Heel Tough Blog: Pittsburgh Recap

Bob Donnan- Imagn Images

No Caleb Wilson. No Henri Veesaar. No problem. After coming into the game against Pittsburgh without Wilson because of a fracture in his left hand that was revealed earlier in the week, the Tar Heels found out in pregame that they were also going to be without Veesaar due to an illness and a lower-body extremity injury. Without their top two scorers and rebounders, it would have made sense if the Tar Heels had struggled in the game against Pittsburgh, but that wasn’t the case.

The team got off to a fast start in the first half, hitting its first eight shots to establish an early double-digit lead that they would never really look back from in this game. Behind a big first half from Jarin Stevenson (14 pts), Seth Trimble (13 pts) and Luka Bogavac (10 pts), the Tar Heels would extend the lead to 14 at halftime while shooting 53.3% from the field in the first half as a team.

The team wouldn’t shoot nearly as well in the second half, but it wouldn’t really matter. Despite shooting 48.1% from the field in the second half, Pittsburgh never got closer than a 12 point margin. A big part of the reason for that was the Tar Heels ability to force turnovers, as they created seven in the half and turned it into six points on the other end. Despite a more difficult second half on the offensive end of the floor, the Tar Heels would still walk away with a comfortable 79-65 win.

In terms of who led the way, it was Stevenson and Trimble who set the tone in that first half. Stevenson finished the day with his best performance as a Tar Heel, pouring in 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc in a team-high 36 minutes. As for Trimble, he was the main player that was being looked at to step up without Wilson and Veesaar and he did just that. He finished with 19 points of his own on 5-of-13 shooting and 9-of-11 from the free throw line in 35 minutes of action. Luka Bogavac also finished with one of his better performances of the season, finishing with 15 points on 6-of-15 from the field and 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. The biggest surprise of the day, though, came with the production that the team got from Zayden High. He too finished with 15 points, shooting 7-of-11 from the field and 1-of-2 from the foul line while also pulling down a team-high seven rebounds.

1. Frontcourt Still Produces Without Wilson and Veesaar: When we got the news that both Wilson and Veesaar were going to miss this game, the backcourt was challenged to step up and replace the production left behind by those two guys. While the backcourt had a solid day of production itself, it was the frontcourt that stepped up in their absence. Stevenson made his impact felt all over the floor on the offensive end while High contributed by getting some high percentage looks in the paint. This is not what should be expected every night moving forward from this duo, but knowing that they are capable of this is encouraging.

2. Defense Steps Up: One of the other concerns with the loss of Wilson and Veesaar was how this team would respond defensively. While the starting bigs for the Panthers did combine for 37 points, part of that was due to the amount of switching that the team did throughout the day. The more important thing was that the Tar Heels were able to keep the backcourt quiet, as they kept guys like Barry Dunning Jr. and Damarco Minor from getting to their spots and knocking down shots for most of the day. The Tar Heels also did a great job of creating 12 turnovers on a day where they committed just four. If this team can bring this type of defensive effort for however long they are without Wilson, they might be able to have more success than we once thought down the stretch here.

3. Bogavac Steps Up: One of the guys that has to be better than he has been for most of this season during this upcoming stretch without Wilson is Bogavac. He has been playing better basketball as of late, but they need him to be more consistent and Saturday was a great start. His 15 points were crucial towards the team building the type of lead that they did in this one and could be very valuable in a game against a tough opponent. With the schedule getting tougher starting Tuesday night in Raleigh, the Tar Heels need Bogavac to be the guy that he was in the first half of this game if they are going to be able to win games down the stretch.

4. Struggles on the Boards Continue: The one negative that you could take away from this game is that the team still isn’t rebounding the way that they should be. The team was outrebounded 32-27 in this one despite strong days from High and point guard Derek Dixon, who both had seven rebounds on the day. Against NC State on Tuesday, the team will need more from the rest of the group, mainly guys like Stevenson and Bogavac, if they are going to be able to compete on the glass the way they’ll need to if they want to win.

5. Dixon Responds: After a rough showing in the game on Tuesday night in Miami, Dixon needed to respond and he did that on Saturday. While he may not have scored the ball at a high level, he did a great job on the glass and dished out seven assists with just one turnover on the day. The Tar Heels will need more scoring-wise from the point guard spot down the stretch of this season without Wilson, but this was a nice answer to the questions that some had about him after those struggles in Coral Gables.