North Carolina vs Pitt Prediction, Game Preview: ACC Tournament
North Carolina vs Pitt Basketball
Date: Friday, March 15
Game Time: 7:00 ET
Venue: Capital One Arena, Washington, DC
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: North Carolina (26-6), Pitt (22-10)
North Carolina vs Pitt Preview
Why Pitt Will Win
Are you all sure this is a bubble team?
Pitt wasn’t even really on the First Four Out radar through the process, and then it came out and walloped Wake Forest 81-69 in the Quarterfinal to make it four wins in a row and a 10-2 run at just the right time.
The Panthers cranked up the shooting at just the right time. They’ve been great on the inside, on from the outside, and when they make 40% of their threes, forget it.
No one in the ACC jacks it up more from the outside, and now after the win over the Demon Deacons, they’re 18-1 when making 35% or more from three. The North Carolina defense is terrific, but it allowed teams to hit at least 35% from the outside 12 times.
Pitt has to start firing and keep firing to try keeping up, it’s one of the few teams in the country that can hang with the Tar Heels on the boards, and …
Why North Carolina Will Win
Are you sure this isn’t a 1 seed?
Everyone is trying to put in Arizona or Tennessee into that fourth spot, but other than that team in Storrs, who’d playing better than the Tar Heels right now?
Yeah, Pitt is great on the glass, and yeah, it can hit a ton of threes to be a big problem if it gets hot, but 70-57. That was the UNC’s win over the Panthers in their only meeting, with the defense all over the outside shooters - Pitt hit just 5 of 29 from three - and was +12 on the boards.
With this team lately, it’s about making a statement. It came out roaring in the regular season finale at Duke, it came out roaring in the Quarterfinal win over Florida State, and …
North Carolina vs Pitt: Who Will Win
Pitt has the ability and the makeup to give North Carolina a hard time.
No, this isn’t a one-dimensional Panther team, and there are a ton of things to like on both ends of the floor, but it’s 2-4 when it makes fewer than eight threes and 13-10 when it makes fewer than 12.
Miami and Lehigh. Those are the only two teams this season that hit more than 12 threes against the Tar Heels, and they both lost.
North Carolina vs Pitt Prediction, Line
North Carolina 84, Pitt 73
Line: North Carolina -6.5, o/u: 147.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3.5
