Building Block: UNC Basketball Beats Foe in Same Bubble Column

Following a week off to recover from a loss at Duke, UNC basketball might have finally entered must-win mode.

UNC basketball versus Pitt | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

UNC basketball head coach Hubert Davis and his fourth batch of Tar Heels (14-10, 7-5 ACC) managed to tally a 67-66 home victory over Jeff Capel's Pitt Panthers (14-9, 5-7 ACC) in the Dean E. Smith Center on Saturday night.

ALSO READ: Tar Heels Hosting In-State 2027 Five-Star LJ Smith

In doing so, the Tar Heels snapped a two-game skid, which began with a 73-65 road loss to Pitt on Jan. 28 and ended with a deflating 87-70 road defeat at the hands of the archrival No. 2-ranked Duke Blue Devils last Saturday night.

And UNC ensured, at least for the time being, that its March Madness bracketology mentions don't completely run dry.

Entering the contest, ESPN's Joe Lunardi listed the Tar Heels second among the "Next Four Out" in his last column on the bubble, one notch below the Panthers. In other words, neither was among the four ACC teams with projected at-large status, both desperately needing the Saturday night win.

The victory alone probably won't be enough to nudge UNC basketball back into Lunardi's NCAA Tournament prediction. But it's a start.

Moreover, the crunch-time test in the closing minutes, this time holding Pitt scoreless in the last two minutes, adds to one encouraging nugget about the Tar Heels: their 6-4 record in one-possession games, marking UNC's second-most one-possession victories in a season (2010-11 tallied eight).

Those 10 outings are the program's most one-possession affairs in any season across the 3-point era (1986-87 to present). These Tar Heels are the first to win multiple games by one point since 2007-08, as the 2024-25 squad picked up a 74-73 road win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Jan. 4.

Davis and his crew will now prepare the battle-tested Tar Heels for a trip to Clemson to face the formidable Tigers (18-5, 10-2 ACC, currently leading Duke at home in the second half) at 7 p.m. ET Monday (ESPN).

ALSO READ: UNC Pledge Advances Another Step for Top Distinction

Stay tuned to North Carolina Tar Heels On SI for more UNC basketball news.