The No. 12 North Carolina men’s basketball team defeated Pittsburgh, 80-78, on Tuesday night in the Smith Center.
What happened?
Justin Jackson and Joel Berry were a dream team for UNC in the first half. When the Panthers closed the gap to trail 29-28, a Berry 3-pointer restored momentum to North Carolina. Later on, back-to-back threes from Berry and Jackson extended the Tar Heel lead to 38-30 — the largest lead of the half — forcing a Pittsburgh timeout. The two combined for 22 of UNC’s 42 points in the half.
At first, it looked like UNC would break ahead of the Panthers, as the Tar Heels took a 47-38 lead at the start of the second half.