Roy: Defending The 3 Key Against Improving Pitt

CHAPEL HILL – Pittsburgh is a better team right now than it was when the Panthers came within two points of North Carolina in the Smith Center on Jan. 31, UNC coach Roy Williams says.

Since then, Pitt (15-13, 4-11 ACC) has gone 3-3, but its loss at Carolina was its seventh straight loss. The streak moved to eight when the Panthers dropped a close game at Duke several days later.

The wins, though, suggest a team that is more like what was projected back in the fall is coming together. Pitt handled Boston College, beat Syracuse and took care of an excellent Florida State team last weekend.

Kevin Stallings’ team is coming off a disappointing loss at Wake Forest, in which it blew a 19-point lead, but this is still a more confident and together group than the one the Heels faced 25 days ago.

“It’s just a matter of time,” UNC Coach Roy Williams said Friday at the Smith Center. “Four starters back from a team that went to the NCAA Tournament last year. It was just the transition from one coach to a new coach, I think it took them a little longer to get to know Kevin, and took Kevin longer to get to know them.

“If the season were to start over now, I would probably think they wouldn’t have the record where they are right now.”

So, what are the Panthers doing better since that first meeting?

“They do some things really well,” Williams said. “They’re defending, their zone, I think when they played us was one of the first games that they played a lot of zone. That’s helped them. They do a great job of shooting 3-point shots, they also do a great job of getting to the free throw line and they’re a good free throw shooting team.”

Opponents are shooting 45.1 percent from the floor for the season versus the Panthers, but that figure is closer to 41 percent over the last six games. Pitt is fourth in the ACC shooting 73.2 percent from the line, yet the Tar Heels sent Pitt to the line just 5 times, prompting Williams to call it one of the Heels’ “cleanest” games.

But what Pittsburgh does particularly well is shoot from the perimeter, and the Panthers aren’t shy about letting it fly.

The Panthers have played one game less than UNC but have attempted 34 more 3s. Breaking it down, however, 38.6 pf their field goal attempts are from beyond the arc while UNC, which attempts 10 more shots a game, attempts a 3-pointer 29.9 percent of the time.

Pitt is shooting 37.5 percent, UNC is at 37.2 percent. So, it’s clear the Panthers are far more reliant on the 3 than the Tar Heels, and they do so with big men taking many of them, as well. So, defending the 3 will be a point of emphasis for Carolina.

“We’ve got to defend the 3-point line with more of a sense of urgency,” Williams said. “It’s a hard matchup because (Pitt’s) Jamel (Artis) and Michael Young, they’re two of their biggest players and they shoot a lot of 3s. Cameron Johnson made six of them here, the Jones youngster, who I think had made three in the conference season up until our game makes two in the game. So, it was a big part of their offense.

“The games that they’ve won and played really well they’ve made a lot of 3s. We’ve got to have a greater sense of urgency to get to the 3-point line, and try to do a better job of guarding the ball ourselves so we don’t have to help.”

Game time is at noon and it will air on the ACC Network. Check local listings.