Pitt falls just short at North Carolina, 80-78

With what looked like it would be a potential blood bath, a lot of Pitt basketball fans understandably took the night off from the game against North Carolina. But the Panthers turned in a surprisingly good effort against the No. 12 Tar Heels, and if nothing else, kept the fans that were watching engaged for the entire game before losing, 80-78.

That's not to say Pitt played a perfect game. There were defensive lapses and Pitt was outrebounded -7 on the boards. One particularly ugly sequence came when a failed box out just before halftime allowed the Tar Heels to get a bucket at the buzzer to extend their lead. But I attribute a lot of the defensive problems to simply not being great at that…