Gameday: Pitt’s Artis, Young could challenge UNC’s Johnson
No. 9 North Carolina vs. Pittsburgh
When: 1 p.m.
Where: Smith Center, Chapel Hill
TV/Radio: WRAL/106.1-WTKK
Projected starting lineups
North Carolina (20-4, 9-2 ACC)
G Joel Berry 12.2 ppg, 4.3 apg
G Marcus Paige 12.9 ppg, 3.7 apg
F Justin Jackson 12.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg
F Brice Johnson 16.3 ppg, 10.2 rpg
F Kennedy Meeks 10.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg
Pittsburgh (17-6, 6-5 ACC)
G James Robinson 9.3 ppg, 5.3 apg
G Sterling Smith 6.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg
F Jamel Artis 15.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg
F Sheldon Jeter 8.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg
F Michael Young 16.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg
Observations
For the second consecutive season UNC and Pitt meet on Valentine’s Day – and the Tar Heels have to hope this goes better than it did last year, when the Panthers won 89-76 in Pittsburgh. UNC has yet to beat a conference opponent that has brought a winning league record into the day of the game, and of the Tar Heels’ nine ACC wins only one – against Syracuse – came against a team that has a winning league record right now. So and this would be an important victory for the Tar Heels. Pittsburgh has lost three of its past four, including a two-point loss at Miami last week, and the Panthers appeared headed toward a spot on the NCAA tournament bubble. Offensively Pitt prefers a slower pace, but the Panthers can get out and run when they need to – as they did last season when these teams played. Defensively UNC will have its hands full with Artis and Young, who will challenge Johnson on the interior.
Andrew Carter
This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 7:56 PM with the headline "Gameday: Pitt’s Artis, Young could challenge UNC’s Johnson."