Lessons Learned from the UNC basketball program's migraine-inducing loss at Pitt

This season is starting to circle the drain.

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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Dribbling nowhere

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Hubert Davis has probably decided that this is not a good three-point shooting team. As a whole, the Tar Heels are shooting 32.3% from downtown, so he's not far off.

The medicine might be worse than the disease, though.

Going back to Boston College, there appears to be a directive to attack the basket, no matter what. After UNC went 8/32 from three at Wake Forest, their attempts went all the way down to 16, and that's in an overtime game! Against Pitt, the attempts climbed back up to 24, but there were a lot of attempts taken in the last four seconds of the shot clock, likely not deliberate choices of the offense being run.

Pitt learned lessons watching the Boston College tape. They gave shooters plenty of space and sagged off drivers. Carolina had 34 points in the paint, but went just 12/22 in lay-up attempts. The Tar Heels turned the ball over 14 times, and it seemed like anytime a player drove into the paint looking for contact, they would lose the ball.

Adding to these woes was Ven Allen-Lubin, who just could not cleanly catch balls in the post, and when he did, failed to make smart decisions. He had four turnovers against six points.

The three-point shooting at Wake Forest shouldn't be mimicked again for the rest of the season, but teams need to fear deliberate shots from RJ Davis and Ian Jackson. Both seemed hesitant to shoot, especially Davis, who had several opportunities on switches to take Pitt's big men into deep water and get them off balance and out of blocking range, but elected instead to drive into their bodies and get blocked. This was not a vintage RJ Davis performance.

Schedule

Schedule