North Carolina Dismantles Pitt on Senior Day

Pitt rode the emotions of senior day for as long as they could yesterday before falling to the eighth ranked North Carolina Tar Heels, 85-67. Pitt led around the under 12 timeout, before UNC chipped away and then took over before halftime. The Heels used three point shooting and domination of the offensive glass to take apart the Panthers.

Justin Jackson led all scorers with 23 points, while Joel Berry II and Kennedy Meeks finished with 19 and 18 respectively. The Heels shot 10 out of 24 from beyond the arc and Pitt just couldn’t stay with them.

Seniors Jamel Artis and Michael Young each put up 17 points a piece on their final performance in front of the Oakland Zoo, but it wasn’t enough. Pitt chipped away to cut the Carolina lead to eight in the second half, but the three pointers wouldn’t stop from North Carolina. UNC quickly built the lead back up to take away any doubt in the outcome.

The Panthers were also badly hurt on the boards, as Roy Williams’ squad crushed Pitt in that category. Pitt finished the game with 28 total rebounds. North Carolina had 24....OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS. Yes, that tally is just offensive rebounds. Meeks had seven of the offensive rebounds, but it was really the entire team that crashed the glass, as no other Tar Heel recorded more than four offensive boards.

North Carolina stayed atop of the ACC conference with a 13-3 record and pushed their overall mark to 25-5. Pitt fell to 15-14 and 4-12 in the ACC. Pitt is finished with their season at The Pete (save for maybe a lesser post-season game). They will finish up on the road, with matchups against Georgia Tech and UVA.

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