Pittsburgh-North Carolina Preview
North Carolina coach Roy Williams insists that his bout with vertigo isn't a big deal. Getting leading scorer Brice Johnson back on track surely is. Williams did not start Johnson in the ninth-ranked Tar Heels' last contest and is trying to get the senior forward's confidence up ahead of Sunday's home game with Pittsburgh. North Carolina (20-4, 9-2 ACC) avoided a third straight loss Tuesday with a 68-65 victory at Boston College in which the big story was Williams spending most of the second half in the locker room after collapsing momentarily in a huddle. The legendary coach said Thursday it won't affect how long he decides to coach at North Carolina and claimed his history with vertigo goes back two decades. ''It's happened,'' Williams said in a humor-filled news conference. ''But as I say, it's the first time it's ever happened in a basketball game, that public.'' The incident overshadowed wholesale changes to the Tar Heels' starting lineup. Johnson and Justin Jackson did not start for the first time and Kennedy Meeks, who has started 14 times, was also out of the lineup. The changes stemmed from losses to then-No. 19 Louisville on Feb. 1 and at Notre Dame last Saturday. Johnson averages 16.3 points and had posted five straight double-doubles before managing nine points and five rebounds with four fouls Tuesday in 21 minutes. "He and Kennedy didn't start at Boston College because they had the worst two defensive grades on the team at Notre Dame and then Brice was really disappointed with himself after the game against BC," Williams said. "I've had a good talk and I love him to death and I'm just trying to push, push, push." Johnson is averaging 16.0 points on 69.2 percent shooting in three career games against the Panthers. The coach did not indicate who he will start Sunday. Jackson responded well against the Eagles with 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting in a contest in which the Tar Heels trailed for most of the night before prevailing to maintain the ACC lead. "I don't think people realize how big that was for us," forward Theo Pinson said. "Boston College hasn't won a lot of games, but we were in a packed house, we were down, everything was going their way." Pittsburgh (17-6, 6-5) has dropped consecutive games for the first time after losing 65-63 at No. 12 Miami on Tuesday. Jamel Artis shot 2 for 10 and scored a season-low five points, 10.1 below his average, as the Panthers fell to 0-4 against ranked teams after also falling 64-50 last Saturday to then-No. 9 Virginia. "I know it's two losses in a row but the reality is there are two ranked teams and highly ranked teams and we've got to get better for those losses," coach Jamie Dixon said. Michael Young and Ryan Luther each scored 12 for Pitt, which had 11 assists for its second-lowest total. The Panthers and Tar Heels both average 18.2 assists to lead the conference. Pitt won 89-76 over North Carolina in last season's lone matchup behind Sheldon Jeter's 22 points. These teams split two games in 2013-14. "We know them obviously pretty well, we've played them three times in the last two years," Dixon said. However, the Panthers are 0-4 all-time in Chapel Hill, and the Tar Heels are 12-0 at home this season. |