The last time Pitt beat a team twice in one regular season, Jamie Dixon was coaching his next-to-last season with the Panthers. That year, Pitt beat Syracuse home and away with both programs in their second years as ACC members.

Five years later, the Panthers have done it again - and they did it against one of the conference’s blue blood teams after Jeff Capel’s squad took down North Carolina at the Petersen Events Center 66-52 on Saturday afternoon.

That followed the Panthers’ 73-65 win in Chapel Hill 10 days earlier. In that game, Pitt trailed throughout the first half, had to overcome a nine-point deficit at halftime and didn’t take the lead for good until the final seven minutes.

By contrast, Saturday’s game was Pitt’s from the start. In fact, the first half was arguably the best 20 minutes of offensive basketball the team has played this season. The Panthers hit 15-of-31 (48.4%) from the floor and 6-of-15 (40%) from beyond the arc, and they protected the ball, committing just three turnovers.

At the other end, Pitt was aggressive. North Carolina turned the ball over 11 times and the Panthers did their part with seven steals. The result was a 20-point lead, as Pitt was ahead 43-23.

In the second half, though, the Tar Heels were the better team. UNC didn’t shoot great after halftime, hitting 30.6%, but the Panthers were worse, connecting on just five of their 22 attempts, with three of them coming from center Terrell Brown.

But Pitt’s defense kept the pressure on North Carolina, and while the visitors made a run, the Panthers’ lead never went below 10 points. And while Pitt didn’t make a basket in the final 6:36 of the game, the Panthers did get seven points on free throws to kept UNC at arm’s reach.

Xavier Johnson led all scorers in the game with 20 points on 4-of-11 shooting; he also grabbed six rebounds and handed out six assists. Ryan Murphy added 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 3-of-8 from deep. The Panthers also scored 23 points off of UNC’s 16 turnovers.

With the win, Pitt is now 5-14 against North Carolina all-time and 3-6 against the Tar Heels as members of the ACC.

On the season, the Panthers are 12-6 overall and 3-4 in the ACC. They have a few days off before they’ll host Boston College on Wednesday night at 9 pm.