Hubert Davis explains final possession against Pittsburgh

For the third straight time the Pitt Panthers for the best of North Carolina, defeating the Tar Heels 65-64 in a back-and-forth battle. Pitt guard Jamarius Burton hit two free throw shots that gave the Panthers a one-point lead with 3 seconds left. After the game, Tar Heels head coach Hubert Davis pulled back the curtain on the events the folded in UNC’s final possession of the ball game.

“At the free throw line we had called a play to advance the ball up the floor without dribbling,” Davis said. “We go through it every day, we went through it at shoot around and I haven’t watched the film but we didn’t execute it properly.”

Instead of running a play, North Carolina guard RJ Davis dribbled the ball past half-court and called a timeout with .6 seconds remaining on the clock.

“And so then I can’t remember who got the ball, I think it was RJ, and so we dribbled the ball up, it was only .6 seconds left,” Davis said. “We had called a play that gave us a couple looks, one near the basket and then number two coming towards the ball.”

The ball ended up going to UNC guard Caleb Love, who attempted a last second three pointer that was blocked by Pitt’s Nike Sibande to help the Panthers secure yet another upset victory versus the Tar Heels on their home court.

“The one that we passed the ball to was Caleb coming towards the ball and .6 is enough to shoot your regular shot but it just didn’t go in,” Davis said.

Pitt’s backcourt stepped up big in their victory. Point guard Nelly Cummings dropped 21 points for the Panthers, including hitting five of his six three-point attempts. Down by three points in the second half, Cummings went on his own 9-0 hitting three straight three-pointers to give Pitt a crucial burst of momentum in the second half.

Burton didn’t have quite the showing he did in the first season meeting with the Tar Heels this season where he had 31 points, but his 19 points on Wednesday and clutch free throw shooting down the stretch were key in Pitt’s victory.

The Panthers snapped a four-game winning streak that the Tar Heels had coming off of their bye week. Love led all scorers with 22 points, and Armando Bacot notched his 13th double-double this season. The Tar Heels face rival Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium for their next game on Saturday, while Pitt, who is now just one game back from the top of the conference, will take on Louisville on Tuesday in their next matchup.