North Carolina won its third straight in impressive fashion as Armando Bacot scored 21 and pulled in 10 rebounds to give the visiting Tar Heels a 75-65 win over Pittsburgh. (1/26)
The Tar Heels, who shot 62 percent in the second half, went on a 17-6 run over a four-minute period midway through the second half to open up a close game at 66-50.
A long three north of the key by freshman Kerwin Walton started the run and a quick-moving Anthony Harris to Garrison Brooks to Bacot dunk ended the run.
Pitt, behind player-of-the-year candidate Justin Champagnie, who scored a game-high 23, responded with a run of its own to narrow the lead to five at 68-63 with under four minutes to go.
But a strong bucket by Bacot inside combined with a Caleb Love three from the right wing all but wrapped it up – especially when the Carolina defense kept Pitt scoreless on four straight possessions late.
“I’m as happy as I can be to get a big win and get out of town,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “We’re getting a little better and a little better.”
Carolina has won six of its last seven games and seem to be clicking better as a team.
Coach Williams said that when the big guys are shooting so well, the Tar Heels need to be getting them the ball more.
“Garrison (Brooks) and Armando (Bacot) were 10 of 15 in the first half,” he said. “I had to keep telling the guys to go down in there to them.” The pair scored on all six of their shots in the second half to go 16 of 21 for the game.
In addition to Bacot’s 21/10 performance, Brooks scored 16 points and hauled in six rebounds. Freshman big man Day’Ron Sharpe added six points and seven rebounds.
“They (Pitt) had a difficult job handling our big guys inside,” Coach Williams said.
Pitt falls to 8-4 and 4-3 in the ACC while Carolina improves to 11-5 and 6-3 in the conference. The Tar Heels, who aren’t scheduled to play for a week (but that could change), have now won as many games as they did all last year when they were 6-14 in the league.
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