Lucas: Pitt Rapid Reactions

By Adam Lucas

1. Too many mistakes to win an ACC game on the road, and Carolina falls to Pitt, 73-65. The Panthers closed on a 14-2 run over the final 5:33 as the Heels missed their last seven shots and made just one of the final 11 attempts. The 21 points the Heels scored in the second half were a season low for any half.

2. Points off turnovers played a huge role. Pitt outscored Carolina 22-4 in that category, as the Heels committed 14 miscues to just six for the Panthers. Pitt also blocked nine UNC shots, which also helped create some transition chances for Jeff Capel's team.

3. And the last three of those points off turnovers might have been decisive. Carolina was in transition up one with just over three minutes to go but tried a high risk bounce pass through traffic that resulted in a turnover. Pitt almost immediately turned it into three points and a lead at the other end.

4. Carolina played without Jalen Washington, who was unavailable after suffering a sprained knee late in the overtime win over Boston College. Ven-Allen Lubin (six points and seven rebounds, but also four turnovers) started in the post, his second straight start there after also starting against BC. It was Lubin's sixth overall start and the second time Carolina used the Cadeau-Davis-Jackson-Trimble-Lubin starting lineup.

5. Without Washington, Carolina got post minutes wherever it could. Lubin saw most of them, but the Heels also got a few from Ty Claude and a brief appearance from freshman James Brown, who committed two quick fouls. The visitors did win the overall rebounding battle, 38-28.

6. Key stretch in the first half. Elliot Cadeau was having a sensational first half and had just completed back to back possessions where he made an incredibly difficult basket off a drive and then had an impossibly difficult pass to Drake Powell in the corner for a three-pointer. But then he committed what appeared to be a fatigued foul, his second of the game, with 4:16 left in the half. When he left, the Tar Heels were up 38-30.

7. Without him, Carolina had a couple key turnovers late and saw the lead drop to 44-42 at halftime. Early fouls have been an issue for Cadeau—in seven of the nine ACC games, he's been hit with two in the first half. As Tuesday illustrated, he's too important to be on the bench for long stretches. That's how a game that could have turned into a double-digit lead at the break instead become a two-point game.

8. And that was kind of the story of the game for Cadeau. He was Carolina's most dynamic player, finishing with 11 points and seven assists. The last of his buckets was an incredibly difficult left-handed drive and bank shot to give Carolina the lead. But he also took himself off the court with a couple fouls that could have been avoided.

9. And during those stretches, the Heels struggled mightily. There was the end of the first half, and then it happened in the second half again when he collected his third foul with 16:35 remaining. At that point, UNC had a four-point lead. Over the next 1:05, Pitt took a one-point lead and forced a Carolina timeout. In those two stretches combined--the end of the first half and near the beginning of the second--Pitt was +11 in 5:21 with Cadeau off the court.

10. That's very much become the story of what happens to Carolina in games like this. They aren't potent enough to overcome some of the bad decision making that would be less of a big deal on a team with more firepower. But when this one gives away a possession--the Heels had seven turnovers in each half in what was a very close game the entire night--they can't generate enough offense to come back from it.

11. The Heels shot 29.2 percent from the three-point line, continuing a trend. They are now 2-6 when shooting lower than 30 percent from three, and 11-3 when they exceed that mark. RJ Davis was 3-6 from three on his way to a team-high 16 points. The rest of the team was 6-for-23.

12. Seth Trimble was 3-for-14 from the field but it's hard to fault his effort. He had 12 rebounds and was all over multiple loose balls. His shot simply isn't falling right now (0-5 from three), but he didn't have a turnover. Carolina needs the ball to start going in the basket for him.

13. Fouling on defense ended up being important. That put Pitt into the bonus with about eight minutes left in the second half, and the Panthers--a very good free throw shooting team--hit 16 for 20 at the charity stripe, including 11-13 in the second half. Carolina was just 6-9 at the line for the game.

14. In an odd scheduling quirk, Carolina and Pitt will see each other again in less than two weeks. The two teams will have a rematch Feb. 8 at the Smith Center.

Players Mentioned

James Brown

Elliot Cadeau

Ty Claude

RJ Davis

Ven-Allen Lubin

Drake Powell

Seth Trimble

Jalen Washington

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