1/27/2021 basketball Edit

Heels Took Pitt Out Of Character, And It Paid Off

UNC executed one of its mandates to defeat Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, keeping two of its best players from going off. (ACC Media)

Andrew Jones • TarHeelIllustrated

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Andrew Jones has covered sports for 26 years, including all major college & professional sports for daily newspapers & national sites. He's done radio and TV & is entering his seventh year at THI.

PITTSBURGH, PA – Old guards have given North Carolina’s freshmen backcourt guys problems this season.

Texas, Iowa, and Georgia Tech, as examples, were games in which Caleb Love, in particular, and RJ Davis simply struggled facing 22 and 23-year-old grizzled veterans. So, heading into Tuesday night’s game at Pittsburgh presented another similar challenge.

Panthers’ point guard Xavier Johnson is an old 21, given his vast experience in the ACC, but Love and the Tar Heels handled him quite well in their 75-65 victory at Petersen Events Center. And the result was not only that Johnson had a rough night – 2-for-8 from the floor with four turnovers – but the Panthers weren’t in sync much offensive aside from two stretches in the second half.

UNC's defense on Johnson set the tone.

"A shifty, fast guard and he gets downhill with the best of them,” Love said about Johnson. “Probably the fastest guard I've played this year besides probably (Texas’) Matt Coleman. But yeah, just getting him out of his game. Just making him shoot outside shots and taking away the drive. So, that's exactly what we did."

Johnson entered the game averaging better than six assists and 14.5 points. But it wasn’t just Johnson, though, whom the Heels stymied.

Au’Diese Toney (16 points per game) also struggled finishing 3-for-10 from the field and scoring just eight points. The 6-foot-6 slasher and Johnson have been the steady complements to ACC Player of the Year frontrunner Justin Champagnie, and if all three are on, Pitt can beat just about anyone.

Carolina's collective defensive effort kept two of Pitt's best players from going off. (ACC Media)

Champagnie had a nice game, scoring 23 points, though he attempted only nine shots from the floor. But it was UNC’s effort on Johnson and Toney, who combined for 15 points on 5-for-18 shooting with five turnovers, that may have been the difference in the game.

"That was big,” UNC Coach Roy Williams said. “We've been letting guys set career highs against us. But, against Pittsburgh, Johnson is one of the two focal points we talked about. The other was no doubt about it, Champagnie, but we tried to build a wall, not let him get all the way to the basket and had to get our big guys to help in slowing down and I think that was important to us…

“I think with Johnson trying to make sure that he doesn't get it all the way to the rim every time, and I think Toney is a big-time player, too, he just didn't shoot it as well today. So, I was pleased with that part of it.”

That Ithiel Horton, who came into the game fourth on the team in field goal attempts, 29 shots behind Johnson, who was third, took the most shots (11) is further evidence Carolina’s plan was executed.

One of the recipes to win games is to not let star players perform in character, which UNC accomplished, and not allow role players to produce out of character, and the Heels achieved that, as well.

But it started with Love’s defense on Johnson, then Leaky Black’s on Toney, and so on.

"It was just a good job by Caleb and Leaky because Johnson and Toney are two really good players in this league,” senior forward Garrison Brooks said. “It was really just the tone Leaky and Caleb set for us with our defense."