GAMEDAY Mens Basketball
Pittsburgh 76, North Carolina 74
By JOHN PERROTTO
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - Jamarius Burton scored a career-high 31 points, Blake Hinson had seven points in the final minute and a half and Pittsburgh knocked off No. 25 North Carolina 76-74.
Burton, a graduate student, was 14 of 17 from the field and had six rebounds. He helped Pitt (10-4, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) win its fourth straight game and remain unbeaten in conference play.
Hinson's 3-pointer from the right wing put Pitt ahead for good 70-67 with 1:28 remaining and he extended the Panthers' lead by making two free throws with 36 seconds left and two more with 28 seconds to go to make it 74-69.
North Carolina (9-5, 1-2 ACC) closed the gap to two points, 74-72, on Tyler Nickel's layup with two seconds left but Pitt ran out the clock to end the Tar Heels' four-game winning streak.
Hinson finished with 16 points and six rebounds.
Armando Bacot led North Carolina with 22 points, 13 rebounds and three assists. It was his eighth double-double of the season. RJ Davis added 13 points and Pete Nance chipped in with 10 points.
North Carolina took a nine-point lead, 55-46 with 11:55 to go on a dunk by Bacot. Pitt responded by outscoring the Tar Heels 19-7 over nearly an eight-minute span and moved in front with 65-62 with 3:59 left on a three-point play and layup by Burton.
Two free throws by North Carolina's Leaky Black tied it at 67-67.
North Carolina built a 26-17 advantage with 9:15 left in the first half on a pullup jumper by Caleb Love. However, Pitt went on a 13-4 run to tie the score at 30-all on a pair of free throws by Greg Elliott with 3:37 remaining.
The Tar Heels then scored 10 of the last 14 points in the half to pull back ahead 40-34.
Bacot nearly had a double-double by the break - 10 points and nine rebounds.
BIG PICTURE
North Carolina: The Tar Heels seemed to be back on track by winning four games in a row following a four-game losing streak that dropped them from No. 1 to out of the Top 25. Friday's game was a step backward.
Pittsburgh: The Panthers have won nine of 10 games since opening the season 1-3, seemingly taking coach Jeff Capel off the hot seat.
December 30, 2022
| North Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| A. Bacot | F | 37 | 8-14 | 6-7 | 0-1 | 5-13 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 22 |
| P. Nance | F | 29 | 4-8 | 0-2 | 2-5 | 0-5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| R. Davis | G | 35 | 4-11 | 7-8 | 1-5 | 0-5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 16 |
| C. Love | G | 35 | 3-9 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0-2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| L. Black | G | 30 | 2-9 | 4-4 | 1-4 | 2-9 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| D. Dunn | 20 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| T. Nickel | 7 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| S. Trimble | 5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| P. Johnson | 2 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| Totals | 200 | 25-58 (.431) |
17-21 (.810) |
7-22 (.318) |
8-38 | 14 | 5 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 74 | |
| Pittsburgh | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| B. Hinson | F | 37 | 4-14 | 5-7 | 3-10 | 2-6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 16 |
| F. Federiko | C | 34 | 2-7 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| N. Cummings | G | 35 | 4-9 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 1-3 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| J. Burton | G | 34 | 14-17 | 3-5 | 0-1 | 0-6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 31 |
| G. Elliott | G | 27 | 2-8 | 2-2 | 1-5 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| N. Sibande | 24 | 2-6 | 3-3 | 0-3 | 0-3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| J. Diaz Graham | 5 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G. Diaz Graham | 4 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Totals | 200 | 29-63 (.460) |
13-17 (.765) |
5-25 (.200) |
7-33 | 14 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 76 | |
