Dating to his playing days at Duke, Jeff Capel is intimately familiar with the North Carolina basketball program, so the Pitt coach marvels at how much the Tar Heels have changed their style under Hubert Davis.

The staples established under Dean Smith and continued under Roy Williams remain, from the transition game to the focus on offensive rebounding. But Davis is allowing Carolina to play with a newfound freedom that makes preparing for the Tar Heels a different challenge.

“It’s really fascinating watching them,” Capel said. “And I have so much respect for Hubert because when you take over a job like that after replacing Coach Williams, it can be really hard to come in and change, especially at a program like that that’s so tradition-laden. He’s a guy that played there, that played under that (system). When you watch them, they really do nothing like the old Carolina teams do.”

After suffering four consecutive defeats, No. 25 North Carolina (9-4, 1-1 ACC) is riding a four-game winning streak when it visits Pitt (9-4, 2-0) at noon Friday at Petersen Events Center.

The Panthers won the last meeting, 76-67, on Feb. 16, only for Carolina to win its final five ACC contests, clinch an at-large NCAA Tournament berth and make a run to the national championship game. The Tar Heels returned four starters from that team and were the preseason No. 1 team in the country.

Capel’s Panthers have to contend with four Tar Heels players who are scoring in double figures, led by an “elite big man” in 6-foot-11 senior forward Armando Bacot (18.2 points, 11.1 rebounds), the backcourt of junior guards Caleb Love (18.3) and R.J. Davis (15.9) and “one of the best transfers” in 6-11 forward Pete Nance (11.8), who came from Northwestern.

That doesn’t include the 6-9 Leaky Black, whom Capel calls “one of the ultimate glue guys” and projects as an NBA player, or sixth man Donovan “Puff” Johnson, a 6-8 junior who led Moon to the 2019 PIAA Class 5A title and was the Tribune-Review player of the year.

“They’re very, very talented and they’re playing really, really well right now,” Capel said. “I don’t see much of a difference from where they are right now to how they were at the end of the year, especially the way they’ve played the last four games. We’re playing one of the most talented teams in the country and one of the teams with the most continuity of playing together.”

Where Capel does see a difference is in Carolina’s style of play, noting that Love took 36 shots in scoring 34 points in a 103-101 four-overtime loss to Alabama on Nov. 27 in the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland. That was a reflection of Davis not sticking to the same old sets.

“I don’t know if there was a Carolina player ever that took that many shots in a game,” Capel said. “So the freedom that you have, seeing the different style that they’re playing, I have a lot of respect for (Davis). I know last year he probably took some lumps and people were saying things about him. The fact that he remained steadfast in the things he believed in and got those guys to stick together and go on that run is a testament to him and his staff and the things that they’re doing.”

The Panthers, coming off a nine-day Christmas break, are riding a three-game winning streak of their own. After an 84-82 win at Syracuse on Dec. 20, they are looking to win their first three ACC games for the first time since the 2015-16 season but face nationally ranked teams in three of their next four games, with North Carolina followed by No. 13 Virginia, Clemson and No. 17 Duke.

After winning three of their last four games against Carolina, the Panthers don’t appear to be intimidated by the Tar Heels. They share a common opponent in Michigan, which beat Pitt, 91-60, on Nov. 16 in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn but lost to Carolina, 80-76, on Dec. 21 in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte.

“They’re in our conference, so it’s not like the (Golden State) Warriors are coming,” said Pitt junior forward Blake Hinson, who was named ACC co-player of the week after recording his fourth double-double of the season with 25 points and 13 rebounds at Syracuse. “They’re obviously a quality team, but we’ve got to play them.”

Bacot and Hinson, who is averaging 17.2 points and 7.4 rebounds, are the lone ACC players averaging more than 17 points and seven rebounds. The challenge of stopping Bacot, however, falls on 6-11 sophomore center Federiko Federiko. Capel provided no update on the timetable for the return of 6-9 junior forward John Hugley IV.

Pitt’s greater concern appears to be Carolina’s pace, given how the Tar Heels like to play fast and run. They have scored 100 points or more three times in 13 games and are averaging an ACC-best 81.5 points per game.

“That’s one of the emphases we’re going to have going into this game, getting back in transition and putting a man in front of the ball and stop the basketball,” said Pitt junior guard Jamarius Burton, who had 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists against North Carolina last season. “As you know, their players are very talented. That’s what makes them a great opponent to go up against.”

With Pitt’s ACC home opener coming with its students on break and the football team playing UCLA in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl at 2 p.m., tickets for students from any university are available for $10 and Pitt is hosting a watch party for the bowl game at the Pete following the basketball game.

“We hope that everybody that’s in Pittsburgh comes out and supports us,” Burton said. “That’s the biggest thing. For us, we can’t control nor worry about how many people are in the crowd. We’ve got to lock in on the opponent at hand.”

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