How on earth is Noah six months old? Our sweet Noah James officially turned six months old last week and I’m still in disbelief that he’s halfway to one! It feels like it was yesterday that we were two new…

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports Carolina matched their ACC win total from last season in a ten-point victory. Last year’s Carolina basketball team finished conference play with six wins in the ACC. This year’s version of the Tar Heels picked up their sixth ACC win on January 26th, beating Pitt on the road 75-65 behind an impressive effort from Armando Bacot. Bacot finished the game with 21 points and ten rebounds. He was narrowly bested in scoring by Pitt’s Justin Champagnie, who attempted to carry his entire team on his back but came up a bit short. The Panthers cut the lead to five with less than four minutes left when they went on a 13-2 run before a Bacot basket and a Caleb Love three-pointer turned the tide back toward the Heels for good. Pitt then went on a 3+ minute scoring drought to close out the game that ultimately let the Tar Heels pull away. Joining Bacot in double figures was Garrison Brooks with 16 points and ten rebounds and Kerwin Walton with ten points on 2-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Love fouled out of the game late with just eight points but he did have five assists and just one turnover in the game, continuing his better play as of late in those departments. The team shot an impressive 52% from the floor against a good Pittsburgh team. They out-rebounded the Panthers 37-29 and doubled them up in second chance points, 18-9. The Heels were a clearly aggressive team that used their strength down low the way they should with such an advantage. It all paid off for them, and they led for all but three minutes of game time. Pittsburgh shot the ball better in the second half after a 33% mark in the first. However, as good as they shot it, Carolina shot it even better. UNC was 17-28 from the field after halftime, good enough for a 61% field goal percentage. They got assists on 22 of their 32 made baskets. Tonight continued a trend for this UNC team of really rounding into form as their ACC schedule gets tougher. They’ve played really well as of late and have all the results to show for it except for the loss to Florida State. The schedule ahead is rough with back-to-back road games at Clemson and at Duke, but neither team is playing overly inspiring basketball at the moment. Carolina has a real chance to make some noise if they can pick up a few more wins. Unless there is a schedule change in the next couple days, UNC’s next game will be Tuesday at Clemson. We’ll be sure to let you know if that changes.

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports UNC hits the road for a tough ACC matchup. It seems like UNC’s freshmen are finally hitting their stride after a rough start to the season. Caleb Love, in particular, has really turned it on as of late, and the Tar Heels have looked all the better for it. The (still) young Carolina squad will have to deal with a lot on the road tonight when the take on Pittsburgh. Justin Champagnie has been on fire for the Panthers, leading his team with nearly 20 points per game. He’s had the most points in each of their last three games with one of them being a 30+ point effort against Duke. Wake Forest did narrowly get the best of Pitt in their last game, handing them their third loss of the season. Carolina’s only blemish since the calendar flipped to 2021 was a hard-fought loss against Florida State in notoriously difficult Tallahassee. Hopefully their performance there helped prepare them for tonight. As always, we’ll be back after the game with a complete roundup of the happenings. Until then... Go Heels!

How was everyone’s first month of the year? Did you make a goal to read more this year? I set a goal to read 52 books this year, which is actually *less* than my reading goals for the past few…