PITTSBURGH — Each time the North Carolina men’s basketball team gets an assist, the bench stands and points to the passer. It’s a tradition started by legendary Tar Heel head coach Dean Smith to reward the underappreciated distributors within the offense.
Smith would have been impressed by how many times the No. 8 Tar Heels were pointing at each other 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.