DAYTON, Ohio -- The Pitt Panthers suffered their worst loss in more than eight years last night against Dayton, but the sting of an 80-55 defeat might be the least of coach Jamie Dixon's worries.

Junior point guard Levance Fields left the game with a left foot injury with 15:45 remaining and did not return. He had to be helped off the floor and left the arena with a walking boot on his foot.

No official information was available after the game, but one source said Fields could have a fracture and his season might be over. Dixon said more information on Fields' foot would be known today after doctors can examine him.

"We don't know where he's at right now," Dixon said. "We'll know more [today]."

It was the second time in as many games that Pitt had a starter go down with an injury. Senior small forward Mike Cook had the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee torn in a 65-64 victory against Duke last week. His season is over.

No. 6 Pitt (11-1) had not lost a game by a 25-point-plus margin since Dec. 4, 1999, when Tennessee handed the Panthers a 76-50 loss. That was Ben Howland's first season at Pitt. The 25-point loss last night was by far the worst of the Dixon era. The previous largest margin of defeat had been 13 against Louisville last season.

The Panthers had no answer for Dayton senior guard Brian Roberts, who poured in 31 points. He was 10 for 17 from the field and 5 for 8 from 3-point range.

"He was on fire," Pitt junior forward Sam Young said. "We watched a lot of tape on him. We thought we had him figured out. But we didn't. I give a lot of credit to Roberts. He hit a lot of tough shots. He put a lot of daggers in us. Every time I thought we might have a chance to come back, he'd make a tough shot. I take my hat off to him. He's a tough player."

Roberts was not the only Dayton player who lit it up. The Flyers shot 52 percent from the field. Marcus Johnson scored 15 points and Kurt Huelsman added 12.

"Everything they did we saw on tape," senior guard Keith Benjamin said. "We were just a step slow tonight. It wasn't the aggressive Pittsburgh team you usually see. They took it to us in every aspect of the game."

Pitt followed its script of playing poorly in the first half on the road. When the Panthers did that in three previous games they managed to come back and win.

But last night Pitt ran out of good fortune and could not muster another late rally. The Panthers trailed by 12 at halftime, the same amount of points they trailed Duke at the intermission nine days earlier. But instead of another comeback, things deteriorated quickly for Pitt in the second half.

Nineteen seconds before Fields went down, freshman center DeJuan Blair picked up his fourth foul and had to go to the bench. Foul trouble was an issue all game for Pitt. Blair could only play seven minutes in the first half because he had two fouls. Gilbert Brown had three first-half fouls and Young and Tyrell Biggs each had two.

With Fields out of the game and little semblance of an inside game without Blair, the Panthers did not have any answers on offense to climb back into it. Dayton pushed the lead to 25 with 6:30 remaining. The Flyers led by 30 with 4:03 to play.

"Usually when a team takes us apart we come together and make it a game or come back and win," Benjamin said. "Tonight was something totally different. We weren't ourselves at all out there. It kept rolling down the hill."

The Panthers had their worst shooting game of the season. They were 19 for 64 from the field (29.7 percent). They were 3 for 25 from 3-point range. Young led Pitt with 15 points and Fields had 13, but that was all the firepower the Panthers had.

Senior guard Ronald Ramon misfired on all eight of his attempts. Gilbert Brown, making his first career start in place of Cook, was 1 for 8.

With the Fields' injury and the foul trouble, Dixon was forced to look to other sources for scoring, but he found no one who could help.

"We didn't finish a lot of plays," Dixon said. "Our offense was not great."

NOTES -- Dayton outrebounded Pitt, 41-35. ... The Flyers came into the game shooting 64 percent from the free-throw line, but made 22 of 28 attempts last night. ... Pitt's next game is Wednesday against Lafayette at Petersen Events Center.