It might officially be time to panic for the North Carolina Tar Heels (13-9, 6-4 ACC). After holding a 10-point lead with three minutes to play in the first half of their Wednesday night clash with the Pittsburgh Panthers (14-6, 5-4 ACC), the six-time NCAA national champions may face an uphill climb toward a bid to this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Despite winning the rebound battle 38-28 and posting a double-digit lead at one point in the game, North Carolina was thoroughly out-played by the Panthers Wednesday night. Led by a well-rounded performance from sophomore guard Jaland Lowe (18 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals), Pittsburgh controlled the game’s final minutes. Down 61-57 with eight minutes to play, the Panthers’ defense clamped down, holding North Carolina to only 2/14 shooting over the game’s final minutes. Pittsburgh ended the game on a 16-4 run to clinch a 73-65 victory.
Here are three key takeaways from Wednesday night’s contest:
Hubert Davis’s Seat Is The Hottest In America
Following the likes of Roy Williams as head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels was always going to be a tall task. However, the Tar Heel faithfull still have certain expectations when it comes to their team’s success. Now in his fourth season in charge of the Tar Heels, head coach Hubert Davis is in serious danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons. In 18 seasons under Roy Williams, the Tar Heels missed out on a tournament bid only one time.
It isn’t only the lack of postseason success that may doom Davis’s tenure in Chapel Hill. With the loss to Pitt, the Tar Heels have now lost three of their last four games and needed overtime to beat a terrible Boston College team. They have already surpassed their loss total from last season with ten games remaining in the regular season and are 1-4 against AP Top 25 opponents this season.
The Tar Heels’ late-game collapse Wednesday was another in a concerning trend this season. When asked about their inability to close games this season, Davis said the following:
“I think it’s a combination of a number of things, frustration, disappointment. I think it stops there, and I think it has to stop there. Our next game is on Saturday, and we have to find a way to get better in that area, especially playing games and not just playing games throughout the entire game, (but) down the stretch. I don’t know how many points we had, but we had a lead in the first half. We’re up 10 in the first half. So that’s a common thing. Same thing against Stanford, same thing against Wake Forest.”
If the Tar Heels can’t find a way to solve their late game issues, they could be on the outside looking in when March comes around and Hubert Davis could find himself in search of a new coaching gig.
North Carolina Tar Heels’ Turnovers Will Doom Their Season
One aspect that keeps rearing its ugly head for the Tar Heels is turnovers. North Carolina committed 14 turnovers against Pittsburgh that the Panthers parlayed into 22 points Wednesday evening. On the season, North Carolina is averaging 11.0 turnovers per game.
If North Carolina hopes to turn their season around, the turnovers have to stop. When the ACC and (maybe) NCAA Tournaments roll around, turnovers will prevent any sort of offensive consistency for the Tar Heels.
RJ Davis Is Great But He Needs Help
Tar Heels leading scorer RJ Davis had another good game Wednesday night, scoring 16 points on efficient 6/12 shooting from the field to go along with 5 assists. The rest of the team, however, struggled on the offensive end. Davis’s teammates converted only 42.5% of their shot attempts.
The second half highlighted Davis’s importance. After halftime, Davis scored or assisted on 12 of North Carolina’s 21 points. Non-Davis Tar Heels shot only 27.3% from the field in the second half.
The North Carolina Tar Heels have a tough road ahead in their quest for an NCAA Tournament bid. They’ll make the 14-mile trip to Durham on February 1 for a matchup with archrival Duke. The #2 Duke Blue Devils (18-2, 10-0 ACC) are hoping to extend their win streak to 15 games and win their first matchup in the heated Duke-UNC rivalry since March 4, 2023.
The Pittsburgh Panthers hit the road for a February 1 matchup with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (15-6, 7-3 ACC).
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