PITTSBURGH -- The Georgetown Hoyas may have a huge starting frontcourt, but on Saturday night, No. 7 Pittsburgh beat them at their own game.
The Panthers (16-2, 4-0) beat the Hoyas on the boards and in the paint, taking early-season control of the Big East with a 74-69 win over Georgetown on Saturday night.
Mike Cook had 18 points and the Panthers won their sixth in a row to remain the lone unbeaten team in Big East play.
Cook said the Panthers are winning with their depth, not just relying on center Aaron Gray to carry them.
"We have other great players on the team, people who can score 20 every night and get double-doubles every night," Cook said. "We're getting chances to show everyone how talented we are."
Gray and Antonio Graves added 11 points each and Ronald Ramon had 10 for the Panthers, 11-0 at home this season and 75-6 overall at the Petersen Events Center.
Jeff Green and Jessie Sapp each had 15 points and Patrick Ewing added 12 for the Hoyas (11-5, 1-2), losers of their last two after a seven-game winning streak. Center Roy Hibbert had 11 points and two rebounds.
"That's just a very good team," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "I don't think we played poorly, but when we made mistakes, they capitalized on it. Every mistake we made, they capitalized on it -- on both ends of the floor. They're deep, experienced and poised. That's a very good team."
The teams combined to shoot 60 percent from the field; 60.9 percent for Georgetown and 59.6 percent for Pitt.
"It was unbelievable. Who could have predicted that?" Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "We're pretty good offensively and they're pretty good, too. Everyone talks about our defense and their defense, but we're good offensively as well.
"It was two great teams that played very well, didn't miss many shots and played well all the way through."
The Panthers, as they have for most of the season, displayed a balanced offensive attack. Pittsburgh has nine players that average at least 12 ½ minutes per game and has had five different scoring leaders this season.
Pittsburgh tallied an assist on 22 of its 28 field goals.
"They've got a lot of parts to their team, and that's what makes them win," Green said. "They're hard to defend."
Georgetown hit seven of its first eight shots in the contest, and the Hoyas had an 18-17 lead before Pitt went on a 20-8 run midway through the first half to take to take 37-26 lead.
Georgetown never led again. The Panthers led by nine at halftime but opened up the second half on a 8-2 run and the Hoyas only got as close as five with a Sapp 3-pointer at the buzzer.
"There was a lot of media attention, a lot of hype around this game," said Panthers forward Levon Kendall, who had nine points, five assists, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals. "We know they're ranked at the top of the Big East, and the more games you win like this is big for us. Getting this win was something we were expecting to do in our home."
The Panthers outrebounded the Hoyas 23-18. Georgetown is 11-1 when it holds an edge in rebounding, 0-4 when it does not.
Georgetown came into the game averaging 33.1 rebounds and had collected at least 24 in every game.
"It was a very physical game," Gray said. "We were going at each other. At times, the defenses were concentrating so much on me and (Hibbert), so it opened things up for the other guys. I'm happy with the way things worked out."
Notes
Green went over 1,000 points for his career. ... The Hoyas had won the previous two meetings between the teams to snap a five-game Pitt series win streak. ... Georgetown had never lost a game under coach John Thompson III when it scored 69 or more in a game. ... Thompson is 5-14 against ranked teams while at Georgetown.
