Off the cuff: Pittsburgh is hard to like - and they seem to like it that way. The Capel brothers appear to have a hatred for Carolina. Jeff, the head coach, played at Duke while Jason, the assistant who played at Carolina, openly celebrated on the court and made deparaging comments against UNC fans who he says booed him. Their "emotion" seems to carry over to the Pitts players and it works for them. Carolina can't match the physicality and if officials don't call the game the way it was called when Hubert Davis played, the Tar Heels will have a hard time beating them in the future. The Tar Heels have lost three straight times to Pitt in Chapel Hill. That rarely has happened over the years. In fact, only Duke (1999-2002) and Wake Forest (2002-2004) have been able to accomplish that. While Coach Davis said it's a waste of time to do a lot of talking on the court, Pitt's Nelly Cummings was yacking the whole game - at individual UNC players, at the Carolina bench and at the Smith Center fans. Coach Davis said his players lost their composure at times and at the end of the game the Tar Heel fans let the officials know about their displeasure. The fan base certainly seems ready for a fight. Will the Tar Heels be ready for a fight the next time they face the Panthers? We'll see. For now, they better be ready for a fight at Duke Saturday. Look for Duke to push Bacot around inside and attempt to deny him the ball. Bacot has to do more to get loose and his teammates need to have the patience to pass up long shots early in the shot clock and work it to Bacot. The injured Puff Johnson missed yet another game. He'll be needed against the Blue Devils. |
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