Carolina Basketball Grinds Out 70-57 Win at Pitt
By Adam Lucas
That is exactly the kind of tough, gritty road win Carolina needed. The Tar Heels beat Pitt, 70-57, to move to 2-0 in the ACC.
And they didn’t do it with finesse. The Tar Heels outrebounded the Panthers, 49-41, dominated second chance points 15-1, fought for every loose ball, and won a very physical game against a team that was betting they could out-physical the visitors. They couldn’t.
Carolina’s defense was a big part of it, holding Pitt below 25 percent shooting in the second half. The home team hit just 3-for-26 from three-point range, and Carolina frustrated Blake Hinson, who has been a problematic matchup in past meetings, into a 3-for-15 performance. When things didn’t go well offensively for Pitt in the second half, they got very disjointed and took some very tough shots.
Armando Bacot had another double-double, scoring 16 points to go with 10 rebounds. That led Carolina in scoring, breaking RJ Davis’ hold on that category (Davis had 15).
That game isn’t going on Harrison Ingram’s career highlight reel. But it’s also a testament to how much he brings to the game other than scoring. Ingram struggled from the field, going 2-for-13. But he also led the Tar Heels in rebounding with 15, didn’t commit a turnover, handed out three assists, and provided some toughness in a game that required it. Forget about his scoring, although he did score a couple big baskets late in the second half–Carolina doesn’t win the game without Ingram.
The difference in the first half, which Carolina led by three thanks to a buzzer-beating RJ Davis three-pointer, was Seth Trimble. The sophomore guard came off the bench to score nine points in the first half, and also added five rebounds and a steal with zero turnovers. Trimble did a little bit of everything, including providing a physical presence defensively in a rock fight and dunking an alley-oop off a nice called set, but also swishing a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock midway through the half. Trimble finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
Another key in the first half: efficiency turning offensive rebounds into points. Pitt grabbed six offensive rebounds but didn’t get a single second chance point. Carolina, meanwhile, got eight offensive rebounds that led to 11 second chance points.
Someone who is starting to flash some potential in that category is Jae’Lyn Withers. He had two big ones in the second half, including the much welcome return of a Tar Heel staple, tipping out a missed UNC free throw to get another possession. He also did it in more spectacular fashion, dunking home a teammate’s miss. His two offensive boards came in 12 minutes–that’s a path to more playing time for the Louisville transfer and is an area of the game he’s athletic enough to replicate against any opponent.
Carolina struggled to get the ball to Armando Bacot in the first half, eventually leading him to jumping up and down in frustration after not receiving an entry pass when he felt he was open. Bacot attempted just three field goals in 17 first half minutes and attempted only two free throws. Bacot eventually went 4-for-9 from the field, but it was a big factor that he was perfect at the line, going six-for-six. He became the seventh Tar Heel to score 2,000 career points.
Get used to seeing the Tar Heels on the road. Tuesday night marked the first of six road games in January, the first time the program has had six road games in a month since playing seven in January of 1952–before the beginning of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Heels were 4-6 on the road in the ACC last year but 7-3 in ACC road games the first season of the Hubert Davis era. Getting back to that standard is a big part of having a more successful 2024.