The missed free throws down the stretch bothered Jamie Dixon far more than the final score.

No. 2 Pittsburgh had most of a late 14-point lead wiped out and missed six straight free throws over the final 1:31, but still beat Auburn, 74-66, yesterday in the Panthers' first road game.

"Not a lot of teams have a good road win like that and are 8-0 at this point," the Pitt coach said. "We won by eight on the road and if we would have made some more free throws that might have changed some things against a very good team."

Aaron Gray scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds despite playing with a painful blister on his left foot and spending most of the second half in foul trouble.

Gray grabbed a rebound after one of the missed foul shots and laid it in, then blocked an Auburn shot.

"I was just trying to give my team a little bit of energy," said Gray, who developed the blister late in Pitt's last game against Robert Morris. "I kind of faded just a little bit in the second half and wasn't effective."

The Tigers (6-3) had cut it to three points twice before Gray's putback made it 70-65.

Auburn couldn't make another field goal after using a 10-0 run to cut it to 66-63 with 2:36 left.

"We played well enough to win the game," said Tigers coach Jeff Lebo, whose team lost to the Panthers by 37 points a year ago. "There were just some plays here and there that didn't work. Some of it was youth and some of it was the situation. They are tough.

"What makes them good is that they don't beat themselves too often."

No. 1 UCLA 61, UC Riverside 38: Arron Afflalo scored 13 points to help UCLA beat UC Riverside, giving the host Bruins a 6-0 record for the first time since they won the 1995 national championship. Henrik Thomsen scored eight for the Highlanders (3-5), who played a top-ranked team for the second time. In 1988, UCR stunned No. 4 Iowa, 110-92, in the Chaminade Christmas Classic in Honolulu.

Florida St. 70, No. 4 Florida 66: Al Thornton scored 28 points, including two free throws with 4 seconds left, for Florida State at Tallahassee, Fla. The Seminoles (5-2) led 36-31 at the half and built the lead to 55-41 before Walter Hodge's 3-pointer with 3:02 left got the Gators (7-2) to 62-59. Hodge's shot capped an 18-7 Florida run. Hodge hit another from long range to cut it to 68-66 with 53.2 seconds left, but Florida State's Toney Douglas blocked a 3-point attempt by Taurean Green with 4 seconds left and Thornton was fouled as he picked up the loose ball.

No. 20 UConn 106, Texas Southern 55: A.J. Price scored 20 points and Hasheem Thabeet tied a Connecticut record with 10 blocked shots to help the host Huskies win their 26th straight home game. Jerome Dyson added 19 points, Doug Wiggins had 17 and Marcus Johnson and Jeff Adrien each had 11. Adrien also had nine rebounds for UConn (7-0). Leonta Matthews had 10 points for Texas Southern (2-6).

Miami 90, No. 21 Georgia Tech 82: Jack McClinton had 22 points and Anthony Harris added 21 to help Miami (5-3) beat Georgia Tech (6-2) in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both schools at Coral Gables, Fla.

Notre Dame 81, No. 23 Maryland 74: Kyle McAlarney scored a career-high 18 points and keyed a decisive second-half run to help Notre Dame (6-1) hand the Terrapins (8-1) their first loss of the season at Washington.

No. 24 Nevada 77, California 71: Ramon Sessions scored eight straight points in the final minutes, and Nevada got off to its best start since 1951 with a victory over California (6-2) in the second game of the Pete Newell Challenge at San Jose, Calif. Marcelus Kemp scored 20 points and Sessions finished with 19 for the Wolf Pack (7-0).

In the first game, Stanford (6-1) beat Texas Tech (6-3), 70-59.

No. 25 Virginia 67, N.C. State 62: Sean Singletary hit a tiebreaking 16-foot jumper with 1:03 left and host Virginia won its Atlantic Coast Conference opener for the first time in 12 seasons. J.R. Reynolds and Will Harris scored 14 apiece for Virginia (5-1). The Wolfpack (5-1) lost for the first time under new coach Sidney Lowe.

OTHER WAC MEN

Montana 62, Boise State 58: Matt Dlouhy scored 17 points to lead Montana (3-4) to a victory over Boise State (2-4) at Missoula, Mont.

San Jose St. 80, Cal Poly 63: Freshman Darion Goins hit four 3-pointers while scoring 16 points as host San Jose State (1-6) got its first victory of the season. Cal Poly is 4-3.

WOMEN TOP 25

No. 2 North Carolina 70, No. 4 Tennessee 57: Erlana Larkins had 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead North Carolina to a victory over Tennessee. Ivory Latta had 12 points and Camille Little added 11 for the host Tar Heels (8-0). Candice Parker had 27 points to lead the Lady Vols (6-1)

No. 6 Ohio State 84, Washington 79: Jessica Davenport and Marscilla Packer scored 25 points apiece, and Brandie Hoskins added 23 to rally Ohio State (7-0) from an 11-point second-half deficit for a victory over Washington (3-4) at Columbus, Ohio.

No. 8 Georgia 79, Georgia Tech 69: Tasha Humphrey scored 23 points in her first full game of the season and Georgia (7-0) surged to victory with an 18-0 second-half run at Atlanta. Janie Mitchell led Georgia Tech (3-3) with a career-high 26 points.

No. 12 Vanderbilt 82, Clemson 63: Liz Sherwood (22 points, 13 rebounds) and Caroline Williams (12, 11) recorded double-doubles in helping host Vanderbilt (8-0) remain undefeated. D'Lesha Lloyd led Clemson (3-5) with 16 points.

No. 15 Stanford 73, No. 25 Texas Tech 49: Candice Wiggins scored 19 points and Brooke Smith added 14 in helping host Stanford (4-3) to its third straight win over Texas Tech (6-3).

No. 16 California 81, Arkansas State 62: Ashley Walker had a career-high 27 points in California's victory over Arkansas State (5-4) that gave the host Bears the Contra Costa Times Classic title. Walker, the tournament MVP, also had eight rebounds and five assists for California (6-1).

No. 17 DePaul 78, Missouri State 57: Caprice Smith scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead DePaul (5-1) past Missouri State (2-4) at Springfield, Mo.

No. 19 Louisville 83, No. 24 Kentucky 75: Angel McCoughtry scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead host Louisville (8-0) past Kentucky (4-3).

No. 20 Michigan St. 79, South Florida 71: Victoria Lucas-Perry scored 21 points to help host Michigan State (6-1) hand South Florida (7-1) its first loss.