Pitt completed the regular season with one of its finest offensive performances of the season yesterday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center. The Panthers hammered DePaul, 98-79, before 12,051 on Senior Day.

The offensive outburst was one of Pitt's best in years against Big East Conference competition. The 98 points were the most since the Panthers scored 100 against Notre Dame in double overtime in 2006 and the most in a regulation conference game since scoring 101 against Providence in 1991.

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Coming up

• • What: Big East tournament.
• • Where: Madison Square Garden, New York City.
• • When: 7 p.m. Wednesday.
• • The skinny: Pitt will take on Cincinnati in a first-round game. If Pitt wins it will meet Louisville at 7 p.m. Thursday.

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The victory secured seventh place in the Big East for Pitt (22-9, 10-8). The Panthers will play Cincinnati in a Big East tournament first-round game at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

"We needed a win to have a positive feeling going into this week's tournament," senior Keith Benjamin said. "We had a good win, a convincing win. We just want to keep it rolling."

Six players scored in double figures for the Panthers, who shot 56 percent from the field. Freshman center DeJuan Blair recorded his 13th double-double with a career-high 22 points and 14 rebounds. Junior point guard Levance Fields was a rebound and assist shy of a triple-double.

"They had six guys in double figures and 26 assists," DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright said. "That's how you want to play basketball."

Fields finished with 11 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists in his best game since returning to the lineup late last month after sitting out nearly seven weeks with a fractured bone in his left foot. "He had three good days of practice," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "It's not a coincidence. He's gotten better each day. You need to practice and play and get back into game rhythm.

"It's a good time to be going in [to the postseason]. We're playing our best basketball right now. We've won three of our last four, and we've had our best practices since the injuries. We've put ourselves in position. We've won 22 games, more than anyone thought [we would] when the guys went down."

Pitt is the only Big East team in the past seven seasons to win 20 or more games overall and 10 league games each season. When starting small forward Mike Cook sustained a season-ending knee injury in mid-December and Fields was injured a week later, it seemed like a long shot the streak would remain alive.

"I'm just proud of where this team is at," Dixon said. "Everyone had us written off. I know we were considered an NIT team when those guys went down, maybe not even an NIT team. That's what everyone wrote and said, except for those guys in that locker room."

Pitt's offense might be its best attribute heading into the Big East tournament. Other than the West Virginia game last Monday, the Panthers have performed consistently well on offense the past few weeks.

The same cannot be said for the defense. The Panthers again struggled defensively against DePaul. The Blue Demons shot 44.4 percent from the field, the sixth consecutive opponent to shoot 42 percent or more.

The game could have been over at halftime. Pitt led, 18-6, and appeared to be on the way to a blowout victory. But the Panthers allowed the Blue Demons to tie the score, 27-27, with 6:52 remaining in the half.

DePaul only trailed by six with 13:49 remaining in the game. That's when Benjamin converted Pitt's first four-point play this season. Benjamin swished a 3-point attempt from the top of the key and was fouled by DePaul's Jabari Currie. He made the free throw for a 66-56 lead.

"That was the biggest play of the game," Wainwright said. "That was like putting a big bucket of cold water on our confidence."

DePaul (11-19, 6-12) was playing for the right to go to the Big East tournament. A victory would have given the Blue Demons the No. 12 seed in the tournament. Providence earned the No. 12 seed instead and will play West Virginia in a first-round game Wednesday afternoon.

NOTES -- Pitt's seniors went out on a high note. Benjamin had 12 points, 5 assists and no turnovers in 32 minutes. Ronald Ramon had 11 points, 6 assists and 1 turnover in 33 minutes. Even little-used reserve Maurice Polen got into the act. He converted a three-point play with 55 seconds remaining. ... Fields' nine rebounds and nine assists were career highs. ... Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson donned an Oakland Zoo T-shirt and cheered from the student cheering section.