SYRACUSE, N.Y. — When Syracuse beat Pitt for the Big East tournament title last March, Levance Fields was devastated.

After averaging 11 points in the first three rounds, he missed all four of his shots and did not score in the Orange's stunning 65-61 upset.

Redemption came Thursday night inside the Carrier Dome. Fields scored a career-high 24 points to lead No. 10 Pittsburgh past Syracuse 74-66 in the Big East opener for both teams.

"I was hurt after the Big East championship, " Fields said. "I've been thinking about this game."

Fields was 9-for-15 from the field, including 3-of-7 on 3-pointers as he scored 16 points in the second half. Ronald Ramon had 12 points for the Panthers, Antonio Graves nine and Aaron Gray had nine points and nine rebounds.

"They've got shot makers," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "That's the one thing they have this year that they didn't have last year — a lot more guys that can shoot the ball from the perimeter."

The Panthers also have lots of patience, and that was on display when the game was on the line.

Syracuse, which led the entire first half before falling behind by as many as 10 in the second, rallied within 60-58 with 6:22 left after Andy Rautins hit consecutive baskets — a 3 and a long jumper — both from the left corner.

On the ensuing possession, the Panthers searched for an open man but were forced to call a time-out with the shot clock winding down and the home crowd roaring its approval.

When play resumed, Graves was left alone in the right corner and calmly hit a 3-pointer with 5 ticks left on the clock and the Orange were unable to recover.

"It was a nice sign," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "The execution was very solid. We didn't seem to waver. We showed patience. We didn't take a quick shot after the crowd got into it."

The Panthers (13-2) have won nine of the last 12 meetings with Syracuse (11-4) and three of the last four in the Carrier Dome.

After both teams struggled with 3-for-12 shooting from beyond the arc in the first half and Syracuse held a 34-33 lead at the break, Pitt went 6-of-10 in the second while the Orange were 2-for-7. Demetris Nichols, who had scored 20 or more points in six straight games, was 1-for-6 in the second half and finished 4-for-15 overall for 11 points, taking several off-balance shots, many of them contested.

"It's just one game," Nichols said. "The shots that I missed tonight I know they're going to go down (next time). It was one of those nights. We need to execute our offense. There were times tonight that we broke down."

Syracuse led the entire first half, but its first breakdown was costly. Pitt scored the first seven points of the second half and never lost the lead.

"Pitt's the kind of team that's going to grind it out for 40 minutes, and they did a better job on that tonight than we did," said Terrence Roberts, who made his first appearance after missing 2Z\x games with a sprained left knee.