Three years ago today one of the biggest upsets in the history of Pitt basketball took place at the Petersen Events Center. Bucknell, a Patriot League school better known for its academics than its athletics, visited Pitt Jan. 2, 2005, and handed the Panthers' their first loss of the season.

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Scouting report

• Matchup: No. 13 Pitt (11-1) vs. Lafayette (8-4), 7 p.m. today, Petersen Events Center.
• TV, Radio, Internet: WWSW-FM (94.5), WBGG-AM (970), www.pittsburghpanthers.com.
• Pitt: Lost for the first time Saturday night at Dayton, 80-55. ... Playing its first game without junior point guard Levance Fields, who is out 8 to 12 weeks with a fractured foot. ... Led by junior F Sam Young (17.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and freshman C DeJuan Blair (11.8 ppg, 9.8 rpg). ... Shooting 31.6 percent as a team from 3-point range.
• Lafayette: Had its three-game winning streak snapped in loss at Robert Morris, 88-76, Sunday afternoon. ... Playing its sixth consecutive road game. ... Has won four of its first six games on the road. ... Led by junior G Andrew Brown (18.5 ppg) and senior G Bilal Abdullah (12.9 ppg). ... Shooting 41.4 percent as a team from 3-point range.
• Hidden stat: Young is Pitt's top 3-point shooter. He has made 14 of 30 attempts from behind the 3-point arc (46.7 percent).

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Tonight, another team from the Patriot League will play Pitt on the three-year anniversary of that upset. No. 13 Pitt (11-1) will play host to Lafayette (8-4) in the Panthers' final non-conference game this season.

That Bucknell team was no slouch. Two months after beating Pitt, the Bison, as a No. 14 seed, upset No. 3 seed Kansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Lafayette is not in the same class as that Bucknell team. The Leopards have endured three consecutive losing seasons, but they are playing better this season and have won four of their first six road games. Robert Morris ended Lafayette's three-game winning streak Sunday.

"They're going to play us hard," Pitt senior Ronald Ramon said.

For Pitt, this game will be the first without junior point guard Levance Fields, who fractured a bone in his left foot in the loss Saturday to Dayton. Ramon will take Fields' place at point guard and senior Keith Benjamin will slide into the starting spot at shooting guard.

It is the second time in as many weeks that coach Jamie Dixon must replace a starter. Gilbert Brown made his first collegiate start against Dayton in place of senior Mike Cook, who had a season-ending knee injury Dec. 20 against Duke.

Dixon will start two seniors, a junior and two freshmen against Lafayette. Another freshman, Brad Wanamaker, is the only healthy reserve guard. And two other first-year players -- junior-college transfer Cassin Diggs and freshman Gary McGhee -- could be pressed into action as well.

Pitt opens Big East play Sunday at Villanova, so the game tonight is one in which the Panthers can experiment with different combinations.

"It is a game where we can see different lineups, see how we're going to synchronize as a team," Ramon said.

"That will be a good experience for us, to go out there with a game like this right before the Big East."

Dixon went to a small, guard-oriented lineup against Dayton after Fields was injured and starting center DeJuan Blair left early in the second half with foul trouble. He left Diggs and McGhee on the bench and played mostly guards and small forwards.

Dixon likely will try many different combinations over the next few weeks as he tries to figure out what is best for his team in the wake of the injuries.

One option is playing a bigger lineup that would include Diggs or McGhee and Tyrell Biggs.

Junior forward Sam Young, the team's leading scorer, has experience playing small forward and could play some there with Biggs at power forward and Blair at center. He could even move Blair to power forward and play with Diggs or McGhee at center.

Foul trouble will certainly play a role in determining which combinations are used. Four players picked up two fouls in the first half against Dayton. Blair played seven minutes in the first half because he had two fouls. He picked up two more early in the second half and had to play carefully the rest of the game.

"We've talked about staying out of foul trouble from day one, " Dixon said. "That's a key thing. Our whole front line had two fouls in the first half. It put us in a difficult situation. Hopefully, we can respond better if we're put in that situation again."

"We definitely have to be careful," Young added.

"We need everybody. We had people dropping one by one. It's tough to compete when you have people who were never in that situation before. They were thrown to the wolves."

Like Dayton, Lafayette has the potential to hurt Pitt with its outside shooting. The Leopards like to shoot 3-pointers and have made 41.4 percent of their 309 attempts.

Andrew Brown, who is averaging 18.3 points per game, is shooting 48.4 percent from behind the 3-point line. He averages almost four 3-pointers per game.

"We have to guard them on the perimeter," Dixon said.

"That kid is really good. He has a quick release. He's clever. He's a nice player."