Panthers clinch Big East Title and No. 1 seed in conference tournament

Closing out their career's at the Pete, Pitt's seniors went out on top as Pittsburgh swept the season series with Villanova, clinching the Big East Title on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers will have an opening round bye in the Big East Tournament, earning the No. 1 seed for the first time since 2004. Pittsburgh will play Thursday afternoon at 12:00 p.m.

In the win, Ashton Gibbs had 18 points and Pittsburgh (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 4 AP), using a big second half to beat No. 19 Villanova 60-50 on Saturday.

Pitt's 15th Big East win tied the school record set in the 2008-09 season.

With nine points, Gilbert Brown pushed his career total to 1,004, becoming the 40th player in Pitt history to reach the 1,000 mark, via ESPN STATS and INFORMATION

"They tried to hold out and basically break us down and make us force shots up in our offense while they remained patient," Panthers senior Gilbert Brown said. "We had to really stay focused and stay patient and value every possession, because every possession and every shot mattered with the minimal possessions we had."

Pitt (27-4, 15-3) earned its first outright Big East title in seven years and the No. 1 seed for next week's conference tournament for the third time. Second-place Notre Dame put pressure on the Panthers with a 70-67 victory at Connecticut earlier Saturday, but Pitt was up to the task.

"We're happy, but we realize that this is just the first checkpoint of what we want to do this year," senior guard Brad Wanamaker said. "We focused on this, but after tonight, we're just focused on New York and [what] we gotta do down there."

Brown, Nasir Robinson and Travon Woodall each had nine points for the Panthers, who won their first seven Big East games on the way to the wire-to-wire title.