The 6 1/2-hour bus ride back from Philadelphia after a 67-57 loss Wednesday night to Villanova probably seemed even longer for the Pitt basketball team.

The Panthers, 2-2 in their past four games after starting the season 16-0 and ascending to the No. 1 spot in the national polls, arrived back on campus around 3:30 a.m. yesterday.

Coach Jamie Dixon ran his tired team through a light, 40-minute practice in the morning and then excused them for the day.

Foul trouble and poor shooting doomed the Panthers in the final college basketball game at the 42-year-old Spectrum. It was the same two ingredients that hampered them in their other loss to Louisville 13 days ago.

"A lot of people would like to be where we're at, but we obviously lost the game the other day, and that's what everybody is talking about," Dixon said yesterday.

"We just got to play better team defense and got to do a better job of taking care of the ball and, obviously, we can't put people at the free-throw line. The two games we've lost we've been outscored at the free-throw line by a significant margin and that's something that we have to fix."

Pitt also has to find a way to keep center DeJuan Blair from Schenley High School on the floor.

The 6-foot-7, 265-pound sophomore got into early foul trouble against Villanova and managed only 8 rebounds, 7 points and 2 field goals in 23 minutes. He had 10 rebounds and 9 points in 20 foul-plagued minutes in the 69-63 setback to Louisville.

"It wasn't just one guy -- we had a number of guys in foul trouble [against Villanova]," Dixon said. "I don't think anybody hopes to be in foul trouble. It's not a game plan for us going in, and it's obviously something you don't want to have happen, but it happens.

"We've been in foul trouble before and found ways to figure it out. We didn't get it done this last game against a good team that played well and made some shots and shot well down the stretch, too."

No. 3 Pitt (18-2, 6-2 Big East) returns to action tomorrow with a game against struggling Notre Dame (12-7, 3-5) at the Petersen Events Center.

The unranked Fighting Irish, who have dropped four consecutive games to ranked opponents, were ranked as high as seventh earlier this season.

"Obviously, they're in the middle of a tough stretch like everybody is," Dixon said. "They're a top-10 team. They've got a lot of good people.

"And we've got a lot of good teams in our league, That's just the way it is. When two good teams get together, only one can win. I think that's simple, but forgotten, at times."

Notre Dame's 6-8 junior power forward, Luke Harangody, is the reigning Big East player of the year. He has scored 20 or more points in 12 consecutive games and has nine double-doublesin a row. He likely will be matched against Blair, last year's Big East co-rookie of the year.

Harangody is averaging 25.0 points and 13.3 rebounds per game; Blair checks in at 14.3 and 12.4.

"[Harangody] is getting a lot more shots. I think his shots are up to 23 from 16 the last five games," Dixon said. "They are going to him more. They have shuffled their lineup some. He's going to get shots up. ... He's going to score some points.

"So you got to make them tough shots and make them contested and limit the catches in certain areas. And that's what we're going to attempt to do."