PITTSBURGH, PA – Some might call it “bully ball.” Armando Bacot agrees.

The North Carolina sophomore forward is making it a regular thing using a combination of his brute strength and finesse to find ways to score over, around and through opposing big men. Freshman Day’Ron Sharpe does this some, as does senior Garrison Brooks.

Bully ball is a thing right now at UNC, and it’s working quite well for the streaking Tar Heels.

"I'd definitely say, just as a trio, we've been finding our swag a little bit,” Bacot said, following Carolina’s 75-65 win at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night at Petersen Events Center. “Just starting to know where others like the ball and that just makes it a lot easier when we all can play off each other in both the high posts and the low posts.”

Jumpers in the lane and even jump hooks aren’t exactly bully ball, though the way Bacot gets defenders on his hip for hooks and short Js certainly qualifies as physical basketball.

The combination of finesse and the raw strength of the trio is working well for the Tar Heels, enhanced by the team’s increased mission to get the ball into them.

For example, since halftime of UNC’s win over Wake Forest last week, the Tar Heels are 86-for-160 from the field, which is 53.8 percent. Through halftime against the Demon Deacons, the Heels were shooting 41.7 percent from the field. The difference has been that mantra to more rgulalry own the paint.

Through halftime versus Wake, 71 percent of UNC’s field goal attempts were from inside the 3-point arc, since however, 81.9 percent have been conventional twos.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that UNC’s adjusted offensive efficiency has improved to No. 48 in the nation after spending most of the season well into the 100. Carolina is even up to No. 47 in the nation in possession time averaging 15.9 seconds. This, too, has improved dramatically in recent weeks.

Better ball movement, body movement, and improved spacing have made for easier entry pass lanes and allowed the bigs to find more favorable scenarios.

“We're getting more one-on-one coverages and things like that,” said Bacot, who is 18-for-24 from the field in his last three games. “And honestly, I feel like us, whenever we get a one-on-one coverage, there's a high probability we're gonna score."

The Tar Heels have won three consecutive games averaging just better than 80 points per contest, a clear indication of improvement as well. They managed 80-plus just once in the first 11 contests.

It’s actually now three of the last five at 80 or more points, and the last two times they failed to score that much, Carolina was at 75 in Tallahassee versus an excellent defensive Florida State team and this past Tuesday at Pittsburgh, when the Heels shot nearly 61 percent for the second half and were at 52.5 percent for the game.

Their Hall of Fame coach isn’t interested in giving his team any reason to start thinking they’ve arrived at some appropriate level of play, but he acknowledges there has been growth.

“Yes, I'm getting happier with them,” Roy Williams said in Pittsburgh. “I'm getting more proud of them because it's a hard league to try to get everybody together on the same page because every night is a battle.”

Breaking it down even more, through the first 27 halves of the season, which goes through the intermission versus Wake, the trio of Brooks, Bacot and Sharpe averaged 11.4 shot attempts per half, equating to 22.8 per game. In the last five, they are averaging 14 field goal attempts per half, which is 28 per contest.

Narrowing it to Bacot, he averaged 6.4 shots per game (3.2 per half) through the first 27 halves, but is at 11.6 a contest (5.8 per half) over the last five. In fact, Bacot has attempted 10 or more shots in a game just four times this season, and that has come over Carolina’s last five games.

So, it isn’t any surprise his numbers have been up, especially over UNC’s last three games in which the 6-foot-10 sophomore has averaged 18.7 points on 75 percent shooting, and one of his eight misses in 32 attempts was a 3-point attempt as the shot clock was about to expire in the first half at Pitt. Prior to this stretch, Bacot averaged 11.2 points per game, but now he’s up to a team-leading 12.6.

"Just staying focused,” Bacot replied, when asked that the difference has been. He then gave further explanation, citing a rough stretch in practice in early October that pushed him to the back of the bench, so to speak.

“I had a great practice and then, I think it was something like my abductor was hurting or something like that, and I remember just playing on the blue team for like three weeks, like I was subbing in for Dewy (Ryan McAdoo),” Bacot said, smiling. “So, that kind of fired me up, like me being literally the last man on the team, the 17th man, and just having to deal with that for three weeks, that kind of just fired me up.”

Bacot and the Tar Heels are fired up right now. They’ve seen that the inside-out formula works and have given all appearances they’re married to that approach. The bully ball approach.