Discussion
For the second time this season the Heels surpassed 100 points and got us all a good deal on sausage biscuits at Bojangles. The Heels scored 1.27 pts/poss, the 7th best offensive display since 1996. Defensively they held Charleston Southern to 0.76 pts/possession, which is surprisingly only the 274th best defensive showing in that same period. Overall, however, it was a Smith Index of 0.4056, the 9th most sound beating of a team in the last 1002 games.

This is a kind of game that kept the team warm, but told us much more about Charleston Southern than it did the Heels. On to the next one...

Whom are we pulling for?

Chizik and Cross have been let go.

CAROLINA 70, PITTSBURGH 57
JANUARY 2, 2024
PETERSEN CENTER
PITTSBURGH, PA.

UNC Scoring Leader: Armando Bacot 16
UNC Rebound Leader: Harrison Ingram career-high 15
UNC Assist Leader: RJ Davis 4
Team Records: UNC 10-3, 2-0 ACC; Pittsburgh 9-5, 0-3 ACC

• Armando Bacot led UNC with 16 points, becoming the seventh Tar Heel to score 2,000 career points (2,003).
• Harrison Ingram grabbed a game-high and career-best 15 rebounds (previous was 11 vs. San Jose State on 11/15/2021 while playing for Stanford).
• Ingram scored a season-low seven points (2 for 14 FG) but had 15 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and no turnovers, and hit a key three-pointer to give Carolina a nine-point lead with 4:10 to play.
• Carolina out-rebounded Pitt by 10 (51-41).
• The Tar Heels had a season-high 16 offensive rebounds.

• The Tar Heels out-scored the Panthers, 15-1, on second-chance points. The one point was the fewest by an opponent this season.
• Carolina shot a season-low 36.5% from the floor. It was the lowest percentage in a win since shooting 33.3% at Notre Dame late last season.
• UNC missed its first 10 shots from the floor, the most to begin a game since going 0 for 15 in a home loss to Georgia Tech on 1/4/2020.
• The Tar Heels held the Panthers to 30.9% from the floor, including 26.5% (9 of 34) in the second half. That is the lowest percentage in a half by an opponent this season.
• Pitt’s 57 points were the fewest by an opponent since UC Riverside scored 52 in November.

• Carolina was 19 for 22 from the free throw line. It was UNC’s second-highest percentage (.864) of the season and best since UNI.
• Bacot had 16 points and 10 rebounds for his 74th career double-double.
• Carolina is 5-1 this season and 53-21 all-time when Bacot has a double-double.
• RJ Davis had 15 points. His streak of 20-point games ended at eight, longest since 2008-09.
• Davis passed Jeff Lebo for 29th in UNC career scoring (1,578) and passed Hubert Davis for ninth at UNC in three-pointers (199).

• Seth Trimble scored 10 off the bench. It was his second consecutive game scoring in double figures (fourth time this season and fifth of his career).
• Trimble led UNC with nine of its 31 points in the first half. It was the first time this season he led UNC outright in scoring in a half (he and Bacot both had a team-high seven in the second half vs. UC Riverside).
• Carolina is 7-0 this season when four or more players score in double figures.
• The Tar Heels are 9-0 when scoring more second-chance points, 9-2 when scoring more fastbreak points (10-7 tonight), 7-0 when scoring more paint points (26-24) and 8-0 when scoring more bench points (18-12).

Carolina-Pittsburgh
• The Tar Heels snapped a three-game losing streak to Pittsburgh and are 16-8 all-time vs. the Panthers.
• UNC is 7-3 against the Panthers in Pittsburgh, including 4-3 in the Petersen Center.
• Bacot increased his career totals to 108 points and 72 rebounds vs. Pittsburgh, both the most by a Tar Heel all-time.

Next Game: at Clemson, Saturday, January 6 (Noon, ESPN2)

I am here on press row going solo tonight.

I hope we go in there tomorrow and Smack them they have had our number for a few years and they Punked us and called us soft. I hope R J and Mando have a Chip on their Shoulder and Convey it to the rest of the TEAM.