Lucas: (Toughness)

By Adam Lucas

PITTSBURGH—Caleb Love didn't exactly say toughness. But the message was a perfect summation of Tuesday night's ten-point Carolina win over Pittsburgh.

"Coach told us a famous Joel Berry quote," Love said of his clutch three-point basket with three minutes remaining and the Tar Heels holding a five point lead. "If you're going to shoot it, have the (toughness) to make it."

The Tar Heels showed that (toughness) all night long in a game with plenty of opportunities to back down. Justin Champagnie, one of the best players in the conference, hit a couple early three-pointers and provided commentary to the Carolina bench on both of them. Xavier Johnson earned a warning from an official for complaining about Love.

But the night's tone may have been set by Williams himself. With eight minutes remaining in the first half and Carolina holding a six-point lead at a timeout, Pittsburgh coach Jeff Capel—who had been vociferous in his evaluation of several calls—stomped out under the basket in front of his bench to continue a discussion with the officiating crew. It is here that perhaps we should remind you, as if you need a reminder, that Capel learned at the foot of Mike Krzyzewski. That means he's a great tactician, an inventive recruiter…and a doctor of officiating influence.

Williams noticed the meeting, and slowly and methodically ambled the 85 feet or so from the Carolina bench to the opposite baseline. This wasn't a Rick Barnes-Dean Smith confrontation. Williams was congenial, and put his arm around Capel when he arrived at the unusual huddle. But he was also purposeful. He was not going to allow Capel—whose team gets a greater percentage of its points at the free throw line than any other school in the ACC—to establish the tenor of the game by having extended solo conversations with the officials.

It didn't matter that Pitt was playing at home. It didn't matter that the chat was happening on Pitt's end of the court. This was going to stop right now.

At that moment, there were still 28 minutes left in the game. But quite honestly, it felt pretty good. Williams will assuredly tell you his walk didn't really matter, and will say all the right things about respect for all the other coaches in the league. But at that moment, in that gym, for this team, it felt important. Ask yourself this: do you think Capel was happy to turn around and find Williams standing there?

And Williams' team showed the same gumption in the second half. How about these responses:

With 17:30 left, Pitt closed to four. Answer: Armando Bacot converted a three-point play the very next time down the court.

With 16:12 remaining, the Panthers got it to four again. Answer: Caleb Love missed two free throws, but a tip-out got the ball back to Love, who scored in the lane.

With 13:39 left, Pitt closed the deficit to 47-42. Answer: Day'Ron Sharpe missed two free throws (just think of that 7-14 mark at the free throw line as an opportunity to create big offensive rebounds), but Garrison Brooks scored off an offensive rebound.

With 12:06 left, Pitt chopped Carolina's lead to five again. Answer: Kerwin Walton swished a three-pointer.

With under four minutes to go, Pitt clawed back to five, but Bacot scored. And then they did it again at the 3:05 mark, but there was Love, showing the, uh, toughness to drill a huge three-pointer, the final nail in a huge road ACC victory.

In total, nine different times in the second half, Pitt closed within four or five points. And nine different times, the Tar Heels answered on the very next trip, preventing the Panthers from ever getting it to a one-possession game.

"Every time they made a run," Williams said, "we answered it."

Every single time. Make no mistake, Pitt played well enough in the second half to win. But they didn't, because Carolina was too tough.

And look at how they answered in the game's biggest moments. Those nine run-answering hoops were scored by five different players—Love, Bacot, Brooks, Walton and Leaky Black. Carolina has now had six different leading scorers in the last eight games, and with the evaluation of the Pitt film pending, six different players have won the defensive player of the game award from the coaches in the last six games.

The Tar Heels aren't flashy, and they don't have a superstar. Armando Bacot continues to be the steady, Kennedy Meeks-like old reliable in the middle, but his baskets won't go on a mix tape. Carolina did something very simple—they just kept playing, just kept executing. They messed up occasionally, including some perplexing defensive breakdowns in the second half and a couple untimely turnovers, but never allowed the mistakes to snowball.

By the time it was over, all Pitt's chatter had earned them was a flop warning for Champagnie as Brooks dropped in another second half basket, and a fifth win in six tries for the Tar Heels.

"We're getting a little better and a little better," Williams said.

And a little tougher. No matter what you call it.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Armando Bacot

Leaky Black

Garrison Brooks

Caleb Love

Day'Ron Sharpe

Kerwin Walton

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