Pitt wins on road, 59-49

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon thought Pitt shot well enough against DePaul,… ROSEMONT, Ill. – Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon thought Pitt shot well enough against DePaul, but believed another aspect of his team’s play was most responsible for the Panther victory.

“Sometimes your team defense is your best offense, and I think that’s how we played tonight,” Dixon said. “We’ve been putting emphasis on it all week, and we came out and defended well, we didn’t get beat off the dribble and it was satisfying to see us play that way.”

No. 7 Pitt (15-2, 3-0 Big East) held DePaul (10-7, 1-2) to just 49 points on 34.5 percent shooting and put the Blue Demons away for a 59-49 victory in front of 10,497 at the Allstate Arena in Chicago.

The Pitt defense limited its opponent to fewer than 50 points for the second consecutive game. The Panthers held South Florida to a season-best 48 points on Sunday and held its ground once again, only allowing DePaul to score 18 points at the half, the least of any opponent so far this season.

“I think we came out and defended all the way through,” Dixon said. “We did some things differently according to their style, and it was nice to see our guys carry it out. It was a very solid, smart game all the way through.”

The Panthers started very well on defense, limiting DePaul’s leading scorer, senior Sammy Mejia, to just one field goal in the first half. Mejia finished with 10 points four-of-10 shooting, including one-of-five from 3. Even though Keith Benjamin and Antonio Graves were on Mejia most of the night, Dixon saw his team step up.

“You want to talk about one guy [guarding Mejia], but it’s a team thing. You’re not going to guard [Mejia] with one guy