PITTSBURGH — Carl Krauser's most important assist for No. 12 Pittsburgh in a comeback victory over Marquette came off the court. He made certain backup Antonio Graves didn't get discouraged after being pushed deep down the bench.

Graves, seldom-used most of the season, and Krauser led a decisive 10-0 run late in the game and the Panthers overcame a sluggish start and a 12-point deficit to beat Marquette 77-71 Saturday.

Graves scored 19 points in easily his best game of the season and Krauser added 16, including five in a matter of seconds after it was announced he had moved past mentor Brandin Knight on Pitt's career scoring list.

Aaron Gray had 13 points and 20 rebounds — the most by a Pitt player since Gerald Jordan's 20 against West Virginia 10 years ago this month — to help Pitt to a 45-30 edge on the boards that proved decisive during the turnaround second half.

Pitt (17-1, 6-1 Big East) improved to 13-0 at home with successive wins over Syracuse and Marquette after losing for the first time, at St. John's, last Saturday.

Graves' outside shooting — he was 3-of-4 on 3-pointers — played a key role, just as Krauser predicted it would. Krauser didn't know when Graves would break out, but was certain he would.

"Honestly, it's been a tough year for me," said Graves, a junior guard who averaged 7.8 points while starting all but two games last season. "I've been trying to stick with it and keep grinding and do whatever I had to do to succeed. Carl really helped me."

Graves had scored only 11 points in Pitt's previous nine games. But he came in early in the game after coach Jamie Dixon briefly benched all of his starters with Pitt down 13-5 and wound up playing 24 minutes.

"We stressed getting off to a good start and being ready to go, but my advice didn't go very far," Dixon said.

Graves' 19 points were a career high, topping the 18 he had against Penn State last season. Graves, whose playing time was cut by the emergence of freshman guard Levance Fields, hadn't scored in double figures since doing so twice in Pitt's first three games.

Marquette (15-6, 5-3), the only one of the Big East's five new members with a winning record in conference play, rode its excellent outside shooting early to leads of 8-0, 13-3 and 19-7.

But coach Tom Crean said that halfway through their first season in the Big East, the Golden Eagles are learning the difference between it and Conference USA, their former league.

"It's the depth of the league," Crean said. "Teams can go to their bench and there's no drop-off. It's really impressive."

So was Pitt's rebounding edge, with Levon Kendall adding nine rebounds. Gray (9) and Kendall (5) combined for 14 of Pitt's 19 offensive rebounds.

"My offense was bad, and I had to keep taking three or four opportunities to get an easy basket," said Gray, who was 6-of-14 from the field.