PROVIDENCE -- Most of the time, the effort was unsucessful . . . and, looking at the names on the other side of the court, it's easy to see why.

Bob Cousy. Lew Alcindor. Bill Walton. David Thompson. Mike Gminski. Chris Mullin. Patrick Ewing. Chris Paul. Rudy Gay.

These are the names of some of the greatest players in college basketball history, legends who led their teams to championships and several who became Hall of Famers. They also all led their collegiate teams against Providence College as the top-ranked team in the country.

On Tuesday night, DeJuan Blair and Sam Young joined the list as they led the No 1 Pittsburgh Panthers into The Dunk.

But his time, the tables were turned.

For only the second time in 12 games against the country's top-ranked teams, the Friars came away with a victory. They defeated Pittsburgh and increased their record against No. 1 teams to 2-10.

The only victory prior to Tuesday night came on the memorable night of Dec. 29, 1976, when a Bob Misevicius bank shot late in double overtime helped the Friars outlast Michigan, 82-81. The win gave PC the title in the first-ever INBank Classic.

Ironically, that Wolverine team did not have an all-time great on its roster. Coach Johnny Orr's team was led by guard Ricky Green and wing forward Phil Hubbard, two college stars to be sure, but nothing like the iconic names atop the list of superstars the Friars would run up against both before and after.

The games:

-- PC's first matchup against a No. 1 came back in 1950 at the old Worcester Auditorium against Holy Cross. The Crusaders had won the national title in 1947 with a young kid named Cousy coming off the bench (alongside Joe Mullaney) but this team featured Cousy as a senior. The Cross swept by Providence, 84-56.

-- The next game against a numero uno didn't come again until Dec. 27, 1968 and this time the legend standing in the way was a figurative giant in UCLA's Lew Alcindor. He later became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but in college he was arguably the best player ever as he led John Wooden's teams to three straight titles. The Bruins beat PC, 98-81, despite a wonderful shooting exhibition by PC guard Vic Collucci.

-- The 1973 PC team -- still regarded as the school's best ever -- felt it had a great chance at taking down the next UCLA star when it played at Pauley Pavilion in January of 1973. But Bill Walton and company took advantage of an ill Ernie DiGregorio and won, 101-77.

-- Ernie D. was gone the next season but Marvin Barnes and Kevin Stacom put together a 28-4 season that ended in the NCAAs with a 92-78 loss to No. 1 North Carolina State, which was playing on its home court in Raleigh, N.C. David Thompson, a true skywalker, was the star on a Wolfpack team that went on to end The Walton Gang's run of two straight NCAA titles.

-- Michigan was a surprise national finalist in 1976 (losing to Indiana, the last unbeaten team in history) but returned as the preseason number one the next fall. That ended at the Civic Center when Joe Hassett, Bruce Campbell and Misevicius combined to spring the greatest upset in PC history. The 1976-77 Friars went on to a 24-5 season but lost to Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA's.

-- The INBank Classic brought another number one - Duke - to town in December of 1979. This time the magic fell short as Gminski and Gene Banks helped the Blue Devils escape with a 82-78 win.

-- The dawn of the Big East brought five shots at number one for the Friars. Three came in one season (1984-85) when PC lost twice to Chris Mullin and St. John's and once at Georgetown when Patrick Ewing and friends clubbed the Friars, 85-44.

-- In November of 2004, PC began its season in the preseason NIT and lost to Chris Paul and Wake Forest, 79-67.

-- In 2006, UConn brought a top -ranked team to town and beat PC, 76-62. Geoff McDermott, Randall Hanke, Weyinmi Efejuku, Jon Kale and Sharaud Curry all played against a Husky team that featured future NBA first round picks Rudy Gay, Josh Boone, Marcus Williams and Hilton Armstrong.

-- And then came Tuesday night.

Tuesday also marked the fifth time a No. 1 team has played at the Civic Center/Dunkin' Donuts Center. PC is now 2-3 in its attempts to play Giant Killer before the home fans.

kmcnamar@projo.com