Pitt stuns North Carolina in Chapel Hill

The noise from a crowd of 17,270 at North Carolina’s Dean E. Smith Center seemed to grow louder every time North Carolina hit a shot in the second half.

And the Tar Heels made plenty of them, seven in a row at one point.

Who knew the struggling Panthers could withstand such a barrage with a combination of poise, clutch shots and perfect free-throw shooting in the second half to upset North Carolina, 76-67, Wednesday night in Chapel Hill, N.C.? The victory was Pitt’s second in a row at the Smith Center. The Panthers have won three of the past four against the Tar Heels.

The Panthers (11-16, 6-10 ACC) were 13 ½-point underdogs, but they stretched their winning streak to three games – two of them away from home. You need to go all the way back to 2014 to find a longer Pitt winning streak (four games) against ACC opponents. It was only a week ago that Pitt broke a 12-game losing streak on ACC floors.

Meanwhile, North Carolina (18-8, 10-5) had hoped to polish its resume for the NCAA Tournament committee. Instead, the Tar Heels must recover from what looks like an embarrassing loss.

Embarrassing on the surface, perhaps. But that doesn’t do justice to how dominant the Panthers were, leading by 21 points with 8 minutes, 25 seconds left in the game. They held North Carolina to a 26.7% field-goal percentage while building a 40-23 halftime lead. It was North Carolina’s third-largest all-time halftime deficit at the Smith Center.

“I thought our guys were really locked in on both sides of the basketball,” coach Jeff Capel said. “I thought we really did a good job of executing our game plan and how we wanted to attack.”

For the first time in almost two years, Pitt had five players hit double-digit scoring, led by Ithiel Horton, who scored 19 and made all five of his 3-pointers. In two of the past three games, Horton is 12 of 18 beyond the arc.

Jamarius Burton added 14, Mouhamadou Gueye 11 and Femi Odukale 10.

The outcome might have hinged on Pitt 6-foot-9 center John Hugley’s battle with North Carolina’s Armando Bacot (6-foot-10, 240 pounds), who came into the game averaging 16.6 points per game while leading the ACC in rebounds (12.2).

Bacot’s totals in those departments: seven points and eight rebounds. Hugley scored 18 points with five rebounds.

“I just had to play with more heart, knowing he’s one of the better bigs in this league,” Hugley said. “I just wanted to show that I can be one of the best bigs in this league.”

In one amazing play in the second half that Capel admitted might have included an element of luck, Hugley hit a 3-point shot – banking it off the glass – while Bacot fouled him. Hugley’s 3-point shot success rate before the game: 13.9% (5 of 36). Overall, Pitt hit 10 of 17 from beyond the arc, a season-high 58.8%.

Hugley’s four-point play restored Pitt’s 17-point lead, but the game still was not without its tense moments. After trailing by 21, North Carolina recovered to trim the lead to six (69-63) with 1:50 to play.

Pitt kept punching back even while playing the final four minutes without the benefit of a timeout. The Panthers used them all, largely because they had trouble throwing the ball in-bounds after North Carolina baskets. Pitt ended the game with 18 turnovers.

The turning point might have been turnovers by both teams within seconds of each other after the Tar Heels cut the lead to six.

North Carolina’s Brady Manek intercepted a long in-bounds pass, but Caleb Love lost Manek’s subsequent pass out of bounds — only North Carolina’s third turnover of the half.

After that, Hugley hit two baskets and a foul shot to secure the victory.

“We knew they were going to make a run, but we were able to withstand it,” Capel said.

How did that happen?

“They believed,” the coach said. “We started doing a good job of breaking the press. Guys were being strong.”

And don’t forget the free-throwing shooting. Pitt made 18 of 20, shooting 90% or better for the second game in a row. In the second half of the past two games, Pitt has made all 28 of its free throws.

What has triggered this recent surge of solid play? Pitt had lost 16 of its first 24 games only a week ago.

“Our guys have done an amazing job of showing up every day,” Capel said, “even when things were dire and we tried not to listen to the outside noise and concentrate on us and the things we can control.

“Not to get too down, not to get too up. To concentrate and focus every day. Because we’ve done that, our guys have gotten better.

“Hopefully, we can continue to get better and have even more belief in what it is we’re doing and how we need to play in order to be good.”