Theo Pinson after injuring his shoulder on Tuesday night at Clemson.

CLEMSON, S.C. --- The sound of Theo Pinson hitting the court was heard all the way up to the top rows of Littlejohn Coliseum.

The Tar Heel senior had established offensive rebounding position under the hoop, but as he left his feet to jump for the ball, Clemson's David Skara pushed him from behind. Pinson's feet came out from underneath him and he landed hard on his back. He remained on the court for a few minutes and, after being checked out by the team trainer, gingerly walked to the bench - and then into the locker room.

"He took my legs from under me --- that was the only way I was going to fall," Pinson said postgame, ice strapped across his left shoulder. "I tried to just brace myself. It was an unfortunate injury.

"I landed on my backside or my bottom. I tried to just brace my fall and my shoulder strained. I just couldn't get the pain to slow down or wear off a little bit, so they just called it."

It was 1:32 into North Carolina's pivotal ACC road matchup and the Tar Heels were without their best playmaker and energetic senior leader.

UNC head coach Roy Williams said the safe move for Pinson was to sit out the rest of the game, which ultimately was an 82-78 loss.

"When he went down he fell on his hip and on the back of his left shoulder," Williams said. "They thought the hip would be the biggest problem but when they got back there the shoulder appeared to be the bigger problem and that is the reason he didn't come back. He might have been able to come back but it's still a game in January, so we decided just not to push it. We'll have to get an MRI or an X-Ray or whatever they do, but (UNC Athletic Trainer) Doug (Halverson) does not think that it is extremely serious, but it wasn't advisable to put him back in the game."

Theo Pinson watched the second half of Tuesday's game from the bench.

Pinson added that he probably could have returned to the court but didn't want to be ineffective, or worse a liability. "It was one of those things where I could have went back out there and tried, but I didn't want to hurt the team in any way," he said.

When asked if he will be able to play on Saturday against Pittsburgh, Pinson was clear. "Ah yeah, definitely," he said.

Pinson has started all of North Carolina's 23 games. Entering Tuesday night, the Greensboro native was averaging 9.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in 29.5 minutes per game.

The Tar Heels (16-7, 5-5) will take on Pittsburgh (8-14, 0-9) on Saturday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. in the Smith Center. The game can be seen on the ACC Network.

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