Wrestling: Breaking down Pitt’s upset win over North Carolina

The Pittsburgh Panthers (10-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) jumped up in the rankings in both the ACC and in the National College Athletic Association’s (NCAA) top 25 with a recent upset victory over conference rival, the North Carolina Tar Heels (8-3, 1-2 ACC). 

The dual meet was performed on North Carolina’s home mat at Carmichael Arena in Chapel Hill last Friday, January 30. Coming in as being ranked No. 14 per the NCAA, the Panthers came away with a 22-9 win. The Tar Heels, originally ranked at No. 11, fall to No. 13 in the NCAA’s top 25. 

With the win, Pitt is currently ranked at No. 12 right behind the Illinois Fighting Illini. Per the ACC, Pitt rests at a steady third place behind NC State and Virginia Tech. This dual meet counts for the Panthers’ third consecutive victory.

Last season, Pitt actually were the ones on the losing end to North Carolina as the latter took a 17-16 victory on the former’s home mat. In terms of the history between these two teams, North Carolina leads the head-to-head matchup 12-6 ever since Pitt became a member of the ACC in July, 2013. 

The last time Pitt won versus North Carolina was almost three years ago in 2023 where the Panthers came away with a near identical score to their most recent matchup. In 2023, Pitt won 21-11 at Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Redirecting the attention to the Panthers who performed against their Tar Heel counterpart, seven out of 10 of Pitt’s wrestlers came away with an individual win to add to their career record. 

Of those seven victors were redshirt freshman Kade Brown (No. 20), redshirt sophomore Dylan Evans (No. 17), redshirt senior Luca Augustine (No. 19), redshirt junior Mac Stout (No. 8), redshirt junior Dayton Pitzer (No. 15), redshirt sophomore Evan Tallmadge (No. 30) and redshirt junior Briar Priest. 

The three of Pitt’s wrestlers who came up short were redshirt junior Jared Keslar, redshirt junior Chase Kranitz and redshirt freshman Tyler Chappell. 

With the record they have right now this season, Pitt is looking to likely finish better than how they did last year. In the 2024-25 season, the Panthers were 10-6 in regular dual meets while being 3-3 in the ACC, 5-2 at home, 4-3 on the road and 1-1 in neutral contests. 

Through four less dual meets, Pitt already has performed better than how they previously did. For the 2025-26 season, they are, as mentioned beforehand, 10-2 overall and 2-1 in the ACC. Pitt is 4-1 at home, and are 6-1 in away dual meets. 

The Panthers’ upcoming contest is against the visiting NC State Wolfpack this Friday, February 6 with the first match to begin at 7 p.m. The Wolfpack are ranked No. 9 in the NCAA’s top 25 with Pitt trailing them by three spots.

Likely, Pitt’s wrestlers are not stressed about this particular dual meet. Instead, I believe that the Panthers are eagerly awaiting for when this event will occur come Friday evening. It will be yet another test to see if Pitt has what it needs to have come the ACC Championship Tournament and eventually the NCAA Championship Tournament.

Jude Hannahs is a staff writer for DreamBackfield since November 2025.