Off the cuff: On occasion, Carolina just needs to congratulate their opponent and move on.
Yes, the Tar Heels could have played better defense but the Wolfpack, especially DJ Horne, was hitting even heavily contested shots.
North Carolina players and head coach lamented not being able to increase the pace of the game and, thus, not getting easier buckets in transition. But State was hitting nearly 60 percent of its shots for most of the game. Like Carolina, they went cold late in the game and ended at 55 percent shooting.
The only thing that could have saved the Tar Heels in a game like this one would have been shooting better from the three-point line.
Carolina probably took too many threes but the Heels had to over the last five or six minutes. Unfortunately for them that's when they were the coldest. The Tar Heels were two of 17 from three in the second half before Harrison Ingram, who was three of nine from three, hit a meaningless three in the closing seconds.
The Heels were pretty good from beyond the arc in the first half, going five of 12 or better than 41 percent. It actually was impressive that Carolina came back so quickly after falling down by nine in the first half. A three by Ingram and two threes by RJ Davis over a three-minute span helped the Heels tie it at 28-all.
Carolina ended up having the lead on three occasions for only a little over a minute. But the Tar Heels had to feel pretty good with a 40-39 lead at the half. State had shot lights out and seemingly was playing about as well as they could and still trailed.
But after shooting a respectable 50 percent in the first half, Carolina went cold and managed only 28 percent of their shots in the second half.
Carolina is going to have to get better shooting from Cormac Ryan if the Heels are to go deep in the NCAA Tournament. Since the impressive performance at Duke, and a respectable three of four from three against Florida State, Ryan has gone two for 14.
The officiating has been weird in virtually all ACC Tournament games with officials going deep in games without making calls and then calling a bunch of fouls in the second half. That hurt the Heels as their physical play in the second half quickly led to fouls.
In the first three and a half minutes of the second half, the Tar Heels were called for more fouls than they had been the entire first half. State went to the line early and often and converted on 22 of 29 free throws. The Pack took six more foul shots than the Heels. Carolina almost always shoots more free throws than opponents.
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Seems that a lot of "experts" are starting to come around on the Tar Heels. The Heels certainly earned it down the stretch with a big win at Duke, a clinic on Florida State and now a gritty win over Pitt.
With Tennessee losing in its league tournament, attention has turned to Carolina possibly being a No. 1 seed. Hopefully all these good things being said about Carolina won't change the players attitude that they are playing with a chip on their shoulder.
In several interviews lately, UNC's Harrison Ingram has mentioned how each player has some chip and that the team collectively has that chip.
And RJ Davis has been talking about not being satisfied. Some years in the past, it has seemed that Carolina hasn't put as much emphasis on the ACC Tournament and instead are looking forward to the NCAA Tournament.
This team reached its first goal with a regular season ACC title and now they want the ACC Tournament Title. Davis and Bacot both said the job isn't finished. This team wants it all - including the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. But they are very much a one game at a time team, Elliott Cadeau said.
I like this attitude. In the old days, the ACC Tournament was the ultimate goal - especially when UCLA was winning the NCAA title each year.
Winning the ACC regular season title is probably a bigger accomplishment than winning an ACC title. And some teams seem to want the extra rest before the NCAA Tourney. But, again, I like this attitude. First, the Heels wanted a regular season title. Now, they want the ACC Tournament title and then they can turn their attention to the NCAA Tournament. That's the way it should be.
As for the Pitt game itself, RJ Davis said he was proud of the way the team battled against a tough opponent fighting for its post-season life. "To get a win like that - that's Carolina basketball right there.
Ingram said that Pitt started out as the most physical team but then Carolina started putting more pressure on the Panthers and became the more physical team, especially in the second half.
He gave Davis his due but he seemed to point to Bacot being the difference. "He's a load inside," Ingram said. "It makes it easier for the rest of us with the big guy down there inside getting attention."
N.C. State 84, Carolina 76 State outshoots UNC to cap ACC run After winning four games in four days, including one miraculous overtime, N.C. State seemed destined to win it's first ACC Tournament title since 1987. And that's just what the Wolfpack did, outshooting North Carolina 55 percent to 37 percent in an 84-76 win in D.C. (3/16)
"I'm on top of the world," said Raleigh native D.J. Horne, who scored 29 points to pace the Wolfpack. Horne propelled State to an early nine-point lead at 20-11.
Carolina was able to catch up over the next six minutes and even took a 40-39 halftime lead when Cormac Ryan hit a three from the left corner at the buzzer.
But D.J. Burns, the tournament's most valuable player, backed in and scored to give State a 45-43 lead with 18:13 left in the game. The Wolfpack, which led 33 minutes of the game, never trailed again.
It stayed close with the Pack's lead fluctuating from three to eight points until breaking it open at the end. UNC's RJ Davis scored on a 15 footer to pull the Heels within five at 67-62 with 6:05 to go.
