There are plenty of reasons why Pitt is in the midst of a three-game losing streak. The guards have not shot the ball well; the bench has provided little in the help of minutes or productivity; and the team in general has failed to come up with big plays at crucial times.

But truth be told, Pitt has lacked in those areas in seasons past and has found ways to win. Primarily, the Panthers found ways to win because of their stingy defense.

But defense, or lack thereof, has been the major reason Pitt has stumbled in the past three games. The Panthers have given up 70 or more points in each of the past three games.

For comparison's sake, the Panthers gave up 70 points or more three times in 20 Big East Conference games last season. And one of those was an overtime contest in which Marquette scored 63 points in regulation.

"Right now we're struggling bad on the defensive end," senior guard Keith Benjamin said. "We just don't know what it is. We have the athletes. We have the physical players. No one is scared. I guess it is more focus and digging deep and wanting to get a stop and make the winning defensive play."

The previous time Pitt gave up 70 or more points in three consecutive games was in February 2005, which not so coincidentally was the most recent time the Panthers lost three consecutive games. Pitt gave up 80 points to Villanova, 70 to West Virginia and 73 to Connecticut in a seven-day span three years ago.

Marquette scored 72, Notre Dame 82 and Louisville 75 in this losing streak for an average 76 points per game. Those same three opponents are shooting an average of 49 percent from the field. Louisville, which beat Pitt Sunday, shot 58 percent, the second-highest shooting percentage in the history of Petersen Events Center.

When an opponent shot better than 40 percent from the field against Pitt in previous seasons it raised some eyebrows. Now it has become a common occurrence. Ten of the first 14 Big East teams have shot more than 40 percent.

"We need to get better," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "That was not something we found out on Sunday. That's something we've known from the beginning. We're never satisfied with where we are defensively. We're always trying to improve."

Many of Pitt's defensive problems the past few games have been with opposing guards and their ability to penetrate and score or find an open shooter. Marquette's guards penetrated past Pitt's guards for easy baskets in the 72-54 loss in Milwaukee two weeks ago. Louisville's quick guards had similar success in a 75-73 loss Sunday.

"It's definitely on us," Benjamin said. "It's time for us to strap up. We knew both of those teams penetrated well. Marquette has a bunch of quick guards. Louisville had some quick guys. Now it's time to strap up. You can't ask for anything else. W can't put it on the big guys. We have to step up, point blank, period. That's what we have to do. Guards win games, guards win championships. We'll go as far as we can take us."

Dixon has sprinkled in some zone in the past three games in an attempt to offset any advantage that the opponent's quickness might pose. But the zone has not been effective. When the Panthers went to their 2-3 zone against Louisville, the Cardinals countered by making 3-pointers or gathering in long rebounds to maintain possession.

"It didn't help us," Dixon said. "They made shots and they got rebounds out of it. They actually scored more against the zone than the man. With the zone you give up more second shots. It's something we've worked on all year long. We've used it at times. First off, we have to get better at man to-man and guarding."

Pitt will be challenged in the final four games against some good offensive teams. Syracuse, which will play host to the Panthers Saturday, is averaging 78.3 points per game. West Virginia is averaging 75.6.

Cincinnati, the opponent at Petersen Events Center, is not a very good offensive team. The Bearcats are 14th in the conference in scoring and average 64.8 points per game.

"It definitely is something that can be fixed," Benjamin said. "I think we're fixing it. We went from losing by 18 at Marquette to 12 at Notre Dame to 4 [against Louisville]. We're bringing the numbers back down. We're just looking to put it all together for this final push."