PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon remembers when Connecticut considered playing the Panthers to be a "feel good game."

None of the Huskies, most of all freshman center Hasheem Thabeet, felt that way after being shoved around by 7-footer Aaron Gray.

No. 6 Pittsburgh pulled away midway through the second half behind Gray's dominating inside play and Ronald Ramon's perimeter shooting, wearing down Connecticut in a typically rugged Big East rivalry game for a 63-54 victory Tuesday night.

Gray, helped by an injury that kept the 7-foot-3 Thabeet out for most of the first half, had 22 points and 19 rebounds — despite wearing a protective bandage on his right wrist after jamming it before the game.

Ramon went 4-for-4 from 3-point range while adding 17 points as the Panthers (17-2, 5-0) won their seventh straight. They are the only team still unbeaten in conference play.

"They have the opportunity to play in Atlanta," UConn coach Jim Calhoun said, referring to the Final Four site. "They manhandled us and took us out of our offense."

Gray missed by a rebound of becoming the first Pitt player with as many as 20 points and 20 rebounds in a game since Chris McNeal against Boston College in 1992.

"He's huge for us," teammate Levon Kendall said of Gray, and he wasn't referring only to his size. "Any time a guy gets 22 and 19, it's hard to downplay that. That's what he's done all year and that's what we expect out of him."

Not surprisingly, Gray downplayed his own injury, saying the bandage he discarded about 8 minutes into the game bothered him more than his sore right hand did.

"If I thought I could do this every game, I'd hurt myself every night," he said.

UConn (13-4, 2-3) lost for the fourth time in six games mostly because of poor shooting — the Huskies shot 35.6 percent from the field and were 10-of-23 from the free throw line. Yet they led 33-32 with 12 minutes remaining before Pitt went on a 16-2 run.

The Huskies went scoreless for 4½ minutes during that decisive stretch, which started when Pitt scored seven straight points on Levance Fields' 3-pointer, Kendall's jumper from the wing and Gray's basket inside.