Pittsburgh ? Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon remembers when Connecticut considered playing the Panthers to be a “feel good game.”

None of the Huskies, most of all freshman center Hasheem Thabeet, felt that way after being shoved around by 7-footer Aaron Gray.

No. 6 Pittsburgh pulled away midway through the second half behind Gray’s dominating inside play and Ronald Ramon’s perimeter shooting, wearing down Connecticut in a typically rugged Big East rivalry game for a 63-54 victory Tuesday night.

Gray, helped by an injury that kept the 7-foot-3 Thabeet out for most of the first half, had 22 points and 19 rebounds – despite wearing a protective bandage on his right wrist after jamming it before the game.

Ramon went 4-for-4 from three-point range while adding 17 points as the Panthers (17-2, 5-0) won their seventh straight. They are the only team still unbeaten in conference play.

“They have the opportunity to play in Atlanta,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said, referring to the Final Four site. “They manhandled us and took us out of our offense.”

Gray missed by a rebound of becoming the first Pitt player with as many as 20 points and 20 rebounds in a game since Chris McNeal against Boston College in 1992.

“He’s huge for us,” teammate Levon Kendall said of Gray, and he wasn’t referring only to his size. “Any time a guy gets 22 and 19, it’s hard to downplay that. That’s what he’s done all year and that’s what we expect out of him.”

Not surprisingly, Gray downplayed his own injury, saying the bandage he discarded about 8 minutes into the game bothered him more than his sore right hand did.

“If I thought I could do this every game, I’d hurt myself every night,” he said.

UConn (13-4, 2-3) lost for the fourth time in six games mostly because of poor shooting – the Huskies shot 35.6 percent from the field and were 10-of-23 from the free throw line. Yet they led 33-32 with 12 minutes remaining before Pitt went on a 16-2 run.

The Huskies went scoreless for 41â2 minutes during that decisive stretch, which started when Pitt scored seven straight points on Levance Fields’ three-pointer, Kendall’s jumper from the wing and Gray’s basket inside.

Pittsburgh's Aaron Gray, right, shoots over Connecticut's Jonathan Mandeldove. Pittsburgh beat Connecticut in Big East action Tuesday in Pittsburgh.

The Panthers made it 53-40 on Mike Cook’s driving layup with 2:41 remaining, then spent most of the remaining time on the free throw line as UConn fouled early in every Pitt possession to try to get the ball back.

Dixon, who arrived at Pitt in 1999 as an assistant to former coach Ben Howland, remembers when UConn-Pitt games weren’t always this way. Going into the game, UConn had won 10 of 14 against Pitt, including the last two. The teams met in three straight Big East tournament championship games from 2002-04.

“I remember when they started calling it a rivalry, and I think Coach Calhoun did at first,” Dixon said. “It was a statement for our program – eight years ago, it wasn’t considered a rivalry. Now it’s game we look forward to.”

The Big East’s two most successful programs since 2001 – no team is close to them in regular season victories – are known for their intense, physical styles. This one was no different.

No. 25 Kentucky 87, South Carolina 49

Columbia, S.C. – Joe Crawford tied his career high with 23 points and No. 25 Kentucky won its 11th straight game, an 87-49 victory over South Carolina on Tuesday night.

Crawford had 17 points in the first half to help the Wildcats (15-3, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) open a double-digit lead. Randolph Morris added 17 points and 11 rebounds for Kentucky, which has not lost since falling at North Carolina on Dec. 2.

It was the worst home loss for South Carolina (10-6, 0-3) since a 64-11 defeat by Wake Forest in 1915.

No. 17 Memphis 79, UAB 54

Memphis, Tenn. – Robert Dozier had 15 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 17 Memphis to its sixth straight victory, 79-54 over UAB on Tuesday night.

The Tigers (14-3, 4-0 Conference USA) used a 12-0 run midway through the first half to erase and early deficit and were never threatened in the second half.

Jeremy Hunt added 14 points for Memphis, while Willie Kemp had 12 going 4-of-7 from three-point range.

Utah 85, No. 13 Air Force 79

Salt Lake City – Luke Nevill had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Utah ended No. 13 Air Force’s 13-game winning streak, the Utes’ first in nearly a month.

The Utes (6-12, 1-4 Mountain West) shot 70.7 percent from the field and made 11 straight free throws in the final minutes to end a six-game losing streak – the school’s longest since 1950.

Johnnie Bryant scored 18 points for the Utes and launched the ball straight up at the buzzer as the Utes celebrated their first victory since Dec. 20.

Air Force (17-2, 4-1) was tied with No. 2 Wisconsin for the longest winning streak in Division I, but the Falcons never led Tuesday night.