After a Carolina turnover, Casey Morsell answered with an open three to put State in command at 70-62. Free throws by Horne gave the Wolfpack its largest lead to that point at 72-62 with just over four minutes to go.
The Tar Heels pressure defense forced several turnovers down the stretch but they couldn't capitalize as the Heels missed 12 of their last 13 shots, several of which were open threes. Carolina hit just three of their 18 three-point attempts in the second half and finished a dismal eight of 30 from beyond the arc.
"Our pace wasn't up to par," said UNC's RJ Davis, who had a game-high 30 points but it took him 26 shots to get there.
UNC coach Hubert Davis blamed the defense for not getting stops in order to give the offense an opportunity to get fastbreak points. "We just couldn't guard them tonight," he said adding that the Heels will once again go back to its mantra of defense, rebounding and taking care of the ball as they head into the NCAA Tournament.
State, now 22-14, will get the ACC automatic bid to the NCAA tourney. "Winning five games in five nights is a miracle," an emotional Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said. “We've got to get some rest because, guess what, we're going to the NCAA tournament.”
One big reason for that is the 280-pound Burns, who hit his first three-pointer of the season and scored 20 points going nine of 12 from the floor. "I allowed him to get the ball where he wanted," said Armando Bacot, who scored 18 himself. "When he gets it there, it's hard to stop him."
UNC falls to 27-7 having now lost seven of the last 10 times it has played in the ACC Tournament finals. The Tar Heels now wait to see if they can still secure a No. 1 seed with opening games in Charlotte.
Carolina 72, Pittsburgh 65 Vets Bacot, Davis lead Heels to finals When it came down to getting into the ACC Tournament finals, it took two veteran North Carolina players - Armando Bacot handling the inside chores and RJ Davis the outside job - to push the Tar Heels to a tough 72-65 victory over Pittsburgh. (3/15)
Bacot got yet another double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds to tie Ralph Sampson for the second most in NCAA history. Meanwhile, RJ Davis scored 25 points to reach the 2,000-point mark for his career.
Davis scored nine of the the Tar Heels last 10 points as Carolina broke a 62-62 tie over the last four minutes to win going away.
"RJ has been our closer all year," Bacot said of Davis. But it also took Bacot's inside game down the stretch as Davis (11) and Bacot (7) combined for the Tar Heels' last 18 points of the game.
"It's just incredible to have two players like that on my team," said Harrison Ingram, who transferred in this season from Stanford.
Bacot and Davis praised Ingram for his defense on Pitt's Blake Hinson, who averaged 19 points a game but only got five points in this game.
It was Carlton Carrington who handled most of the scoring load for Pitt as he scored 16 of his 24 points in the first half when the Panthers held the lead. Pitt went on a 13-0 run early to control most of the first half, settling for a 35-33 lead at the break.
UNC's Seth Trimble clamped down on Carrington in the second half. After Elliott Cadeau placed a bounce pass in traffic to Davis for a layup and a foul, Carolina took the lead at 43-42 with 15 minutes to go and never trailed again.
The lead never got higher than seven points, however, and an 8-2 Pitt run tied it at 62 with just over four minutes to go. That's when Davis hit a three from the top of the key and followed that up, less than two minutes later, with a three from the right side.
Bacot rebounds and Davis free throws wrapped it up.
Pitt, playing for its NCAA Tournament bid life, was aggressive from the start and got into some foul trouble in the first half with the two big men - Guillermo Diaz-Graham and Frederiko Frederiko - trying to cover Bacot.
Pitt falls to 22-11 while the Tar Heels improve to 27-6 overall, and advance to tomorrow's 8:30 p.m. championship game against N.C. State or Virginia.
Heel Prints reviewed each UNC game
As a student sports editor years ago, prior to the season, Clifton Barnes predicted a national championship for the Tar Heels and indeed they won. In fact he wrote his lede paragraph for the national championship game almost a year early. He regrets that he didn't keep a journal after each game. He kept a journal after each game of the 2007-2008 season and you can reach them here. At the request of readers, he has kept up his journal of each game ever since. He also has written about UNC baseball and wrote an analysis after each 2008 UNC football game.
Editor's Note: HeelPrints chronicled the UNC basketball, baseball and football seasons for 2008 and 2009. Since the vast majority of comments I get about the site relate to basketball and since this isn't a paying job for me, I decided to limit my coverage and analysis to basketball. Baseball and football will remain archived and if I have comments or opinions I want to make on those or any other sports at UNC, I will make them here on the front page and then archive them in the corresponding sports section. Thanks for all the positive comments I have received about the site. Should I get sponsorship in the future, I will reconsider adding baseball and football again. Ironically, my favorite sports to watch in person are baseball and football. But my first connections to UNC came from watching Dean Smith's basketball teams on TV or listening to them on the radio in the days before all the games were televised. It should come as no surprise that people pay more attention to the basketball coverage. Thanks for your interest in this site.