UNC Basketball: Random Observations Pittsburgh Loss

UNC Basketball lost to the Pittsburgh Panthers 76-74 in the final game of the 2022 calendar year. 

Let me go ahead and say this at the beginning of the Random Observations post. Like many of you, I am not happy. I am frustrated. What is so ironic is in 2021, I could have said the same thing after a loss to Pitt. Let’s hope that this year is no different.

UNC Basketball lost a tough road game to a much less talented Pitt team 76-74 today. A game, that at times, looked in hand, slipped away.

This was a game where Armando Bacot looked like the pre-season POY candidate that he is. They fed him in the post and he did what he does best.

In the first half, the Tar Heels featured bench players like Puff Johnson, D’Marco Dunn, and Tyler Nickel. In an alarming pattern, those players were nowhere to be found in the post-crucial minutes of the game at the end.

Has anyone seen Jalen Washington or does anyone know why he is not getting some minutes?

Why is it so hard for this team to make simple entry passes? Players start doing this fundamental skill in the earliest levels of basketball and yet this UNC team seems to have a really hard time feeding the post. Especially Pete Nance.

Last year we witnessed a team that had very little depth on the bench go through struggles and then ride the “Iron 5” to within minutes of the National Championship.

This year there are talented players not playing so who gets that accountability? Who is responsible for not getting those players’ minutes?

UNC Basketball is the fastest preseason number one team to lose five games in the last 40 seasons.

The ball doesn’t lie.

They are currently 1-2 in the ACC and don’t look like a team that many predicted would dominate their schedule this season.

D’Marco Dunn, who has been out with an injury and wasn’t exactly playing great before that played 20 minutes today.

Freshman Seth Trimble played 5 minutes.

Little used Tyler Nickel played 5 minutes.

Puff Johnson played two minutes.

Jalen Washington did not play.

Dontrez Styles did not play.

You can make your own assumptions out of those numbers but I will go ahead and say that it is not acceptable. Someone has to be accountable.

Caleb Love and RJ Davis played a combined 70 minutes (35 each). They were 7-20 from the field, 2-8 from the three-point line, and had 23 points and 4 assists combined.

Someone needs to be accountable and someone needs to start playing the additional players that committed to this program. You won’t know if you don’t play them.

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