Pitt Downs North Carolina for Third Straight Victory

Wednesday, February 16

Chapel Hill, NC

8 PM

Pitt

11-16,6-10ACC

North Carolina

18-8,10-5ACC

Pittsburgh

North Carolina

Pitt Downs North Carolina for Third Straight Victory

2/16/2022 10:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Postgame Notes Postgame Press Conference Highlights

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Pitt men's basketball team fought off a late North Carolina rally to win its third straight game, defeating the Tar Heels 76-67 Wednesday evening at the Dean E. Smith Center.

All five starters finished in double-figures, with redshirt junior Ithiel Horton scoring a team-high 19 points with five made three pointers. Sophomore John Hugley had 19 points and five rebounds, while sophomore Femi Odukale was just shy of a double-double, scoring 10 points and tallying nine assists.

North Carolina (18-8, 10-5 ACC) took a 12-10 lead into the second media timeout as both teams had more turnovers combined (9) than made field goals (7). Pitt (11-16, 6-10 ACC) came out of the timeout scoring seven-straight points and led 17-12 with just over 10 to play in the half.

After a made basket by the Tar Heels, Horton made back-to-back threes to total Pitt's scoring run to 15-2 and led 23-14, forcing Hubert Davis to call timeout with under eight to play.

Pitt's outside shooting continued to stay hot, as graduate student Mouhamadou Gueye made back-to-back triples of his own and the scoring run extended to 21-2 and the Panthers led 29-14. The Panthers never let the Tar Heels score more than four points in a row for the remainder of the half as they found answers on the offensive end, shooting 67% (15-of-27) from the field and 67% (5-of-9) from three and leading 40-23.

Two of the top rebounding teams in the conference, Pitt held a 17-16 edge in rebounding at the break. With six made threes, the Panthers also led 12-6 in points in the paint.

It took two minutes and 51 seconds for either team to score a basket, as the first point of the half was a Brady Manek free throw at the 17:09 mark. The Tar Heels found some rhythm, scoring six-straight and cutting the lead to 45-32, but Hugley responded with the rare four-point play as Armando Bacot caught his arm on the way up for a three-point attempt. Hugley made the free throw and regained a 17-point advantage (49-32).

Horton followed that four-point play with his fourth three pointer of the evening and the Panthers headed into the second media timeout with its largest lead of the night, 52-34.

The Panthers got the lead to 21, but North Carolina climbed its way back into the game, hitting two-straight from long range to make it a 59-46 game with 7:05 to play in the Dean Dome. Pitt ran into foul trouble down the stretch as Hugley, Burton and Gueye all had four fouls with just over four to play.

The Tar Heels got hot down the stretch, making six-straight field goals and going on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to six, 69-63. Hugley made two clutch baskets following a Tar Heel timeout – one being an and-1 – and Horton sealed the deal with two made free throws to give Pitt a 76-67 victory.

Pitt finished 51% from the field (24-of-47) and 58% from three (10-of-17). The Panthers free throw shooting came clutch down the stretch, as it finished 90% for the game (18-of-20) and a perfect 14-of-14 in the second half.

Pitt returns home for three-straight, the first Saturday, Feb. 19 versus Georgia Tech. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on the ACC Network.