Xavier Johnson was in the right place at the right time as an offensive rebound fell right into his lap and his layup put Pitt up 72-70 with 1:19 left in the game. He made two foul shots down the stretch to put Pitt up by four and the Panthers escaped with a 75-73 win over Saint Louis on Wednesday afternoon in the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn.

Johnson finished with a game-high 20 points. He missed most of the first half by picking up two fouls in the opening minutes, but made up for it down the stretch. He scored 17 points in the game’s final 20 minutes and proved to be too quick for the experienced Saint Louis guards to slow down.

Foul troible became a big part of the story in this one. The teams combined for 52 fouls called in on Wednesday afternoon. Pitt shot 23-34 from the free throw line, while Saint Louis was 10-16. The Billikens were also without leading scorer Tremaine Isabell Jr. in the first half, as he sat out without an explanation presumably serving a one half suspension. He started the second half and finished with 8 points, which is below his season average of 14.5

In addition to Johnson’s heroics, reserve guard Sidy N’dir provided a huge boost off the bench. He finished with a season-high 13 points. In the first half he made a lot of noise with a tomahawk jam, and in the second half he connected on a big 3-pointer with 4:21 left to give Pitt a 70-68 lead.

Malik Ellison returned back to his hometown area and finished with 13 points. Ellison is a native of New Jersey, and also played for Saint John’s in his first two college seasons before transferring to Pitt.

The win gives Pitt a 6-0 start. It is the best start for the Pitt basketball program since the 2013-14 season when the Panthers started that year 10-0. It is also the first winning streak of at least six games for this program since December 4, 2015 to January 9, 2016, a 10-game streak for the Panthers.

Saint Louis was picked to the Atlantic 10 in the preseason, and should challenge to win the league and potentially be an NCAA Tournament team come March. The Billikens were ranked 73rd in the KenPom.com rankings and were a 5-point favorite coming into this game, making this the first upset win in the Jeff Capel era.

Pitt will return to action on Tuesday as a part of the ACC/Big Ten challenge when it heads to undefeated Iowa. The Hawkeyes defeated Oregon and Connecticut earlier this week in the 2K Classic held at Madison Square Garden and are one of the hottest teams in college basketball in the early part of the season. It will be a huge challenge for Jeff Capel’s team in their first true road game.