Levance Fields is admittedly playing at less than full capacity. He still has soreness in his surgically repaired left foot and is carrying some extra weight because of the complications he encountered during his two-month rehabilitation from the August bone graft operation.

But if playing at "82 percent" -- the offbeat number at which Fields estimated his health the other day -- yields this kind of production, what kind of statistics will Fields be posting when he is back to 100 percent?

Despite not being able to practice with the team for most of the preseason, Fields has not missed a beat in Pitt's first two games. He is averaging 13.5 points per game and has 20 assists and one turnover.

"Twenty assists and one turnover, that's pretty good," coach Jamie Dixon deadpanned. "I venture to say he's probably leading the country in that category."

Fields does not expect to be in game shape for another week or two. For the time being, including tonight's game against the University of Akron, he will be playing his way back into game condition.

In the past 11 months, Fields has overcome two surgeries and subsequent rehabilitations to open the season as Pitt's starting point guard.

Fields first fractured the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot Dec. 29 in a game at the University of Dayton. He had surgery a few days later and came back late last season to lead Pitt into the NCAA tournament. He took another month off after the season ended before resuming his basketball activities.

In August, Fields fractured the same bone again while playing in a summer league game. After his second surgery at the end of August, Fields developed an infection in his leg and could not do any cardiovascular conditioning to keep in shape.

Starting a season out of shape and out of practice has been challenging.

"Obviously, it's hard," Fields said. "But it's been even harder [the second time] because I had the leg infection. I couldn't be in the pool like I was last year. I couldn't do anything. Last year I was able to get in the pool, do the stepper and do the treadmill. But because of the infection all I could do was sit around, take the pills and come in to rehab. It was tougher this year than last year."

Fields has not shown any noticeable rust thus far. In fact, he achieved something Monday night against Miami of Ohio that he never did when healthy: Fields recorded the first double-double of his career with 12 points and 12 assists.

"I always think positive," Fields said. "I expect to play well."

Fields said the most difficult thing for him has been staying in front of opposing guards on defense. His stamina and quickness are still lagging.

"Obviously guys are quicker," Fields said. "Guys have been playing longer. I'm still feeling my way out on the defensive end. I know some things, but my body doesn't react to what I'm thinking or trying to do. Everything takes awhile, but mostly it's the defense. That's something I have to get better at."

With Pitt lacking a challenging non-conference game until next weekend, Fields has the luxury of playing himself into shape. After Akron, the Panthers play Division II IUP tomorrow night and Belmont on Tuesday night.

Pitt's first game against a team from a major conference is next Friday, when the Panthers take on Texas Tech in the Legends Classic in New Jersey. They'll have a second game against a major-conference foe the following night, against Mississippi State or Washington State.

Fields has made sure to take his time as to avoid another setback with the foot. And Dixon has been careful not to rush his star point guard into action too soon. He understands that Fields is going through something unique.

"Eleven months of no activity or limited activity is a long time," Dixon said. "That's a huge amount of time. Last year I remember everyone saying, 'He's back.' And he hadn't played for six weeks. Everyone seemed to think there was going to be no adjustment. We had to play him into shape just as we're doing now. There is no other way to do it. We have to get him ready. There's only one way to get him into game condition and that's to play him in games."