UNC Basketball had an entire week to let the wire-to-wire loss to No. 2 Duke sink in and learn lessons from the defeat.
UNC Basketball, despite having two runs of missing eight straight shots, was able to ride the shooting touch of RJ Davis to defeat Pittsburgh 67-66 on Saturday afternoon at the Dean E. Smith Center. Davis hit a field goal in the final minute of the game, which brought his game total to a team-high 18, was his first since 15:48 left in the game.
BANG. @ariidavis_ pic.twitter.com/So6rACaBqQ
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) February 8, 2025
Pittsburgh overcame slow starts of their own, especially going 1-for-6 to start the game. Cameron Corhen led the Panthers with 17 points, while sophomore Jaland Lowe added 15 before fouling out.
Takeaway #1: Ven-Allen Lubin had his best night as a Tar Heel
Lubin, a transfer from Vanderbilt, came into the game having only scored in double-digits just four times. His fifth double-digit outing against Pittsburgh saw him score 17 points, his highest output as a member of the Tar Heels. This was his best performance since posting back-to-back 20-point games in his final two games for Vanderbilt.
“It’s something we can use to get ourselves rolling,” Lubin said after the game. “Especially since we have a quick turnaround for Clemson on Monday, it gets us on the right path. We just have to get a straight head and move forward.”
The junior went 5-for-7 in the first half and racking up 9 of the Tar Heels first 12 points in the game, helping them get out to a 12-3 early lead. The majority of his points came in the paint either with a layup or a dunk.
Takeaway #2: A 1-for-6 start to the game kept Pitt behind the 8-ball
Lowe got the scoring going in the first half with a three-point shot, but then it seemed that no shot would go down for the Panthers. This is the second straight game that Pitt has allowed their opponent to go on a run of at least 10 or more points early in the first half.
“They really attacked our switching,” said coach Jeff Capel. “We switched against them in the second half– the last time we played them– and they were very prepared for us and really hurt us early.”
Cam having a DAY 💪
Pitt 66, UNC 65 (1:32 2nd)#H2P / 📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/BGem1Gdfhp
— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_MBB) February 8, 2025
Pitt ended up shooting 11-for-24 in the first half that brought the deficit to 35-32 at halftime. Capel told reporters after the game how he was impressed with the teams fight throughout the game, which was lacking in their previous game against Virginia.
Takeaway #3: Tar Heels seemed to play with desperation
Carolina was coming off an 87-70 loss to their in-state rival Duke last Saturday. While the 17-point difference seemed respectable, they trailed by as many as 30 in the game. With a week until their match-up with Pittsburgh, they needed to find a way to get back in the win column.
“I think you should play like that every day, every possession, whether it’s shoot around, practice, game,” said Capel. “It’s not a sense of urgency. It’s a sense of emergency.”
That sense of emergency started to go into effect when the Tar Heels let a six-point lead slip away in the second half. From that point on, both teams traded the lead back and forth.
“We were just saying, just to get a stop, like, talk and communicate,” said RJ Davis. “Like, [Coach Davis] was like, ‘We’re gonna get the stop right now. They’re not gonna score.’ And that was our mindset going into that last possession with 13 seconds left.”
The Tar Heels will have a quick turnaround, having to travel to Clemson on Monday to face a Tigers team that will be riding high off a defeat of Duke on Saturday evening.
Up next for Pittsburgh (14-9, 5-7): at SMU (18-5, 9-3) – Feb. 11 at 9 p.m. EST
Up next for North Carolina (14-10, 7-5): at Clemson (19-5, 11-2) – Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. EST