UNC … missing Top Scorer now faces Pitt

Written by Sharon Thorsland It has not been a good week for North Carolina. The Tar Heels (19-5, 7-4 ACC) followed their huge win over Duke with a let-down loss at Miami on Tuesday. Even worse, they lost star freshman Caleb Wilson to a broken left hand. Wilson suffered the injury in the first half of the game and is out indefinitely. That’s a huge loss for UNC, who returns home Saturday to face Pitt. Tip-off is set for 2:00 on WBT.

The Panthers have had a rough season; they’re 9-16 on the year and just 2-10 in the ACC after their loss to Duke earlier this week. Lack of scoring has been a problem – Pitt averages just 70.1 points per game, that’s 309th in the nation! It hasn’t helped that the leading scorer Brandon Cummings is also sidelined right now with an ankle injury. But three other Panthers are averaging in in double figures, including senior big man Cameron Corhen, who leads the team right now at 12 points a game. Barry Dunning Jr. adds over 11 points and five rebounds a contest, and Roman Siulepa has come on strong recently, dropping 19 points against the Blue Devils. Pitt is great on the offensive boards, averaging over 12 a game, that ranks third in the ACC. That was a problem for the Tar Heels against the Hurricanes on Tuesday, as they gave up way to many second chance points. Oregon State transfer Damarco Minor runs the offense, the senior point guard teams with freshman Omari Witherspoon, they combine for 16 points a game.

Defensively the Panthers aren’t so great, they give up a lot of points so the Tar Heels and their fast-paced offense should be able to score. UNC needs to push the tempo early and not get off to a slow start like they have in the past two games. And someone is going to have to step up and attempt to replace Wilson’s 20 points and nearly 10 rebounds a game. Jarin Stevenson will likely start alongside Henri Veesaar but there is not a lot of depth in the front court behind them.

For some reason the Panthers have given the Tar Heels fits over the years, so no one is overlooking them, in spite of their record. And after losing three in a row to Pitt, UNC has now won three of the last four matchups and is 7-3 in the Dean Dome. Even without Wilson, the Tar Heels have the firepower to beat the Panthers and get back on track. They should push their home record to 15-0 with this one.Go Tar Heels!