PITTSBURGH — Brad Wanamaker could help Pittsburgh sweep Big East rival Villanova this season and he’ll still hold a grudge against the Wildcats.

All because of 2009.

That’s when the Wildcats kept the Panthers from playing in their first Final Four under Jamie Dixon with perhaps the greatest postseason basket in team history.

“The thing I remember is just Scottie Reynolds hitting that shot,” Wanamaker said.

Reynolds won the biggest game between the intrastate rivals on a half-court dash for a basket with 0.5 seconds left that lifted them to a 78-76 victory and their first Final Four since 1985. For the Panthers, it was another stinging postseason downer for the Big East’s most consistent regular-season team over the last 10 years.

It’s a loss the Panthers unlucky enough to play in that game can’t shake.

“That’s something that’s always going to be inside of me,” Wanamaker said. “It’s something I don’t think I’ll ever forget, unless I get the chance to play them again in the Elite Eight for another chance to go the Final Four and we come out with the win.”

For this week, Wanamaker will have to settle for crushing Villanova’s fading Big East title chase.

The No. 4 Panthers (22-2, 10-1) and the Wildcats were picked to finish 1-2 in the conference preseason poll.

Only the Panthers have played up to their billing.

Pittsburgh is rolling toward its 10th straight NCAA tournament and a win Saturday night on the road at the Pavilion would give them the best start to a Big East season in team history. They hold a 1Z\x-game lead over Notre Dame and have the No. 9 Wildcats (19-5, 7-4) needing a season sweep, they play again in Pittsburgh on March 5, and some help to jump back into the championship picture.

Winners of 12 of 13, the Panthers hardly seem poised to fold. They won at No. 25 West Virginia Monday without leading scorer Ashton Gibbs, who is sidelined with a left knee injury.

Gibbs will sit out Saturday’s prime time game — the first time ESPN’s “GameDay” visits Villanova’s campus.

Wildcats coach Jay Wright, while enthusiastic for the exposure, has tried to downplay the hoopla surrounding the all-day event: Randy Foye, who helped lead Villanova to the round of 16 and a regional final in his final two seasons as a Wildcat, will have his No. 2 jersey retired Saturday morning as part of the festivities.

Otherwise, it’s been hard to feel festive around Villanova lately.

They had their second inexcusable loss of the season at Rutgers Wednesday, a stunning defeat that came when Jonathan Mitchell’s four-point play with less than a second remaining gave Rutgers a 77-76 victory.

The Wildcats have beat Pitt six straight times at the Pavilion and are 9-1 against the Panthers in the last 10 games at the on-campus gym.