Jamarius Burton scores career-best 31 points to rally Pitt past No. 25 North Carolina

For as much respect as Jeff Capel had for North Carolina, the Pitt coach was confident about one thing: Jamarius Burton presented a difficult matchup for the Tar Heels because of his size and strength.

Trailing by nine points in the second half, the Panthers knew they needed a star turn to rally back in their ACC home opener.

Burton delivered in a big way.

The 6-foot-4 senior guard scored a career-best 31 points in leading Pitt to a 76-74 victory over No. 25 North Carolina on Friday afternoon at Petersen Events Center.

“We just put the ball in his hands and screened and just let him go and let him to make plays,” Capel said, “and he made a lot of them for us.”

Capel called Burton’s performance “incredibly efficient,” given that he made 14 of 17 shots from the field, including a three-point play to give the Panthers the lead with 3 minutes, 59 seconds remaining. North Carolina coach Hubert Davis was more succinct.

“Defensively, we just didn’t have an answer for Burton,” Davis said. “Nobody on our team could guard him.”

The Panthers (10-4, 3-0) won their first three games in ACC play for the first time since 2015-16 and extended their winning streak to four. They snapped a four-game win streak by North Carolina (9-5, 1-2) by outscoring the Tar Heels, 31-19, over the final 11:55.

North Carolina jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the first 4:05, forcing the Panthers to call a timeout. The Tar Heels stretched their lead to nine points several times, making it 26-17 on a runner by Caleb Love at 9:15.

The Panthers held Love to seven points, 11.3 below his season average, but had trouble stopping 6-11 forward Armando Bacot (22 points and 13 rebounds) and guard R.J. Davis (16 points).

Burton rallied the Panthers with a turnaround jumper off the glass to beat the shot clock, then a jump hook in the lane. Nelly Cummings hit a jumper to cut it to two before Greg Elliott tied the score on a pair of free throws at 30-30 with 3:37 remaining.

North Carolina shot 52% (16 of 31) from the field in the first half, making 6 of 13 3-pointers, and held a 22-12 edge in rebounding, with 11 second-chance points. The Panthers made 13 of 31 field goals (42%), but shot only 2 of 13 from beyond the arc.

“The thing I was most proud of was that even though we did not shoot the ball well, which we have the past few games, we still stayed together and still defended,” Capel said. “That’s a sign of maturity for our group because in the past, we maybe would’ve wilted. We kept fighting, we stayed together and we were able to go on some runs of our own.”

The reverse was true in the second half, when Pitt made 16 of 32 shots while North Carolina made only 9 of 27 from the field and 1 of 9 from 3. Despite getting outrebounded (38-33), the Panthers outscored the Tar Heels in the paint 42-26.

Many of those came from Burton, whose three-point play to start the second half cut it to 40-37. But the Tar Heels extended their lead to nine again on a Bacot dunk at 11:55. Blake Hinson (16 points) answered with a 3-pointer, and Burton sparked the Panthers with a spin for a lefty layup, cutting it to 55-51.

“Jamarius was unbelievable throughout the whole game,” Capel said. “We rode him. He carried us.”

Nike Sibande scored on a driving layup, then found Cummings for a 3-pointer in the left corner to cut it to 57-56 with 7:20 left. Sibande, however, was called for a technical foul, and Davis made a free throw for a 58-56 lead. Cummings twice tied the score, first on a jumper in the lane, then by stripping Davis for a breakaway layup.

“A guy that really stepped up and turned the game around for us was Nike Sibande,” Capel said. “I knew that he’d be important for us. His energy, his drive, his passion, his finishing, his passing, all of those things were huge plays for us.”

Burton tied it again, pump-faking for a jumper in the lane and drawing a foul to make it 62-62 with 3:59 left. Burton sank the free throw to give the Panthers a 63-62 lead, their first since the opening minute. Burton added a pair of driving layups to stretch it to 67-64.

The Tar Heels made three free throws, including a pair by Leaky Black to tie it with 1:58 remaining.

Hinson scored seven points in the final 1:28, starting with a 3-pointer from the right wing for a 70-67 lead. He added four free throws in the final 1:03 to extend the lead to 74-69, and Sibande added a basket to make it 76-69.

But Love sank a 3 with 5.3 seconds left, and Pitt had a turnover on the ensuing inbounds play, setting up the frantic final seconds. North Carolina fed Tyler Nickel for a layup to cut it to 76-74 with 2.8 seconds left. The Panthers made another inbounds gaffe, when Davis tipped Cummings’ lob pass off the fingertips of Hinson and out of bounds with 1.8 seconds left. Initially, officials signaled that it was Carolina’s ball before overturning the call.

This time, the Panthers inbounded the ball to Burton to clinch the win.

“We just tried to stay even-keel, stay locked in and understand there’s other ways to win a basketball game besides knocking down 3s,” Burton said. “We knew if we take care of the basketball, gets stops and the shots will start falling, and they did for us.”