PITTSBURGH — When Pitt's only two returning starters from last season's 29-win team were badly injured last month, the only question seemed to be how quickly the Panthers would drop out of the Top 25.

What few considered was this: Not only would they stay ranked without point guard Levance Fields and small forward Mike Cook, but they are moving up in the ratings after an initial drop.

The 15th-ranked Panthers, down to No. 20 a week ago, pulled off one of their most impressive victories in recent seasons Monday night, never trailing in a 69-60 victory over No. 5 Georgetown.

The way they played — getting outside scoring from Keith Benjamin and Ronald Ramon and a strong inside presence from freshman center DeJuan Blair — the Panthers didn't look like a team that's interested in dropping out of the poll anytime soon. They play at Cincinnati on Saturday.

"Clearly, losing the two guys that they did was key, but their talent level is extremely high," Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. "The guys that now are playing more minutes seem a lot more comfortable out there."

Benjamin, a starting forward now that Cook's career has ended because of a knee injury, has benefited most from the increased playing time. He scored 18 points, giving him a 16.6 average in the last five games after he reached double figures only twice in his first 12 games.

Ramon, unsettled for a few games after moving from shooting guard to the point, had 18 points, four assists and only one turnover in 36 minutes as Pitt (15-2, 3-1 Big East) won its fourth consecutive home game against a top five team.

The surprise is the Panthers did it with so few players — coach Jamie Dixon is effectively down to a seven-man rotation — and despite a substantial height disadvantage. The 6-foot-7 Blair gave up 7 inches to Georgetown center Roy Hibbert, but outscored him 15-12 and had nine rebounds to Hibbert's 10.

"I knew it would be hard, banging in there against him," Blair said. "But this is why I came to Pitt, why I came into the Big East. I guess Aaron (Gray, Pitt's center last season) didn't bang him as hard."

Blair was referring to Georgetown's 65-42 rout of Pitt in the Big East championship game 10 months ago, when Hibbert had 18 points and 11 rebounds to Gray's three points and five rebounds. But while the Hoyas (13-2, 3-1) return four starters from that team, Pitt currently has none, although Fields (broken foot) could return late next month.

"Teams felt like they had a better chance of beating us when we went down a few guys, but we knew we would come out stronger, and we've been proving it since they went down," Ramon said.

The Hoyas, coming off a 72-69 victory Saturday over Connecticut, never led as their five-game winning streak ended.

They fell behind 8-2 in the opening 3 minutes and, despite getting within one point on Jonathan Wallace's 3-pointer from near midcourt to end the first half, went down by 12 when Pitt started the second half with a 15-4 run.

Sam Young, Pitt's leading scorer with an 18.4 average, was held to a season-low nine points but contributed two key baskets during the pivotal run.

The Hoyas cut it to 47-44 on consecutive baskets by Patrick Ewing Jr. midway through the half, one of them a dunk off Jeremiah Rivers' miss, but Blair came back with a three-point play and Pitt never let Georgetown back into the game.

"We were flat," said Thompson, whose team returns home to play Notre Dame on Saturday. "I don't know what to attribute that to. It was a big game, and we have to make sure we start making hustle plays."

Georgetown was 3-of-20 on 3-pointers and, while coming into the game as the best-shooting Division I team in the country at 51.6 percent, was held to 44.2 percent (23-of-52).

"We missed a lot of shots we usually hit," said Wallace, who had 14 points despite going 2-of-7 beyond the arc. "Our shot wasn't falling."