Pitt loses to North Carolina in the ACC Tournament. Panthers Spring Football Preview, starting up next week.

The 7th ranked Tar Heels led by hot shooting by Joel Barry II and a 11-0 run in the second half propelled North Carolina past the Pitt Panthers by the score of 88-71 in the Quarterfinals of the ACC tournament on Thursday afternoon at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC.
Berry led all scorers with 20 points on 7 for 8 shooting, Bryce Johnson recorded a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebound, Justin Jackson scored 13 and Isiah Hicks also scored 10 points of the bench for the Tar Heels (26-6) who are seeking their first ACC tournament crown since 2008.
Jamel Artis, who actually scored the game’s first eight points and Michael Young each had 19 points for the Panthers (21-11). Young also led the team in rebounding with five and Sheldon Jeter scored 13 points off the bench for Pitt. James Robinson led the Panthers in assist with five, and became the fifth player in program history to reach 600 career assists.
North Carolina went on a 10-0 run to end the first half to take the lead over the Panthers at halftime 39-35. After Pitt battled back to tie the score at 45 with 15:52 left, UNC went on a 11-0 run to effectively put the game out of reach.
The Tar Heels outrebounded Pitt 30-25, held the assist advantage 18-11 and shot better from the field (58.8% to 44.4%).
UNC will play the fourth seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Friday evening, while Pitt will spend the weekend sweating the rest of tournament week in anticipation of Selection Sunday.
Pitt entered Thursday’s game ranked 53rd in the RPI and held 41st-toughest strength of schedule in the country and is 8-8 against top-50 opponents. Pitt should be in good shape in regards to making the tourney but it will depend on other action in the ACC tournament and the tournaments in the rest of the power conferences.

by Brandon Walker- @bwalkerdadon