No. 4 Pittsburgh beats No. 1 Connecticut 76-68

[February 17, 2009]  HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- DeJuan Blair had 22 points and 23 rebounds and Levance Fields scored all 10 of his points in the final 3:09 as No. 4 Pittsburgh beat No. 1 Connecticut 76-68 on Monday night, the Panthers' first win ever over a top-ranked team.

Fields missed his first seven shots from the field but the senior guard gave the Panthers (24-2, 11-2 Big East) the lead for good with a 3-pointer with 3:09 left that made it 64-61. He added another 3 with 2:21 left to make it 67-61, and he added four free throws in the final minute.

A.J. Price had 18 points for the Huskies (24-2, 12-2), who started their third week at No. 1 earlier Monday and had their 13-game winning streak ended.

Sam Young had 25 points for Pittsburgh, which lost all 13 games it had played against No. 1 teams, the last three against Connecticut over the last 11 years.

The game was expected to be physical down low and it was, with the 6-foot-7 Blair flipping the 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet over his back in the first half, sending him to the bench for about 4 minutes. Blair got a dose back in the second half when he had to leave the game for almost 3 minutes after taking an elbow to the face.

The teams meet again on March 7 and there could be another matchup in the Big East tournament.

Pitt took a 36-33 halftime lead behind Blair's 15 points and 13 rebounds and Young's 12 points.

Connecticut, which leads the Big East in scoring defense (60.5) and field goal percentage defense (37.3) held Pittsburgh to 7-of-25 shooting until Fields suddenly got going.

Both his 3-pointers were wide-open shots when Connecticut couldn't switch fast enough on screens, and they seemed to take the wind out of the Huskies, who came up empty on both possessions around the 3s.

The minutes leading up to Fields' big shots was as intense as college basketball gets. The lead changed hands four times and there was a tie in the 2 1/2 minutes leading up to those shots.

Pittsburgh finished with a 48-31 rebound advantage, the first time the Huskies were outrebounded this season.

Connecticut fell to 40-8 as a No. 1 team and the loss kept them from the best start in school history. The Huskies remain tied with the 1995-96 team at 24-1.

Thabeet, who came into the game off a 25-point, 20-rebound, nine-block effort against Seton Hall, finished with five points on 1-for-5 shooting and had four rebounds and two blocks.

[Associated Press; By JIM O'CONNELL]

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