowe also had Davis on a few trips.
Lowe did find one way to stop Davis in the first half. He collided with Davis, sending Davis sprawling to the court in the first half and needing a few minutes on the bench to recover.
“Obviously he’s one of the best players in the country and we need him to be aggressive, we need the ball in hands,” Hubert Davis said. “Teams have been playing him differently this year. They’ve been putting bigger guards on him and being physical with him.
“We’ve tried creative ways to free him up and get him shots, and he’s playing with probably his best confidence of the year. He’s playing at a high level.”
Fewer freebies
UNC had been giving away the ball so often the past few games before Saturday and giving up points off those turnovers — “Pick-6’s,” Hubert Davis calls them — that it made it almost impossible to win. And they didn’t.
The Heels allowed 22 points off turnovers when they played Pitt in Pittsburgh. Against Duke, it was 19 points off turnovers in the game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Tar Heels took better care of the basketball Saturday. Pitt had six points off six UNC turnovers — Davis played nearly 38 minutes without a turnover. Cadeau had seven of UNC’s 15 assists.
The Heels were highly efficient with the ball in the first 13 minutes of the first half, reeling off 12 straight points early in the game. They hit 11 of their first 15 shots, taking the 11-point lead and having assists on seven of the 11 baskets — three assists by Ian Jackson.
This story was originally published February 8, 2025 at 6:49 PM.
