Pitt set to confront North Carolina's youth, rebounding prowess

The problems that plagued Pitt in its loss to Wake Forest — lack of focus, poor defense and questionable shot selection — presumably were addressed Monday at practice.

But is there enough time for Pitt (8-3, 4-2 ACC) to deal with the new set of issues North Carolina will present Tuesday at Petersen Events Center?

Such as the Tar Heels’ massive front line that has helped make North Carolina the No. 1 rebounding team in the Power 5 and ACC (43.5 per game). North Carolina also leads the nation in offensive rebounds (15.8).

The starters are senior Garrison Brooks, the ACC preseason player of the year, and sophomore Armondo Bacot, the team’s leading scorer (12 points per game). Both are 6-foot-10, 240 pounds, and average more than seven rebounds.

“They play until they’re tired and they come out and they bring in fresh bodies,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said.

The reserves are freshmen Day’Ron Sharpe (6-11, 265) and Walker Kessler (7-1, 245). Sharpe is the team’s leading rebounder (7.8), and he complements those skills by shooting 49.1% (56 of 114) from the field, second to Bacot’s 64.2% (68 of 106).

“You know they are going to be great, not good, but great on the offensive glass,” said Capel, whose team is second in the ACC in rebounding (42.2).

“For us, we don’t have a lot of front court depth. We’re going to have everyone ready. Some guys that maybe haven’t played as much are going to have to be ready to come in, be physical and block out. If we can just do those two things, that helps us.”

With Pitt freshman John Hugley (6-9) still on indefinite suspension, that could mean more floor time for freshmen Williams Jeffress (6-7) and Noah Collier (6-9).

Pitt won’t have much time to practice, which could work in the Panthers’ favor after Justin Champagnie, Au’Diese Toney and Xavier Johnson played 38, 37 and 32 minutes, respectively, in the loss to Wake Forest on Saturday. Problems with the aircraft forced the team to spend the night in Winston-Salem, N.C., and players didn’t return to campus until noon Sunday, just long enough to watch some film and recharge.

“(Sunday) was ‘Let’s watch tape, let’s review what we did, let’s get our minds right, our bodies right and let’s come back (Monday) refreshed and ready to go,’ ” Capel said.

“I know this game is going to be played at a fast pace with how (the Tar Heels) do in transition, how fast they push it, how much they push it and what they do going to the offensive glass.”

North Carolina’s size is not the only reason the Tar Heels are unique. Coach Roy Williams, who’s won nine ACC regular-season titles and three national championships at North Carolina, uses seven freshmen among his top 11 players. Of the seven, six are first-year players. Three — Caleb Love (10.5), Sharpe and R.J. Davis (both 9.5) — are among the top five scorers on the team.

North Carolina (10-5, 5-3) struggled at the start of the season, losing its first two conference games before embarking on the 5-1 run the Tar Heels will carry into the Pete on Tuesday.

“It takes more time,” Williams said of coaching a young team. “You have to explain more clearly, repeat things more often, make sure they understand when you’re talking to player A they should be listening, so you don’t have to repeat the same thing to player B a few minutes later.”

Not surprisingly, North Carolina leads the ACC in turnovers (225, 30 more than the next team, Miami). In an attempt to smooth out those wrinkles, Williams said he did something Saturday during the victory against N.C. State that broke from his usual coaching style.

“I was taking guys out on turnovers,” he said. “You have to stop turning the daggone basketball over.”

But the 70-year-old Williams said a younger team keeps him alert.

“It’s a good group that wants to learn,” he said. “A younger team makes you be more inquisitive about your own performance, perhaps more than an older, more experienced team that you expect to handle different things.”

NOTE: Champagnie was named ACC player of the week for the third time this season after averaging 24 points and 11 rebounds while hitting 19-of-27 shots (70.4%) from the field.

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