PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon watched his team melt down in the final moments in a loss at No. 2 Syracuse over the weekend and wondered how the Panthers, who he insists are still finding themselves, would respond.

“Is there going to be carryover? Are you going to be down?” Dixon asked. “I was concerned about that. But they looked more angry than disappointed.”

Dominant too.

Talib Zanna scored 22 points on near flawless shooting and the 20th-ranked Panthers drilled Clemson 76-43 on Tuesday night.

Zanna connected on 9 of 10 shots, most of them dunks or layups, as the Panthers (17-2, 5-1 ACC) bounced back from the potentially crushing loss to the Orange by overwhelming the Tigers.

“We came out to prove something,” Dixon said.

At both ends of the court.

Pitt held Clemson (13-5, 4-2)to 32 percent shooting (16 of 50) and displayed remarkable willingness to share the ball on offense. The Panthers had 24 assists on 27 field goals.

“I think from the start of the game we just tried to play our style of game, play as hard as we can, execute as best we could,” Pitt guard James Robinson said. “We’re a very unselfish team. When somebody gives up their shot to let somebody else make a play, it usually comes back around.”

It came around often on a night the Panthers posted their fourth-highest margin of victory in conference play in school history.

Lamar Patterson scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds to become the 19th Pitt player to top 1,000 points and 500 rebounds and often served as the catalyst.