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University of North Carolina Athletics
Seth Trimble
Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI
Lucas: Pitt Rapid Reactions
February 8, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Quick takeaways from the rematch with Pitt.
By Adam Lucas
1. Survived. Carolina wins over Pitt, 67-66. That's a school record for one-possession games in a season (10) and UNC is 6-4 in those games. In fully half the games this year, it has been a five-point margin one way or the other with five minutes to play.
2. When the loose ball created an opportunity for Pitt to get up a three-quarters court head of steam, it didn't feel great. Carolina has seen that scenario before this year. But with Jaland Lowe fouled out, Pitt had to turn to a second option, and the Tar Heels were able to defend physically enough without getting called for a foul--which might have been called differently earlier in the game--to force a miss. RJ Davis made the game-winner, as he has done many times before.
3. The Heels held Pitt scoreless in the final two minutes with a variety of deflections and hustle plays that were huge. Drake Powell, Ven-Allen Lubin and Seth Trimble all had big plays in passing lanes or chasing loose balls that helped sustain the victory. Those plays were part of Hubert Davis tweaking some of the defense against Lowe from possession to possession on the final trips. Those changes made a difference. In six of the last eight halves coming into today, opponents had shot at least 50 percent from the field. But the Heels held Pitt to 42.3 percent for the game.
4. The flip side is that the game was only in peril because Carolina struggled at the line, missing a pair of front ends of one-and-ones in the final minute. For the game, the Heels were 8-15 at the line, a very uncharacteristic performance from the charity stripe.
5. Carolina experimented with some different lineups during the break but ultimately went back to a starting lineup of Davis, Elliot Cadeau, Ian Jackson, Trimble, and Lubin. That's the fourth straight game the Tar Heels have used that lineup.
6. For the second straight game against Pitt, Carolina struggled when Cadeau played his way into early foul trouble. He picked up his second foul at the 8:47 mark of the first half. At that point, the Heels were 11-14 from the field and had a 26-15 lead. From then until the time he reappeared with 2:43 left, the Heels shot 2-11 from the field and Pitt closed within three points before eventually tying the game. The Tar Heels desperately need their point guard on the floor. He has now collected two fouls in the first half of seven of UNC's 12 ACC games.
7. Cadeau was a big part of Carolina pounding the ball inside at the outset of the game to establish a quick 12-3 lead. Cadeau had a pair of assists to Lubin, then Davis fed Lubin, and Jackson picked up an assist to Lubin 40 seconds later. Lubin put up 11 first half points (on his way to 17 for the game) before being hit with two fouls and having to head to the bench. Pitt had success switching everything defensively in the game last week and started the game with that approach. But Carolina was extremely well prepared for that defense and took advantage of smaller Pitt guards on Lubin. They eventually played Pitt out of the switching approach.
8. Cadeau was also part of Carolina being much more secure with the ball. After the last two opponents combined for 41 points off turnovers, the Heels had just six turnovers in this game.
9. Trimble was again Carolina's leading rebounder, pulling down seven. He continues to be on pace to be Carolina's shortest team leading rebounder since 1950.
10. A possible offseason improvement: you should be able to review out of bounds calls in the final two minutes of the first half (just as you can in the second half). Pitt was the beneficiary of an out of bounds call that would've easily been reversed on review. As Rasheed Wallace predicted, however, the ball didn't lie and the Panthers didn't score on the play.
11. The Tar Heels need to unlock Ian Jackson. The freshman was 0-for-3 from the field and looked out of sync in his 22 minutes. After his tear through the earlier part of the ACC schedule, Jackson has now scored in double figures just once in the last six outings.
12. Always great to see Antawn Jamison back in the Smith Center. One of just five living players with a retired Tar Heel jersey, Jamison was seated at the scorer's table Saturday. (As you probably already knew, the answer to the trivia question is that the other four living players with retired jerseys are Phil Ford, James Worthy, Michael Jordan and Tyler Hansbrough.)
13. Carolina now has one day of preparation for a pivotal game at Clemson on Monday night. The Tigers host Duke tonight; Carolina will practice in Chapel Hill tomorrow and then head to the airport for the trip to Littlejohn. These Saturday/Monday turnarounds often end up being key parts of an ACC season--this one will be no different.
