Pitt Basketball: Panthers Eliminate North Carolina, Advance To Meet Virginia In ACC Semifinals
By Brett Tunno
Mar 14, 2014; Greensboro, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams reacts in the second half. The panthers defeated the Tar Heels 80-75 in the quarterfinals of the ACC college basketball tournament at Greensboro Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
After a complete throttling of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons yesterday afternoon, the Pitt Panthers squared off against the No. 15 North Carolina Tar Heels in an ACC quarterfinals matchup Friday.
About a month ago, Pitt attempted to recover from a devastating buzzer-beater loss to Tyler Ennis and the former No. 1 Syracuse Orange, as they traveled to Chapel Hill to meet UNC. The Panthers would go on to lose another close game, falling 75-71.
Critics have claimed that Pitt lacks a signature win on its resume, and this could hurt its seeding in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
The critics can finally stop complaining.
In an extreme foul-fest, Pitt throttled UNC for most of the game, then survived a furious comeback to win 80-75 in Greensboro, N.C. The Panthers advance to play the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers in the ACC semifinals Saturday..
The Panthers (25-8) are definitely off of the NCAA bubble now, and can further improve their NCAA seeding by beating the No. 6-ranked Cavaliers.
Before this game, UNC had an all-time series advantage of 8-1 against Pitt. Until today, Pitt’s only win was in March 1941.
Pitt senior center Talib Zanna was dealing with an ankle injury and basically a no-show in Pitt’s first matchup against UNC, but he got some revenge and made up for it in this game.
Zanna scored 19 points and was a force on the glass, hauling in an impressive 21 rebounds – the most by any player against UNC under Roy Williams, and tied for seventh-most in Pitt history. Sophomore point guard James Robinson also scored 19, while senior Lamar Patterson chipped in 12 and junior Cameron Wright added 11.
For UNC (23-9), sophomore guard Marcus Paige scored a game-best 27 points, sophomore forward Brice Johnson came off the bench to chip in 16, and junior forward James Michael McAdoo had 15 points and seven rebounds.
Mar 14, 2014; Greensboro, NC, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers guard James Robinson (0) , guard Cameron Wright (3) help Pittsburgh Panthers guard Josh Newkirk (13) up off the court after sinking his basket and drawing the foul against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the quarterfinals of the ACC college basketball tournament at Greensboro Coliseum. Pittsburgh defeated North Carolina 80-75. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Pitt started the game with confidence, leading 27-9 with less than six minutes remaining in the first half. Pitt pushed UNC around, going on a 17-1 run from the 12-minute mark to the six-minute mark.
Pitt appeared to let off the gas in the final six, as UNC scored five points in the last minute to cut the lead to 36-26 at the half. Pitt shot 54.2 percent compared to UNC’s 39.3, and outrebounded the Tar Heels 20-12 going into the break.
In the first half, Robinson lead the Panthers with 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting, plus three steals. Zanna scored six points and had 10 rebounds, while Patterson and Artis had five points each. For the Tar Heels, Johnson came off the bench and scored eight points on 4 of 5 shooting, and Paige scored seven.
In the start of the second half, Pitt manhandled UNC and expanded the lead to 61-41 with a Josh Newkirk free throw at the 7:22 mark. Roy Williams and his Tar Heels were hanging their heads, and the crowd was essentially quiet.
It essentially looked like the Panthers were ready to march on, but they made it interesting.
From that point on, UNC decided to full-court press Pitt, causing much havoc, turnovers and referees deciding to swallow their whistles. The referees essentially called touch fouls the entire game, but decided to let UNC pressure and knock Pitt around in the late stages.
The number of fouls (58) slowed the flow of the game, but Pitt was able to hang on in the final minute to outlast UNC.
For Pitt, Zanna fouled out, Patterson, Young, and Artis committed four fouls each, and James Robinson had three. As for UNC, McDonald, Tokoto and Paige all fouled out, Hicks and Britt had four apiece, and Johnson committed three.
Aside from the turnovers, pressure and Paige hitting four 3-pointers down the stretch, Pitt forgot how to shot free throws. The Panthers uncharacteristically went a miserable 21 for 41 (51.2 percent) at the stripe.
Yes, those are free-throw statistics, not field-goal shooting. Despite that, the Panthers never trailed in this ACC quarterfinal.
Luckily, UNC is one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the ACC; the Tar Heels went 21 for 32 (65.6 percent).
In the first matchup, UNC was too athletic and quick, but in this matchup, the Panthers outrebounded the Tar Heels 43-35.
Pitt will now face No. 6 Virginia in the ACC semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday, whereas UNC will await its seeding and opponent on Selection Sunday. The Panthers lost to Virginia 48-45 at home on a Malcolm Brogdon 3-pointer back on Feb. 2.