--Pitt lost its first game at the Big East tournament for the third consecutive season after dropping a 76-74 decision to ninth-seeded Connecticut. The Panthers lost when Huskies junior Kemba Walker made a jumper as time expired. The Panthers, who shot 55 percent from the field, blew a 13-point lead in the first half and a seven-point lead in the second half. Ashton Gibbs scored a career-high 27 points, but it wasn't enough to overcome some poor transition defense and a lackluster effort on the backboards. The Huskies outrebounded the Panthers, 32-25, and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, which led to 18 second-chance points.

--Gibbs was 6 for 7 from 3-point range. He has made 26 of his past 43 attempts from 3-point range. It was the second time this season that Gibbs set his career high at Madison Square Garden. Gibbs scored 26 in a loss to St. John's on Feb. 19.

--Senior center Gary McGhee had one point and two rebounds in 18 foul-plagued minutes. McGhee has not scored in double figures in the past eight games.

--You win conference championships, as Pitt did this year in the Big East, with talent and the Panthers certainly had that.

That had a pair of star quality, all-conference players in guards Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker, first and second team players, and they had a dazzling array of forwards. But the man who may have been the most important was an unappreciated hero, Gary McGhee.

It was McGhee who did most of the dirty work, set the picks, grabbing off far more rebounds than headlines.

McGhee was the ultimate team player on the ultimate unselfish team. Coach Jamie Dixon called him the best defensive player Pitt ever had at the center position.

"I just spoke from the heart," Dixon said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Gary has just epitomized this program and the long way it has come, and he may have taken it to another step with his passion. I'm starting to hear from a lot of friends who doubted him coming out of high school. It's not so much the results with him, the production, the numbers, it's the effort he plays with."

McGhee came to Pitt overweight, but not heavily recruited, yet he proved to be a steal. Now he's a key part of Big East championship team.

"It just feels good for us to dominate the regular season in our conference," McGhee said. "To win this conference outright just shows how good of a team we are, how we improved throughout the season. It makes us feel good to be on top of the best conference in America."

--Pitt's senior G Ashton Gibbs, who averaged 17.3 points a game, was named to the All-Big East first team and G Brad Wanamaker, who was fourth in assists, was named to the All-Big East second team.

--Despite ranking 14th in the Big East in free-throw shooting, Pitt clinched the regular-season championship by canning 23 of 26 free throws against Villanova. In an ironic twist, 'Nova, the No. 1 free-throw shooting team in the conference, hit 5-of-10.

--Pitt's 15-3 conference record was the best in school history.

--The Panthers finished 17-1 at home and have won 55 of their last 57 games at the Petersen Events Center.

BY THE NUMBERS
2004 -- The last time the Pitt Panthers won an undisputed Big East regular-season championship, as they did this season from wire to wire.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"We have a special group, and I think we are capable of doing a lot of great things. This is just the first step." -- Senior F Gilbert Brown after ending the regular season with a Big East championship.

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