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Panthers Jamel Artis goes up for a basket as North Carolina's Justin Jackson defends in the first half action at Petersen Events Center on Saturday.
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No. 8 North Carolina thumps Pitt, 85-67, on senior day

Lake Fong/Post-Gazette

No. 8 North Carolina thumps Pitt, 85-67, on senior day

In a brief moment of frustration Saturday, Sheldon Jeter slammed the ball to the court and caught it quickly as it bounced back up before beginning his long, lonely walk to the bench that was greeted by a standing ovation from the Petersen Events Center crowd after he had fouled out. In a single instant, on a bang-bang block-or-charge call in Pitt's 85-67 loss to North Carolina, his career at the Petersen Events Center almost certainly came to an end.

This season has been a slog for the Panthers' forward. He has played as well as he has in his college career, but as his team's best rebounder and interior defender, the 6-foot-8 forward has routinely had to try in any way he could to be a physical match down low against players much taller, longer and bigger. On a team with size where most opponents don't have it, but with little size where most teams do, he has routinely drawn the proverbial short straw.

In the loss to the Tar Heels, a game in which he fouled out in just 17 minutes, he, like his team, had to fight for everything it could against a foe with advantages in most any facet of the game, from speed to height to talent. As has often been the case this season, it wasn't enough.

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"It's kind of all three levels -- you've got those big dudes inside, you've got [forward Justin] Jackson out there shooting jumpers and you've got Joel Berry getting to places and [guard Theo] Pinson getting to places," Pitt coach Kevin Stallings said. "We've got a lot of challenges. We're not sitting here at 4-12 because we're the deepest, most talented team in the league. We have some challenges."

The setback, which reserved the Panthers (15-14, 4-12 ACC) a spot in the first round of the ACC tournament next week in Brooklyn, was determined in large part by a disparity that was obvious the moments the teams took the court.

North Carolina out-rebounded Pitt, 48-28, and finished with only four fewer offensive rebounds than the Panthers had total rebounds. Of their 40 missed shots, the No. 8 Tar Heels (25-5, 13-3) came down with offensive rebounds on 24 of them. This season, they are getting offensive rebounds on 42.6 percent of their missed shots, the best such mark in Division I. From those 24 offensive rebounds, they got 28 second-chance points and because of those second-chance opportunities, they attempted 25 more shots on the afternoon.

"They do it to everyone," Stallings said. "We can sit here and lament whether we didn't box out hard enough, but there's a time when the ball's just up in the air and they're better at getting it than we are. They would be better tomorrow at getting it than we are and they were better yesterday at getting it than we are."

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The matchup -- lopsided as it may have seemed, especially in hindsight -- wasn't a predestined loss. Pitt fell at North Carolina by just two, 80-78, three weeks earlier and jumped out to a 17-11 lead Saturday. The Panthers, however, went the next 7:42 without a made field goal, the kind of extended drought that has torpedoed them for much of ACC play. Even once the shots started to fall, the Tar Heels awoke offensively, finishing the half on a 10-0 run to turn a two-point lead into a 12-point one.

The advantage never got smaller than eight in the second half as North Carolina continued to have its way inside. With that omnipresent threat down low, the Pitt defense would occasionally collapse and open up looks for an array of strong outside shooters, with the Tar Heels draining 10 of their 24 3-pointers.

"I can't remember who all made shots, but I think we just got the ball where we wanted to," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said.

The defeat was the latest in a season that hasn't gone as many planned for a team that returned six of its seven leading scorers. It marked the third time this season Pitt has lost by at least 18 at home, something it had only done twice in its previous 14 seasons at the Petersen Events Center.

On a day in which they were honored, the team's four seniors -- Jamel Artis (17), Michael Young (17), Chris Jones (10) and Jeter (seven) -- combined for 51 of their team's 67 points.

Most any loss is difficult to process and accept, but on senior day -- with the team again wearing its retro jerseys and with former Pitt standout and assistant coach Brandin Knight in attendance to support a group of players he once helped recruit -- North Carolina's convincing win wore on the Panthers, whose NCAA tournament chances, short of an automatic bid that would come from winning the ACC tournament, appear as lifeless as they have in some time.

"We're disappointed," Artis said. "You go against a team you think you can beat and you go out there and don't play as hard as you can. I think we learned a little bit tonight."

Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyer

First Published: February 25, 2017, 7:12 p.m.

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Panthers Jamel Artis goes up for a basket as North Carolina's Justin Jackson defends in the first half action at Petersen Events Center on Saturday.  (Lake Fong/Post-Gazette)
North Carolina's Theo Pinson, left, and Panthers Cameron Johnson, right, chase after a loose ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday.  (Keith Srakocic/Assicuated Press)
Lake Fong/Post-Gazette
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