He grabbed offensive rebounds. He dunked. He even threw an alley-oop pass.

And that was all in the first three minutes.

DeJuan Blair made his much-anticipated debut for Pitt last night, and the freshman from Schenley High School did not disappoint. Blair lived up to the hype and helped No. 22 Pitt blitz Houston Baptist, 103-62, in the season opener at the Petersen Events Center.

Blair registered a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds. He was 9 for 11 from the field and had 10 offensive rebounds as he dominated Houston Baptist's post players.

It was one of the top debuts by a Pitt freshman. Blair finished two points shy of the all-time scoring record for a freshman in a debut and missed the rebounding record in a debut by three. Ricardo Greer scored 21 points in his first game in 1997 and Sam Clancy, Blair's mentor and the most recent player from the City League to man the center position before Blair, had 16 in his first game in 1977.

"It's fun to have a Pittsburgh kid doing well," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "He deserves it. He's playing well. He's fortunate because he's in a good situation, and we told him that when we were recruiting him. He's really stepped up. I've been impressed with his willingness to listen and learn and be the first one at practice every day. He gets about an hour in before practice every day, and it's paying off for him."

Dixon is replacing two starters in the post, but if the game last night was any indication, it might be the least of the Panthers' worries. While Blair fell short of the records, the Panthers set school records as a team for rebounds (59) rebounds and offensive rebounds (27).

"My teammates make me feel comfortable," Blair said. "They show me mad love. I wasn't nervous at all. It was excellent."

The other first-year starter in Pitt's frontcourt was just as impressive. Junior forward Sam Young led all scorers with a career-high 22 points. He was 10 for 15 from the field and came one rebound shy of registering his third career double-double.

Keith Benjamin (16) and Mike Cook (13) also scored in double figures for the Panthers, who scored the team's most points in almost 12 years.

The new-look Panthers who promised to run the fastbreak more often held to their word. Pitt looked to push the tempo from the outset, and the Panthers ran the Huskies out of the gym in the opening minutes. The Panthers scored the first 13 points and were never threatened by Houston Baptist, which is making the transition from NAIA to NCAA Division I this season. They led, 35-10 and 44-14, before securing a 48-21 halftime advantage.

"In the past, we've been known for our defense," Young said. "We always had the opportunity to get fastbreak points, but we were always a halfcourt team, so we didn't take advantage of our opportunities. But now that we're more mobile and more agile, we're going to take advantage of our opportunities. We're going to blow teams out and get them out of the way early instead of holding the ball and wasting time."

The new style seems to fit Young perfectly. He had three highlight-reel dunks in the opening minutes, including one windmill and two off alley-oop passes, one of which came from Blair.

"I've played this way all my life," Young said. "Then I get here and I'm supposed to slow it down a little bit. I feel they weren't taking advantage of my strengths. This is definitely more my style. I feel more of a need to make things happen."

The only negative for Pitt was its outside shooting. The Panthers were 10 for 34 (29 percent) from 3-point range. Not that it mattered. The Panthers seemed to grab most missed shots and scored anyway. They had 24 second-chance points and 56 points in the lane.

"They're pretty impressive," Houston Baptist coach Ron Cottrell said. "Blair is just so big. It was almost like they were throwing up 3s just so he could get it and throw it back in."

Pitt plays today North Carolina A&T, which lost to St. Louis, 54-43, in the first game of the day at the Petersen Center as part of the Hispanic College Fund Challenge.