PITTSBURGH - To Chris Taft, Pittsburgh has reached a critical point of its season only one game into its Big East Conference schedule.

One bad loss segued into another for the No. 16 Panthers, who followed up Sunday's stunning loss to Bucknell - one of the most surprising in school history - with one nearly as unexpected to Georgetown, 67-64, Wednesday night.

Bucknell was bad enough, but to Taft, this was worse. This was in the conference, in an easily winnable game at home against a still-maturing opponent that started three freshmen and lost its final eight Big East games last season.

"We can't keep doing this," Taft said following Pitt's first consecutive losses in nearly three years. "This can't keep happening."

Or can it?

The Panthers (10-2) won 39 of 48 Big East games the last three seasons, but that was with elite defenders Julius Page and Jaron Brown in their lineup. Pitt lacks a shutdown defender to rival those two, and it's showing up in the box score every night.

Pitt's last three opponents have shot 50 percent or better, something only one of Pitt's 36 opponents did last season. Georgetown (9-3) made 25 of 50 shots, including 11-of-21 - 52.4 percent - from 3-point range.

The Hoyas were 9-of-12 from beyond in the arc while opening a 19-point lead in the first half, then surged back to win after trailing 59-53 late in the game.

"Obviously, I'm happy," said new Georgetown coach John Thompson III. "The ball bounced our way the last two minutes. It was a big win against a terrific team."

But a struggling team.

The Panthers, who have shared or won the last three Big East regular-season titles, lost two in a row for the first time since Notre Dame and Miami beat them during a four-day span in January 2002. They hadn't lost consecutive home games since Feb. 2001 losses to Notre Dame and Georgetown.

"This really hurts, to lose two straight games at home," said Taft, who had 20 points. "We've got to find a way to get through."

Ashanti Cook hit four of Georgetown's 11 3-pointers and scored 23 points, including a free throw with 5.2 seconds left after Pitt's Chevon Troutman threw the ball away on a long pass. Brandon Bowman put Georgetown up three seconds before with a driving layup.

Pitt got the ball back with a chance to tie it after Cook missed his second free throw, but Antonio Graves was tied up near midcourt and Pitt never got a shot off.

Bowman scored 18 and reserve Darrel Owens had 11 for the Hoyas, who were 16-point underdogs despite winning their previous four games.

Maybe it was the John Thompson factor. Thompson's father was 24-10 against Pitt from 1982-99.

"They hit some deep 3s - they came out on fire," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "Say what you want about the second half, but you can't put yourself in a 19-point hole. We rushed some things, forced some things and were overly aggressive at times."

Now, as Taft said, the Panthers don't have much time to get themselves righted, with a game awaiting Saturday at Rutgers.

"This is a big test to see how together this team is," he said.