TAMPA - The Bulls slammed the door on Pittsburgh's four-game winning streak by dominating on both ends of the floor Wednesday night.

The USF men's basketball team held Pitt to 35 percent from the field while the Bulls ruled the paint in a 63-51 victory before a crowd of 4,507 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. USF shot 60.5 percent from the field, which marked the team's best-ever showing in Big East play.

"We felt like we could go inside a little bit," head coach Stan Heath said of his Bulls, who had a 36-26 edge in the paint. "We had some height advantage and we took advantage of that."

USF also held a 30-27 advantage against the Big East's top rebounding team and limited to national player of the week Tray Woodall to 11 points.

"They forced us into turnovers and to make bonehead mistakes," said Woodall, who averaged 26.5 points last week and is the reigning BIG EAST player of the week.

Hugh Robertson led USF's charge on both the offensive  and defensive ends of the field. He finished with a season-high 18 points to help the Bulls outscore Pitt, 36-26, in the paint and kept Pitt's leading scorer, Ashton Gibbs, to just four points. Gibbs' failed to reach double-figures for just the third time this season thanks to the senior's defensive efforts.

Anthony Collins finished with 11 points and Augustus Gilchrist added 10 in the Bulls' 12^th home win in 13 games this season.

The senior was 7-for-7 from the field with most of his shots coming close to the basket while Gilchrist went 5-for-7. Robertson's field goal percentage was the best in Big East history for the Bulls.

"That was our game plan," Heath said. "We only shot a few 3s and we felt like if we could either post up or go off the dribble and get into the paint that would be something that would be effective for us."

USF kept its 13^th team this season to under 60 points while Pitt failed to reach the 60-point mark for the first time in the past six games.

"The defense was outstanding," Heath said. "I'd like to bottle that and take that everywhere we go the rest of the year if we could."

Wednesday's game started off slowly for both teams with USF holding a 4-0 advantage 4 minutes, 25 seconds in.

The Bulls kept the lead for more than 9 minutes until J.J. Moore's 3-pointer put Pitt ahead, 12-10. The Panthers started 0-for-4 from the field but quickly picked up steam on offense by making four of their next five shots.

It was tied up at 14 when Robertson scored four straight points for USF, including the Bulls' second big dunk of the half. Victor Rudd Jr. previously gave the Bulls a 14-12 lead with a thunderous reverse dunk that made for solid ESPN highlight material.

Robertson was the first player in double figures and the senior teamed up with Gilchrist to score 16 of the Bulls' first 18 points. Robertson led all scorers with 10 points at the break.

USF went into the half with the momentum and a 27-23 lead after Jawanza Poland beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer in traffic.

The Bulls were still in a groove early in the second half and took a 41-31 lead on a 3-pointer by Toarlyn Fitzpatrick. USF made 16 of its first 26 shots from the field (61 percent).

Fitzpatrick's tip-in pumped USF's lead up to 47-35 with 9:27 remaining right after Robertson reached 16 points with a drive to the hoop.

Pitt made a late push inside three minutes to play when Lamar Patterson knocked down a 3 to cut USF's lead to 53-45. Collins answered back seconds later with a pull-up jumper and added two free throws.

Patterson, who finished with seven points, put down a dunk to get Pitt within eight with 1:22 to play, but USF finished the game on a 6-0 run.

USF heads back on the road to face Providence 4 p.m. Saturday before returning home to host Villanova Feb. 15 at 7 p.m.

NOTES: Gilchrist scored in double figures for the third straight game... USF's only loss at the Forum this season came Dec. 28 (74-57 against UConn) ... The Bulls are now 12-1 at home and are one win away from matching their top season total since 2002-03 (13-2)... Pittsburgh had won two straight against USF before Wednesday.