North Carolina @ Pittsburgh preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 8, 2020 ) Pittsburgh 73, North Carolina 65

Jeff Capel only wanted to talk about the effort of his team after a questionable call likely cost Pittsburgh a chance for victory over No. 10 Louisville on Wednesday. Capel hopes his team will provide the same effort but get a different result when it attempts to sweep the season series with North Carolina when the Tar Heels visit Saturday.

Capel slammed his fist on the scorer's table and nearly stormed the officials after a game-tying tip with 21 seconds in overtime was waived off due to a loose-ball foul on Terrell Brown in an eventual 73-68 loss. “We just played with effort and energy," Capel said. "We’ve done it most of the time. We certainly didn’t do it in our last game (66-58 loss to Miami), we did it in the game before (win over North Carolina). The Tar Heels, who have lost 50 games to injuries by seven different players this season and is shooting 40.5 percent - their lowest mark since the 1957-58 season - dropped their third straight game following Wednesday's 79-76 overtime loss to Clemson, ending the Tigers' 59-game losing streak in Chapel Hill. Pitt snapped a six-game losing streak against the Heels and a 22-game ACC road losing skid with a 73-65 win in Chapel Hill on Jan. 8 behind 24 points and eight assists by Trey McGowens.

TIME: Noon ET. TV: ESPN

ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA (8-8, 1-4 ACC): Clemson's Aamir Simms hit an overtime-forcing 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left in regulation and the Tigers prevailed despite 27 points from Brandon Robinson (12.1 points) and 21 from freshman Armando Bacot (10.1 points, 7.8 rebounds). Robinson, who has averaged 18 points over the last four games and is seventh in the ACC in 3-pointers made (2.5 per game), was in a car accident Saturday night and is questionable for Pitt. Garrison Brooks (14.3 points, 8.9 rebounds) netted a career-high 35 points on Jan. 4 against Georgia Tech and has double-doubles in each of the last four games.

ABOUT PITTSBURGH (11-6, 2-4): McGowens (13.8 points, 3.2 assists, 1.9 steals) continued his impressive play versus Louisville with 24 points on 8-of-22 shooting in his eighth straight double-figure scoring effort. Freshman Justin Champagnie (11.4 points, 7.0 rebounds) recorded his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Xavier Johnson (11.7 points, 4.9 assists) tallied 11 points and had team bests in assists and steals with five and three, respectively. Brown (4.9 points, 1.9 blocks) recorded four blocked shots for the seventh time this season; he ranks fifth at Pitt with 138 for his career.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. North Carolina leads the all-time series 14-4 and has won five of the six meetings in Pittsburgh.

2. Pitt on Tuesday held the opposition to under 40 percent shooting from the field for the 10th time this season (8-2).

3. Brooks and Bacot were a combined 13-of-25 versus the Tigers, while the rest of the Tar Heels were 15-for-41.

PREDICTION: Pittsburgh 73, North Carolina 68