Pitt hoops: Gibbs leads Pittsburgh to a 65-52 victory over DePaul

Ashton Gibbs scored 23 points and added 6 rebounds as the Pittsburgh Panthers jumped out to a 13-point lead in the opening 6 1/2 minutes of the game and held off a late rally to defeat DePaul 65-52 on Monday night in the Big East opener for both teams.

The Panthers led by as many as 16 points in the first half and relied on a tight defensive game in the second half to hold off DePaul.

Through 13 games this season, Pitt is giving up less than 57 points per game, which ranks them in the top 5 nationally.

Pitt (11-2, 1-0 Big East) got 12 points from guard Jermaine Dixon and 6 points from Gilbert Brown who played in his second full game of the year for the Panthers.

Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon was very pleased following the game with Pitt's ability to surge to a double digit lead in the first half.

“It’s always good to get off to a strong start in Big East play, " Jamie Dixon said.

"We didn’t play our best game for 40 minutes tonight, but I thought we played well in stretches, especially on defense. We had a lot of guys step up and contribute tonight, which is also a good sign. We have things to build on going forward from this game, but there are still improvements to make.”

DePaul got within 5 points late in the second half but Pitt finished the game on a 11-3 run to close out the game. The win was Pitt's 30 straight victory at home.

Pitt is off to a 11-2 start but with the Big East season just under-way, expectations are not high outside of Pittsburgh. Jamie Dixon doesn't want his team to buy into the low expectations as Pitt was selected to finish 9th in the Big East this season.

"We’re not where I want us to be, " Jamie Dixon said. "I know that we lost a lot after last season and what the expectations are for us from a lot of different media outlets, but I never buy into that. I think we have the ability to keep things going; it’s just about players stepping up. Heading into Big East play, I keep telling our guys, the freshmen need to play like sophomores and the sophomores need to play like juniors.”