Hubert Davis says North Carolina did not 'consistently' match Pittsburgh's fight
North Carolina faltered down the stretch and saw a four-game winning streak snapped at the hands of Pittsburgh. Coach Hubert Davis said after the game his team didn’t match Pittsburgh‘s fight well enough in a 65-64 loss.
The game was tight throughout, but the Panthers went ahead by nailing a pair of free throws with three seconds left.
“One of the things that I did tell them before the game: Since Pitt has joined the ACC, they’ve always, whomever the coach was, Pitt has always hung their hat on their toughness and their physicality,” Davis said after the game. “And I told them that in games like this you’re going to get toed. And there’s nowhere to go, and you’re going to have to competitively fight. I felt like we did that at times, but at times we didn’t sustain it.”
North Carolina’s Caleb Love scored 22 in the contest, while Armando Bacot scored 15 and Pete Nance scored 13.
Leading the way for Pittsburgh was Nelly Cummings with 21 and Jamarius Burton with 19.
Davis identified one stretch in the game in particular as being a real turning point thanks to Pittsburgh’s fight, where North Carolina wasn’t able to respond the way you have to to win a tight game like Wednesday night’s.
“I can’t remember the sequence, but we were up by six in the second half and then Cummings hit three straight threes,” Davis said. “That’s an opportunity and time to tighten the screws on the discipline and the details and dig in deeper in terms of your competitive toughness. I do think we met it, I just don’t think it was as consistent as it needed to be tonight.”
Was Caleb Love fouled late?
The game wasn’t without controversy in the final minute or so.
With the ‘Heels down 65-64 in the closing seconds, North Carolina guard Caleb Love attempted to catch and shoot with .6 seconds left on the clock. Right as he rose in the air and released the ball, Pitt forward Nike Sibande appeared to smack Love on the hand, while also possibly getting a small piece of the ball.
Check out a slow-motion version of the final shot below.