In the recent resurgence of Pitt basketball under Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon, certain principles have emerged as tenets of the team's style: Outrebounding opponents by ten, holding opponents under 40 percent shooting, and committing fewer than 12 turnovers.

On Saturday, the 2006-07 Panthers put on a clinic in playing their style of basketball when they throttled St. John's 72-46 at the Petersen Events Center. Senior center Aaron Gray led the No. 9 Panthers (19-3, 7-1 Big East) with game-highs of 13 points and 10 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season.

"We played very well," Dixon said after the game. "We had a lot of respect for how they were playing, maybe that was helpful for us."

Dixon and the Panthers may have held St. John's in high esteem for their recent back-to-back wins over Notre Dame and Syracuse, but the Red Storm did little to earn any respect on Saturday. In fact, they were prey to each of Pitt's three mainstays:

1. St. John's shot 32 percent from the field, hitting just 17-of-53 shots. That was the second-lowest field goal percentage by a Pitt opponent this season, behind Florida A&M's 31.7 percent. St. John's' shooting rate included a 4-of-24 mark from 3-point range.

As is often the case, Pitt's opponents shot poorly because the Panthers forced difficult shots.

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