Pitt found itself trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half of Wednesday's game against North Carolina. The Panthers even trailed by nine at halftime, but a big-second half propelled Pitt to a 73-65 road victory over the Tar Heels.

Pitt outscored North Carolina 45-28 in the second half. After shooting ice cold to start the game, Pitt got hot from the outside with 8 second half 3-pointers.

Trey McGowens scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half. The sophomore also finished with 8 assists and 6 rebounds. McGowens came up clutch with a deep 3-pointer to break a 56-all tie at the 7:06 mark, and followed that up with another 3-pointer to give Pitt an 8-point cushion, Pitt's largest lead of the game.

Pitt's hot shooting in the second half was sparked by freshman forward Justin Champagnie. He connected on four 3-pointers in a four minute stretch to give the Panthers some much-needed energy. Champagnie finished with a career-high 22 points and 8 rebounds.

McGowens had an exclamation of a dunk at the 1:11 mark to give Pitt a 69-63 lead and the Panthers closed out the game with four Champagnie free throws.

North Carolina controlled the paint and out-rebounded the Panthers 42-27. Garrison Brooke and Armando Bacot combined for 36 points and 19 rebounds. The Tar Heels now slip to 8-7 on the season, and the team has been in a free fall since the injury to star freshman point guard Cole Anthony.

The win comes on the day Pitt awarded second-year head coach Jeff Capel a two-year contract extension. He is now signed to be the Panthers' coach through the 2026-27 season.

The win on Wednesday breaks a few streaks for the Pitt basketball program. The 73-65 decision over North Carolina snaps a six-game losing streak to the Tar Heels. Wednesday's win also marked Pitt's first-ever win in Chapel Hill.

The big streak that ended was the 22-game road ACC losing streak, however. Pitt failed to win a road conference game in each of the past two seasons, and the programs last road ACC win was on February 8, 2017, an 83-72 win over Boston College.

Pitt now improves to 11-4 on the season and the team now sits with a 2-2 record in ACC play. Jeff Capel's squad will travel to Miami on Sunday to take on the Hurricanes for a 6:00 tip-off against the Hurricanes.