No. 18 Pitt Beats UNC, Takes Control of ACC

Friday, February 3

Pittsburgh, PA

7 PM

Pitt

North Carolina

No. 18 Pitt Beats UNC, Takes Control of ACC

2/3/2023 10:00:00 PM | Wrestling

Photo Gallery

PITTSBURGH—The Pitt wrestling team continued to control its own destiny in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 21-11 dual victory over North Carolina on Friday night at the Petersen Events Center in a nationally televised battle of the only undefeated teams in the league this dual season.

The Panthers (9-2, 3-0 ACC) won seven bouts by decision to beat UNC for the first time since 2015.

Pitt is off to its first 3-0 start to the ACC dual schedule since 2013-14 when the Panthers swept through a perfect dual record to win the conference title in their first season in the league. Keith Gavin's team now needs one win in its final two ACC duals against NC State and Duke to earn at least a share of the conference's dual championship this season and can win it outright next Friday in Raleigh.

"That's a really good win against a tough team," Gavin said. "I liked our effort a lot. We're wrestling really well right now at a good time, but we need to keep building off performances like this and continue to be consistent. This is a tough conference and anything can happen."

The dual started at 197 pounds, with Pitt winning both upperweight bouts by decision to lead 6-0 thanks to No. 2 Nino Bonaccorsi, who improved to 11-0 this season, and No. 5 Dayton Pitzer.

UNC took the bout at 125 pounds, but Pitt responded with three straight decision victory by No. 6 Micky Phillippi at 133, No. 3 Cole Matthews at 141 and No. 29 Tyler Badgett at 149 – with no takedowns conceded in any of those matches.

The Tar Heels (6-7, 2-1 ACC) earned wins at 157 and 184 pounds, but Pitt sealed the dual with wins at 165 pounds by Holden Heller and a big upset at 174 – with Luca Augustine stunning No. 8 Clay Lautt in the tiebreakers by 2-1 decision.

"Luca did a nice job staying focused to win that match," Gavin said. "That kid has been in matches like that a lot more than Luca has, but he won by fighting hard until the very end. That was impressive."

See below for full results from Friday's Pitt-North Carolina dual.

The Panthers have a huge nonconference dual on Saturday night back at Fitzgerald Field House when they host No. 3 Iowa State, the Big 12 leaders, at 7 p.m. on ACCNX.

For Youth Night at the Fitz, the first 250 kids will receive a Pitt wrestling rally towel.

#18 Pitt 21, North Carolina 11
197: No. 2 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pitt) dec. Max Shaw (UNC), 8-2 (Pitt leads, 3-0)
285: No. 5 Dayton Pitzer (Pitt) dec. Brandon Whitman (UNC), 6-0 (Pitt leads, 6-0)
125: No. 19 Jack Wagner (UNC) dec. No. 33 Colton Camacho (Pitt), 10-8 SV (Pitt leads, 6-3)
133: No. 6 Micky Phillippi (Pitt) dec. Jace Palmer (UNC), 8-2 (Pitt leads, 9-3)
141: No. 3 Cole Matthews (Pitt) dec. No. 13 Lachlan McNeil (UNC), 3-2 (Pitt leads, 12-3)
149: No. 29 Tyler Badgett (Pitt) dec. Jayden Scott (UNC), 2-0 (Pitt leads, 15-3)
157: No. 3 Austin O'Connor (UNC) tech. fall Jared Keslar (Pitt), 24-8 5:43 (Pitt leads, 15-8)
165: No. 23 Holden Heller (Pitt) dec. Joey Mazzara (UNC), 12-5 (Pitt leads, 18-8)
174: Luca Augustine (Pitt) dec. No. 8 Clay Lautt (UNC), 2-1 TB (Pitt leads, 21-8)
184: No. 13 Gavin Kane (UNC) dec. No. 18 Reece Heller (Pitt), 6-3 (Pitt wins, 21-11)
Attendance: 2,013

#pinzburgh | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram