By Kenneth Cross
Pittsburgh guard Jamarius Burton was balanced and unstoppable in Friday afternoon’s 76-74 win over No. 25 North Carolina. Burton scored 31 points, 15 in the first half and 16 in the second, and he made 14-of-17 field goals to allow the Panthers to move to a 3-0 mark in ACC play after winning their eighth in their last nine games.
“He was able to get to his spots,” Pitt head coach Jeff Capel said of Burton’s play. “We thought with their guards, we could take advantage of JB’s size and strength. As the game went on, we put the ball in his hands and screened and let him make plays and he made a lot of them for us.”
Burton scored six consecutive points when he made a layup with 3:21 left in the game to give the Panthers a 65-62 lead. It was Pitt’s first lead since they led 3-2 in the game’s opening moments.
“I thought our scout team really did a good job of pushing us this week,” said Capel. “We were 10 days from competition, so you worry about that when you are not competing, so with some additions for us this week, we were able to do some 5-on-5.”
Blake Hinson (17.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg) allowed Pittsburgh to take the lead late in the game when he made a three-pointer and four free throws in one minute as Pitt grabbed a 74-69 lead with 28 seconds to play.
After Nike Sibande made a layup to give Pitt it’s 76-69 lead, North Carolina guard Caleb Love threw in a triple off the glass to shave the Panthers’ lead to 76-72 with six seconds to play.
North Carolina’s Tyler Nickel then scored on an inbounds pass after a Pittsburgh turnover.
The Panthers’ defense was a major key, especially in the second half, as Carolina only made 9-of-27 shots (33%) after leading throughout the first half by making 16-of-31 shots (49.1%).
“I thought our defense did it’s job and then we didn’t give up offensive rebounds and we were able to go down and get some stuff in transition and we were able to ride JB,” said Capel.
Burton was a key in keeping Pitt in the game late in the first half as he scored eight points with two layups in the last 2:16 which allowed Pittsburgh to leave the Tar Heels with a 40-34 lead at halftime.
“We talked about transition defense and keeping them out of our paint with their drives with Bacot and their rebounding,” explained Capel. “In the first half, they had six offensive rebounds and Bacot had five of them. They finished with eight and Bacot finished with five.”
North Carolina, averages 40.4 rebounds per game (24th/CBB) as each season the Tar Heels are one of the best teams in college basketball in rebounding. They had a 38-33 advantage on the boards, as Pitt shot 46 percent and matched up well on the glass and outrebounded Carolina, 21-16, in the second half.