The hits keep coming for the Pitt basketball team.
North Carolina was next in line to take a shot at the undermanned Panthers, and the 11th-ranked Tar Heels — shorthanded themselves — registered another knockout punch.
Seth Trimble and Jarin Stevenson scored 19 points apiece to lead four double-digit scorers as North Carolina, minus its top two scorers and rebounders, rolled to a 79-65 victory Saturday at Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., extending Pitt’s losing streak to five.
“We had some chances,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel told reporters in Chapel Hill, “but (it was) our inability to finish as we got close to the basket and our inability to take away easy baskets. Our transition defense. Understanding our rotations when we double post. We didn’t do a good job of that, and then just some individual defense, where we have to be better.”
North Carolina (20-5, 8-4 ACC) was playing without 6-foot-10 freshman Caleb Wilson (19.8 ppg, 9.4 rpg), the ACC’s fourth-leading scorer, and 7-foot junior Henri Veesaar (16.4 ppg, 9.0 rpg) but still managed to reach 20 victories for the fifth consecutive season under coach Hubert Davis.
“They played really well,” Capel said. “They were going through some adversity with their two leading scorers out. But guys stepped up and played really well for them.”
Wilson, who has a broken bone in his left hand, and Veesaar, reportedly dealing with a lower-body injury, have combined for 62 blocks for the Tar Heels, who never trailed.
Cameron Corhen led Pitt with a career-high tying 23 points, despite not practicing since twisting an ankle in the Panthers’ 70-54 home loss to No. 4 Duke.
“We’re grateful for the game that Cam gave us, not just the scoring, but the minutes he had,” Capel said. “He didn’t practice Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.”
Pitt (9-17, 2-11), also without leading scorer Brandin Cummings for a fifth game in a row, have dropped nine consecutive regular-season games to AP Top 25 teams dating to an 11-point victory against then-No. 21 Virginia on Feb. 13, 2024.
Cummings, the sophomore guard from Lincoln Park, remained sidelined with a sprained ankle, while point guard Demarco Minor was a late scratch from the starting lineup after arriving for the game about an hour before tipoff.
Minor’s girlfriend gave birth to their child early Saturday morning, and Minor did not travel on the team’s charter plane to North Carolina, arriving later by commercial flight.
It marked just the second time in 125 Division I games that Minor had come off the bench. In 27 minutes, he scored three points and grabbed seven rebounds for Pitt.
Zayden High and Luka Bogavac added 15 points each for North Carolina, which shot 53% in the first half on its way to a 46-32 halftime lead.
Roman Siulepa added 14 points, and Barry Dunning Jr. chipped in 10 for Pitt, which returns to Petersen Events Center with a week off before hosting Notre Dame on Saturday.
“Hopefully, we can get a little more healthy and regroup,” Capel said.
North Carolina jumped on Pitt from the start, converting its first eight shots to offset three consecutive 3-pointers by Corhen and led 26-15 with 9 minutes, 41 seconds left in the first half on a 3-pointer by Stevenson.
Pitt stayed within 10 points on several occasions, but the Panthers couldn’t keep up and trailed by 14 at halftime.
“It’s frustrating how they started,” Capel said. “We didn’t do a good job of guarding the basketball early, but we knew exactly what they were going to do. We worked on it for a day-and-a-half. Thursday, we couldn’t do much in practice. We had six guys physically able to practice. It was a lot of film work and individual work.
Dunning’s basket for Pitt to start the second half pulled the Panthers within 12 points, but North Carolina, coming off a 75-66 loss at Miami, gained steam and extended its lead to as many as 22 before cruising to sixth victory in seven games.
For Capel, the season has been a major challenge. He’s well aware of the Panthers’ lack of depth from the start. But there are fixable problems, he reasoned.
“Transition defense for us has been a problem for awhile,” he said. “It was a problem against Duke, a problem against SMU (86-67 loss on Feb. 7) and a problem against North Carolina. Part of it is fatigue, part of it is concentration. I hesitate to say lack of effort because I think fatigue plays into that.
“But we have to be able to get over that. We have to take away easy baskets. These teams that we’re playing are too good just to give them easy baskets. We want to make them take tough shots in order to score. It’s difficult in any game, no matter who you’re playing. But especially when you’re playing against a good team.”