Pitt guard drops 31 in virtuoso performance
Pitt beat #25 North Carolina at the Pete this afternoon. Down 40-34 at the half, the Panthers kept it close all second half, never letting the deficit reach double digits. A 16-7 run near the under four break in the second half gave Pitt its first lead since the first minute of the game.
The star of the game is obviously Jamarius Burton who scored 31 points on 14-17 shooting. Blake Hinson added 16 and had several big second half baskets.
This is obviously a huge win for Pitt to move to 3-0 in the conference. UNC had won four games in a row and was starting to look more and more like the preseason #1 team. And it certainly looked that way as they jumped out to an 11-3 lead early. For UNC, Armando Bacot was excellent as usual, scoring 22 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. RJ Davis added 16 for the Tar Heels. Pitt did a fantastic job taking care of the basketball as they committed only eight turnovers. Despite the game taking place over winter break, the Oakland Zoo and crowd was electric. The players definitely fed off the energy in the final ten minutes.
Next up for Pitt is a home date with Virginia on January 3 while UNC hosts Wake Forest on January 4.
We’ll be back with a deeper look at Pitt’s big win later tonight.