The final score of the Pitt-Akron game last night would seem to indicate that the Panthers put forth another scintillating early season offensive performance.

But the Panthers' 86-67 victory was anything but a thing of beauty for the offense.

Instead, it was a testament to the team's overwhelming power and force under the basket. On a night when Pitt's best play was a missed shot, the Panthers pulled down 22 offensive rebounds to offset an otherwise lackluster offensive and defensive performance against the Zips.

Senior forward Sam Young led No. 6 Pitt (3-0) with 26 points and six rebounds, and DeJuan Blair recorded his second double-double in three games with 16 points and 13 boards.

Blair had eight offensive rebounds and overpowered every player Akron (2-1) threw at him.

"It's hard when you're getting manhandled by a beast on the box," Akron coach Keith Dambrot said. "Blair just has a knack. He bullies everyone out there. He bullies the Big East. He certainly is going to bully the [Mid-American Conference]."

And when the Zips didn't have to worry about Blair, they had to deal with Young, who missed matching his career high by just two points. Young was 9 for 14 from the field and showed off his inside and outside game. He was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and had an easy time going past Akron defenders on his way to the basket as well.

"If you think Blair is a beast, Sam Young is no picnic, either," said Dambrot, who coached NBA star LeBron James in high school. "Sam Young, physically, reminds me of LeBron a little bit. He's obviously not the player that LeBron is. But, physically, he's got that quick-twitch strength, the ability to put the ball down. It's a tough matchup."

Pitt was 27 for 60 from the field, but 19 of those field goals came in the paint. The offense had a hard time finding a rhythm throughout the game and had to be continually bailed out by Blair and senior forward Tyrell Biggs, who had seven offensive rebounds and six points.

"We were up 20 on the boards in the first half," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

"That's a pretty big number. I thought we were really passing the ball well. But then I looked at it, and we only had seven assists. It seemed like we were missing some point-blank shots.

"I thought we took good shots. I always stress that, if you take good shots, guys are scrambling defensively.

"They're late and then you have offensive rebound opportunities. If you take good shots, your team knows it, and they're going to the glass. Our offensive execution was good in the first half. That was the reason we got a lot of those offensive-rebound opportunities. The second half we didn't do it as well."

The Panthers didn't do much of anything well in the second half. In fact, Akron shot 58 percent from the field after halftime, 50 percent of the game. Forward Brett McKnight torched Pitt for 23 points.

"We didn't get after it as hard as we did in the first half," Biggs said.

This suspect defensive performance came on the heels of an impressive outing against Miami on Monday night after which Dixon praised the defensive effort.

Dixon took some of the blame for the poor second half. He said his substitution patterns took the Panthers out of their game. Dixon once again liberally substituted his freshmen into the game at all times, which led to some of the team's breakdowns in the final 20 minutes.

"I kind of took us out of our rhythm," Dixon said.

"I took Levance out early. I tried something different. But to their credit, they just kept playing hard and kept battling and getting after it. They have tough kids."

Young scored 16 of his points in the first half and led the charge to a 45-27 halftime advantage for Pitt. The Panthers built the lead to 21 points early in the second half before they lost their focus, according to Young.

"We played real good offense and defense in the first half," Young said.

"It wasn't until the second half where we got sloppy and lost focus when we were up by 20. We kind of lost our intensity. If the game was a little closer, we would have maintained our intensity and our motivation."

One player who did maintain his intensity throughout the game was senior point guard Fields, who had 19 points, seven assists and one turnover. For the season, Fields has 27 assists and two turnovers.

Pitt (3-0) plays again tonight against IUP at the Petersen Events Center.

NOTES -- Pitt announced yesterday that three of its non-televised games will be broadcast via the Internet at www.pittsburghpanthers.com. The three games being offered via the Internet are Tuesday against Belmont, Dec. 3 against Duquesne and Dec. 6 against Vermont. John Sanders and Curtis Aiken will provide the play-by-play and color commentary.