1. Survived. Carolina wins over Pitt, 67-66. That's a school record for one-possession games in a season (10) and UNC is 6-4 in those games. In fully half the games this year, it has been a five-point margin one way or the other with five minutes to play.
2. When the loose ball created an opportunity for Pitt to get up a three-quarters court head of steam, it didn't feel great. Carolina has seen that scenario before this year. But with Jaland Lowe fouled out, Pitt had to turn to a second option, and the Tar Heels were able to defend physically enough without getting called for a foul--which might have been called differently earlier in the game--to force a miss. RJ Davis made the game-winner, as he has done many times before.
3. The Heels held Pitt scoreless in the final two minutes with a variety of deflections and hustle plays that were huge. Drake Powell, Ven-Allen Lubin and Seth Trimble all had big plays in passing lanes or chasing loose balls that helped sustain the victory. Those plays were part of Hubert Davis tweaking some of the defense against Lowe from possession to possession on the final trips. Those changes made a difference. In six of the last eight halves coming into today, opponents had shot at least 50 percent from the field. But the Heels held Pitt to 42.3 percent for the game.
4. The flip side is that the game was only in peril because Carolina struggled at the line, missing a pair of front ends of one-and-ones in the final minute. For the game, the Heels were 8-15 at the line, a very uncharacteristic performance from the charity stripe.
5. Carolina experimented with some different lineups during the break but ultimately went back to a starting lineup of Davis, Elliot Cadeau, Ian Jackson, Trimble, and Lubin. That's the fourth straight game the Tar Heels have used that lineup.
6. For the second straight game against Pitt, Carolina struggled when Cadeau played his way into early foul trouble. He picked up his second foul at the 8:47 mark of the first half. At that point, the Heels were 11-14 from the field and had a 26-15 lead. From then until the time he reappeared with 2:43 left, the Heels shot 2-11 from the field and Pitt closed within three points before eventually tying the game. The Tar Heels desperately need their point guard on the floor. He has now collected two fouls in the first half of seven of UNC's 12 ACC games.
7. Cadeau was a big part of Carolina pounding the ball inside at the outset of the game to establish a quick 12-3 lead. Cadeau had a pair of assists to Lubin, then Davis fed Lubin, and Jackson picked up an assist to Lubin 40 seconds later. Lubin put up 11 first half points (on his way to 17 for the game) before being hit with two fouls and having to head to the bench. Pitt had success switching everything defensively in the game last week and started the game with that approach. But Carolina was extremely well prepared for that defense and took advantage of smaller Pitt guards on Lubin. They eventually played Pitt out of the switching approach.
8. Cadeau was also part of Carolina being much more secure with the ball. After the last two opponents combined for 41 points off turnovers, the Heels had just six turnovers in this game.
9. Trimble was again Carolina's leading rebounder, pulling down seven. He continues to be on pace to be Carolina's shortest team leading rebounder since 1950.
10. A possible offseason improvement: you should be able to review out of bounds calls in the final two minutes of the first half (just as you can in the second half). Pitt was the beneficiary of an out of bounds call that would've easily been reversed on review. As Rasheed Wallace predicted, however, the ball didn't lie and the Panthers didn't score on the play.
11. The Tar Heels need to unlock Ian Jackson. The freshman was 0-for-3 from the field and looked out of sync in his 22 minutes. After his tear through the earlier part of the ACC schedule, Jackson has now scored in double figures just once in the last six outings.
12. Always great to see Antawn Jamison back in the Smith Center. One of just five living players with a retired Tar Heel jersey, Jamison was seated at the scorer's table Saturday. (As you probably already knew, the answer to the trivia question is that the other four living players with retired jerseys are Phil Ford, James Worthy, Michael Jordan and Tyler Hansbrough.)
13. Carolina now has one day of preparation for a pivotal game at Clemson on Monday night. The Tigers host Duke tonight; Carolina will practice in Chapel Hill tomorrow and then head to the airport for the trip to Littlejohn. These Saturday/Monday turnarounds often end up being key parts of an ACC season--this one will be no different.
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