wo years from now they would be good. Maybe next year if things worked out. But not this year.

The men's basketball team must have often heard the words "inexperience" and "transitional period" going into its first year in the Big East … and ignored them.

"Before the season even started, we talked about our goals," said senior Steve Novak. "Coach's big thing was, 'Win in the Big East now.' It wasn't, 'We're going to wait two years, three years for guys to get older and mature.'"

Novak validated the team's goal with a game-high 27 points in an 84-82 win Saturday over No. 9 Pittsburgh at the Bradley Center. The victory, which may have sealed an NCAA tournament at large bid, was the team's second over a ranked opponent in three nights for Marquette (18-8, 8-5 Big East) after defeating No. 17 Georgetown on Thursday.

Not to be forgotten amid the talk of the team's promising future, each senior has raised his level of play during his final season.

Novak's dazzling long-range shooting displays have become routine, and Saturday was no different.

"We didn't do as good a job defensively" on Novak, said Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon. "They set better screens; we were running into more screens than we were in the last game."

The senior made just 3-of-9 shots in the Jan. 28 loss at Pittsburgh (20-4, 9-4), but Novak took advantage of open looks in the first half on Saturday. He also scored five of Marquette's final six points of the game: a three-pointer right after Carl Krauser had cut the lead to 79-78 with a sensational layup and free throws that put Marquette up 83-30 with 11 seconds left.

Krauser led Pittsburgh with 18 points and five assists, but it was sophomore Ronald Ramon who missed the potential game-tying three-pointer in the closing seconds.

Of course, it never should have come to this.

Pittsburgh's Aaron Gray, hampered by foul trouble all game, missed a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left and the Panthers down 81-80. Gray had 20 rebounds in the teams' first meeting but only seven (one offensive) in 22 minutes Saturday.

Credit another Marquette senior, Chris Grimm.

"He understands positioning, he can hold his spot in the post," Marquette head coach Tom Crean said of Grimm, who also played well against Georgetown's 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert on Thursday. "He may not get a ton of rebounds, but he can keep his man from getting rebounds."

Grimm helped contain the 7-foot-0 Panthers' center and received assistance from sophomore Ousmane Barro, who frustrated Gray into receiving a retaliatory technical foul early in the second half.

The incident marred an otherwise terrific game in front of a sell-out crowd of 19,007 fans. Marquette went on an 18-6 run late in the first half to take a 42-36 lead, capped off by a transition three-pointer by senior Joe Chapman, who had nine points. Initially an afterthought due to the arrival of freshmen Jerel McNeal and Wes Matthews, Chapman is quietly shooting 43.6 percent from beyond the arc this year and averaging 7.9 points per game in Big East play.

Marquette led by as much as 68-58 midway through the second half, but the Panthers' hot shooting — they shot 73.7 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes — kept the Panthers close.

Marquette freshmen Dominic James finished with 16 points, six assists and no turnovers, and Wes Matthews scored 13 points off the bench in his best game since he returned from a foot injury.

"I never underestimate our young guys and what their abilities are," Crean said.

The veterans aren't that bad, either.