Pitt basketball fans have been hard-pressed to deem the Panthers’ usual non-conference… Pitt basketball fans have been hard-pressed to deem the Panthers’ usual non-conference schedule as anything but a cupcake in recent years.

In a typical year, head coach Jamie Dixon’s bunch entertains several middle-of-the-road, mid-major-at-best teams in surging to an unbeaten start and high national ranking. Seldom does the team see a road game, much less a ranked team, before the Big East season gets under way in early January.

Lofty expectations have forced the 10th-ranked Panthers (12-2) into a more challenging schedule, though, and the team felt the effects of an increased workload before Christmas came

The Panthers played two top-15 teams on the road in a five-day stretch once finals ended and both encounters proved to be unkind to a Pitt team that had spent the entire season inside the top five.

Pitt’s 10-0 start and No. 2 ranking fell hard and fast during the first week of break. Wisconsin outclassed the Panthers on Dec. 16 and Oklahoma State outlasted Pitt five days later to send the team to an early two-game losing streak.

While the Panthers would rebound with easy home wins over Dayton (84-54) and Florida A’M (77-51), Pitt fell to 1-2 in true road games this season, a bad sign for a team that opens Big East play on the road tomorrow night in the Carrier Dome against Syracuse.

Wisconsin 89, Pitt 75

Wisconsin got standout performances from preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Alando Tucker (32 points, 10 rebounds) and fellow star Brian Butch (27 points, 11 rebounds) to hold off every Panther rally.

The Badgers sprinted out to an early lead and got key buckets from the duo to end Pitt’s 21-game non-conference winning streak.

“I just always pick my points in a game,” Tucker said. “If a team’s not going to double me, I like that. If they’re not going to triple me, I like that. But if they do, I recognize I don’t have to put up big numbers as far as scoring.”

That he did, but it didn’t come at the expense of Butch, who set a career high as Wisconsin took a 10-point lead into halftime and led by as many as 18 in coasting to its biggest win of the season.

Aaron Gray rebounded from a slow start to lead the Panthers with 17 points but Pitt hit only 12 of 34 second-half shots, including a dismal 2-for-10 showing from behind the arc. Wisconsin (14-1), meanwhile, took 33 free throws in the second half, hitting 23 of them.

“The shots weren’t going in the second half,” junior guard Ronald Ramon, who scored 16 points for Pitt off the bench, said. “We just kept trying to fight it, get some stops on defense.

“Obviously, we just fouled a little too much, putting them on the line. They did a great job knocking shots down.”

Oklahoma State 95, Pitt 85 (2 OT)

The schedule didn’t get too much easier for the Panthers, who played their second ranked opponent on the road five days later when Dixon’s squad took on No. 13 Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla.

Defense, once again, put the Panthers at a disadvantage. Throw in some foul trouble and a hot Cowboy shooter and suddenly Pitt was on a two-game slide.

Mario Boggan became the second player to set a career high in points against Pitt for the week, pumping in 30 points as the Cowboys rallied from an early double-digit deficit and eventually outlasted the Panthers in double overtime, 95-89.

Boggan hit the go-ahead free throws with 1:42 remaining and then scored a key basket moments later as Pitt never recovered.

“This is great. I dream about it. I used to dream of the day I was there,” Boggan said after the win, Oklahoma State’s second over a ranked team this season. “I probably was more pumped and energized. I thought I was going to be dead tired, but as it kept going I kept on feeling like I had more energy.”

Pitt pulled within one at 90-89 when Mike Cook hit two free throws with 25.3 seconds left. A flagrant foul on Antonio Graves gave the Cowboys two free throws and the ball, though, effectively putting the game out of reach for Dixon’s squad, which got out-rebounded 47-35 (including 18 offensive rebounds for the Cowboys) and got out-scored in the paint 40-36.

“We figured a game like that would come down to loose balls and rebounds,” Dixon said afterwards. “I think the bottom line is the rebounds.”

Gray did his part for Pitt, registering another double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Four other Panthers registered in double figures, including Graves with 17, Cook and sophomore Levance Fields with 15 and sophomore Sam Young with 10 off the bench.

But it came down to rebounding and free throws as the Panthers shot a meager 67.6 percent from the line while the Cowboys hit 32 of their 38 free throws to put a memorable game out of reach in front of a national audience.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget this game,” Boggan said afterwards. “It was a great game.”