Without starting guards Mike Cook and Levance Fields, Pitt has begun to lean on its frontcourt tandem of Sam Young and DeJuan Blair more. The way they played yesterday against Seton Hall, Pitt's dynamic duo appears more than capable of handling the added burden.

Young and Blair were dominant in No. 20 Pitt's 84-70 victory against Seton Hall at Petersen Events Center. They combined to score more than half Pitt's points against the guard-oriented Pirates.

Young scored a career-high 28 points, and Blair had 20 points and 14 rebounds.

"Even though Pitt lost Levance Fields and Mike Cook, they're still one of the elite teams in the league, especially at home," Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez said. "Their inside people are just at another level. They're so skilled. I don't want to put pressure on [Pitt coach] Jamie [Dixon], but to me they look like NBA big guys. We just had no answers for those guys. We just got outclassed inside."

With the victory, Pitt (14-2, 2-1) heads into a nationally televised showdown tomorrow at home against No. 7 Georgetown (13-1, 3-0) on the upswing. Young and Blair will be important players in that game, but their worth to the team could not have been more evident than it was against Seton Hall.

Young not only was dominant inside, but he stepped out and made all four of his 3-point attempts. Young has developed into one of Pitt's top outside shooters. With his perfect performance yesterday, he is shooting 52.6 percent (20 for 38) from 3-point range for the season.

"He just keeps getting better," Dixon said. "He's improving in every area. He was a complete non-shooter coming out of high school. That was the question about him. Even coming out of prep school, people didn't think he could shoot it. Now he goes 4 for 4, and we're running plays for him to come off screens and shoot 3s."

Seton Hall could not handle Blair on the blocks. He had five rebounds in the first four minutes and got stronger. He was 6 for 9 from the field and 8 for 12 from the free-throw line.

After playing half a season together, Young and Blair are beginning to develop excellent chemistry.

"You could see them interacting early on in the season and you could see how they enjoyed playing with each other," Dixon said. "That's not normally the case with a young guy like that. They know where each other is now. They have a good feel for each other on the offensive end."

After a slow start in the first half, Pitt's guards picked it up in the second half and helped seal the victory. The Panthers made eight of their 11 3-pointers after halftime. In addition to Young's four 3-pointers, Ronald Ramon made four and Keith Benjamin three as the Panthers scored 51 second-half points.

The Panthers were 11 for 20 from 3-point range for the game and are 24 for 47 in their three Big East Conference games. They had been one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the Big East entering conference play.

As a team, Pitt shot 49.1 percent (28 for 57) for the game.

Pitt also did a good job of handling Seton Hall's full-court pressure. The Panthers, who committed 22 turnovers against Villanova in their Big East opener a week ago, had just 13 yesterday.

Ramon, taking over for Fields at point guard, had eight assists and two turnovers. He has 28 assists and 10 turnovers since becoming the team's point guard four games ago.

"We're pretty comfortable with the press," senior guard Keith Benjamin said. "As long as we keep handling it the way we do, we have nothing to worry about."

Pitt did not begin to pull away until midway through the second half. Seton Hall's Brian Laing kept the Pirates in the game, scoring 15 of their 30 first-half points.

Pitt led by 18 with 6:24 remaining after Young made a jumper. Seton Hall stormed back to cut the lead to eight with 1:49 to go by forcing some turnovers and fouling the Panthers, who made 17 of 30 free throws.

But the Panthers righted themselves in the final minute and thwarted the Pirates' comeback bid.

NOTES -- Starting small forward Gilbert Brown did not score in 24 minutes. He was in foul trouble much of the game. ... Tyrell Biggs missed a double-double by one basket. He had eight points and 10 rebounds. ... Point guard Eugene Harvey led Seton Hall with 25 points. ... The Pirates were 5 for 23 from 3-point range.