Smith would have been impressed by how many times the No. 8 Tar Heels were pointing at one another in Saturday’s 85-67 win over Pittsburgh. UNC had 13 assists on 14 first-half buckets and 23 on 33 field goals for the game.
The Panthers (15-14, 4-12 ACC) did their best to put up an affront to the barrage of Tar Heel baskets by playing zone, which has given North Carolina (25-5, 13-3 ACC) trouble in the past in ACC road losses to Georgia Tech and Miami.
In those games, UNC was stagnant offensively. But the team also missed Theo Pinson — an unselfish wing and cerebral passer whose return has injected life into UNC’s zone offense — who led the Tar Heels with seven assists Saturday
“Theo’s never about scoring or getting the high points,” Joel Berry said. “He’s just out there trying to make a play.”
It’s not just Pinson. With just over a minute to go in the first half, Berry fumbled the ball and it ended up in Justin Jackson’s hands. He could have taken a contested 3-pointer, but Kennedy Meeks stood open on the baseline.
Meeks threw his hands up and Jackson found him with an overhead laser pass, his best of the day. Meeks’ layup was blocked, but he gathered the rebound and converted to give UNC a nine-point lead.
While running back on defense, Meeks faithfully raised one finger to the sky, pointing to the passer despite robbing Jackson of the assist.
In the second half, the senior forward returned the favor with a fast-break dish to Jackson, leading to what the junior wing believes to be his first in-game dunk on an opponent — coming over 6-foot-11, 300-pound Rozelle Nix, no less.
