Hubert Davis remains optimistic about the immediate future of North Carolina, but the Tar Heels’ coach admits that frustration is building as the team readies to host Pitt on Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The Tar Heels have lost four of their last five in Atlantic Coast Conference play, and as Davis emphasized, turnovers have been costly.
Over its last two games — both losses — UNC has committed 28 total turnovers resulting in 41 points for its opponents. On the flip side, the Tar Heels (13-10, 6-5 ACC) have recorded just 11 points off 14 takeaways.
“Unforced turnovers is something that we’ve had a problem with,” Davis said, pointing out the stat after UNC fell 87-70 at No. 2 Duke last Saturday. “Against good teams, that’s just not going to work.”
North Carolina has a chance for some retribution against Pitt (14-8, 5-6), which defeated the Tar Heels 73-65 on Jan. 28 after scoring nine straight points to close the game and holding UNC scoreless over the final three minutes.
The Panthers, though, have endured their own struggles, losing six of the last eight. They are coming off a 73-57 home loss to Virginia on Monday, when Cavaliers ripped off a 17-0 run early and held the Panthers to a season-low 19 points in the first half.
“I have to do a better job with this team,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. “I have not done as good a job that’s required for us to be the team that I think we can be, I thought we could be, I still think we can be. We collectively have to do a better job, but it starts with me.”
Jaland Lowe, averaging 17.0 points and 5.5 assists per game, posted 18 and seven against the Tar Heels last week. Lowe looks to repeat the effort on Saturday as Pitt aims for its fourth straight win in Chapel Hill.
While RJ Davis leads the Tar Heels at 17.3 points per game, UNC would love to see Ian Jackson find his rhythm again. The freshman has recorded just one double-digit scoring game over the past five contests after averaging nearly 23 points over the previous seven outings.
“The one encouraging thing for me is that I don’t think we’ve reached our full potential,” Hubert Davis said. “That’s out there. I’ve seen how good we can be on both ends of the floor. The consistency is the thing that’s needed from this group. We have time and we have opportunity to move forward to be able to do that.”
–Field Level Media
