At this rate, Pitt coach Jamie Dixon is going to have a hard time filling out a lineup by the end of the season. For the third time in three weeks, one of his players has gone down with a serious injury.

Junior point guard Levance Fields has a fractured fifth metatarsal in his left foot, the result of an awkward fall in an 80-55 loss at Dayton Saturday night, and will miss eight to 12 weeks. Fields is scheduled to have surgery today. If all goes well, he could return for the final few games of the regular season.

"Levance is hoping for that and we're hoping for that," Dixon said last night. "But the important thing is he has a full recovery. He's disappointed, but knowing Levance, he'll be eager to come back at full speed and help us."

Fields is the latest Panthers player to be injured. Senior small forward Mike Cook had his season end Dec. 20 against Duke at Madison Square Garden in New York when his left knee was injured. Reserve forward Austin Wallace had his season end when the patella in his left knee was fractured in a practice Dec. 7.

In the past nine days, Pitt has lost 27 percent of its scoring and 47 percent of its assists. Cook was fourth on the team in scoring at the time of his injury.

"I don't think anyone has ever gone through what we've gone through in the last month when it comes to the severity of the injuries," Dixon said.

The latest injury to Fields puts Pitt's season in jeopardy. Fields was an indispensable part of the team. He was the team's second-leading scorer, averaging 11.9 points per game. He also averaged 3.8 rebounds per game and had 65 assists and 23 turnovers. His assist-to-turnover ratio is among the best in Division I for point guards.

And those are just his statistical contributions. Fields was the team's emotional leader and spark plug. When there was a big shot to be taken, he was the one to take it. It was Fields who sank the winning 3-pointer in the waning seconds against Duke.

Without Fields and Cook, Dixon is down to four healthy guards who are on scholarship. And he has just nine healthy scholarship players overall entering the final non-conference game of the season Wednesday against Lafayette at Petersen Events Center.

Dixon started the season with 13 healthy scholarship players, but freshman guard/forward Darnell Dodson transferred to Miami-Dade Junior College in October because he had unresolved issues with the NCAA clearinghouse.

"We'll have to do what we've done in the past when Levance hasn't been in there," Dixon said. "It's an opportunity for other guys. We have confidence in the guys we'll have out there. We'll have to get strong performances from all of these guys. While they're disappointed for Levance, I think they're all looking forward to getting after it."

Dixon probably will move senior Keith Benjamin into the starting lineup at shooting guard and shift senior Ronald Ramon to point guard. That would leave freshman Bradley Wanamaker as the backup at point guard, shooting guard and small forward. The only other guard on the roster is freshman walk-on Tim Frye from Mars High School.

Ramon re-injured his right shoulder in the Dayton game, but Dixon said he will be in the lineup against Lafayette.

Because Dixon has five healthy forwards he could play a bigger lineup, moving Sam Young to small forward and shifting Tyrell Biggs into the starting lineup at either center or power forward.

"Everyone else has to step up," Benjamin said. "We just have to step it up. We're all looking at ourselves now. That's what you have to do. We're a team. We have to realize what has to happen if we still want to go somewhere.

"You lose players sometimes. You lose your stars. You lose your role players. That happens. It's unfortunate that it's happening to us right now. But we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We just have to go play. And we have to play much better than we did [Saturday night]."