Pitt upsets North Carolina in ACC Tournament quarterfinals, 80-75

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GREENSBORO, N.C.– After 80 minutes of basketball at the Greensboro Coliseum, the Pitt Panthers are yet to trail their opponent at any point in either of their two games so far.

Thursday, Pitt got out to an early lead and coasted to a 29-point win against Wake Forest. In their next game, the ACC newcomers knocked off one of the conference’s institutions by taking an early double-digit lead against No. 15 North Carolina.

That lead expanded to 20 points at one point in the second half and the cushion helped Pitt stave off a furious Tar Heel comeback to secure a 80-75 victory in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament.

The fifth-seeded Panthers’ upset of No. 4-seed North Carolina sends Pitt to the semi-finals of the tournament where No. 1-seeded Virginia awaits.

Today, Pitt (25-8) continued its mission it brought to Greensboro, N.C.–prove itself. So far, no player has best represented the Panthers’ goals than Talib Zanna who scored 19 points and pulled down a career-high 21 rebounds who says Pitt is motivated by those who “doubted” the Panthers.

“We just want to make a statement to all the people who doubted us,” Zanna said. “We’re on the bubble? We can make it to the NCAA Tournament, we can beat ranked teams.”

Zanna nearly tied the record ecord of 22 rebounds in a regulation-length game set by Wake Forest legend and current NBA great Time Duncan, but fouled out with 1:03 left in the game. In Zanna’s 34 minutes, though, he made North Carolina’s talented front line look like one of the ones he dominated so frequently in non-conference play.

The redshirt senior center is averaging 18 points on near-70 percent shooting and 15 boards in his two games in Greensboro, and says his high level of play comes from him finally being healthy after he twisted his ankle late in the season.

“I’m able to rebound and do my part,” Zanna said.

Behind Zanna the Panthers were able to out-rebound North Carolina 43-35, which was a goal head coach Jamie Dixon set for his team after Pitt and UNC were even in rebounds after the teams’ first matchup.

“The glass, the rebounding was key,” Dixon said. “We wanted to win the rebounding by 15, we only got it to eight. I thought we did a great job battling.”

Next to Zanna, James Robinson also set a career-high with 19 points. Robinson sparked Pitt’s offense early and scored 12 points in the first half, but said he didn’t enter the game focusing on his offensive aggression after scoring only two points Thursday.  

“My teammates did a really good job finding me when I was open,” Robinson said. “Obviously a lot of the defense was really keying in on Lamar [Patterson] and Cam [Wright] and they did a really good job finding the open players tonight.”

While the Panthers extended their lead, they held leading scorer Marcus Paige in check. The sophomore guard had just seven points at the half, and went about 33 minutes without making a 3-point basket.

Paige found himself matched up with multiple Pitt defenders Friday–mostly Cameron Wright, but also Robinson, Patterson and Josh Newkirk.

“We just played sound defensively: not going for pump fakes, staying down, trailing the screens and just sticking to our principles,” Newkirk said about Pitt’s strategy guarding a player averaging over 17 points per game.

But the First Team All-ACC selection proved why he is one of the most dangerous scorers in the league by scoring 20 points in the second half and help slice Pitt’s lead down to four points before he fouled with 25 seconds to play.

North Carolina’s comeback was keyed by a full-court press that played a heavy role in forcing Pitt into seven turnovers in the game’s final seven minutes. Dixon thought his Panthers handled the zone well enough, but gave the Tar Heels some help with their poor free throw shooting.

“We shoot 43 percent in the second half from the line so that obviously opened up some things,” Dixon said. “You know what happens at the end of the game, they’re going to get a few and there’s a lot of fouls called.”

Despite making only 2-of-8 free throws in their last four trips to the foul line, the Panthers held on to upset their higher-seeded competition for their first win against a ranked opponent this season.

Zanna for one was glad that the Panthers were finally able to win a close game, citing the previous game against North Carolina as well as those against Duke, Syracuse and Virginia where the Panthers couldn’t close

“We made a statement today,” Zanna said. “We take that as a motivation just to show people what we can do.”

And while Zanna doesn’t put stock into beating North Carolina team in North Carolina, Newkirk ( a Raleigh, N.C., native) liked the chance to defeat one of the programs deeply ingrained in the ACC’s rich history.

“It’s definitely big to beat a hometown team and just make a statement,” Newkirk said. “We’re going to keep moving and keep winning from here.”