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Capel on the loss, scoring droughts, the NCAA and more

What did Jeff Capel say after Pitt’s loss to Virginia on Saturday? Here’s the full rundown of his post-game comments.

Capel: Congrats to Virginia. I thought it was a hard-fought game. I thought both teams fought and battled. I thought we did some good things in the game, but we have to get to the point where we minimize mistakes, we capitalize when we have opportunities and we have to be mentally tougher for 40 minutes. Especially against that team. That program is established. That’s their culture. Tony has done an amazing job with this group. They’ve gotten better and better as the season has gone on. I thought, coming into this game, I thought they were playing really, really well, at a very high level.

Again, I thought we did some really good things in this game, and to be in a position to have the chance to win with under a minute left was a position that we’d like to be in. But we have to be able to capitalize.

So we’ll learn from it, we’ll get better and we’ll look forward to the next one.

You had that six-minute stretch early in the second half; was there anything that stood out to you that was causing the struggles in that stretch?
Capel:
We seem to have that every game. And it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating for all of us. But I don’t have an answer for it.

Before things picked up in the final few minutes, offensively do you feel like the struggles came more from what they were doing defensively or you guys just not capitalizing on open shots and good looks?
Capel:
They are the best defensive team in the country, so year in and year out, they’re pretty consistent there. So I think a lot of it had to do with them. They’re a hard team to score against. That’s why teams don’t shoot a good percentage and it’s why teams don’t average a lot of points against them. So I do think a lot of it was them. Some of it was us. We were trying to avoid contact instead of trying to go through contact. We had opportunities - we had a couple of careless turnovers that we can avoid. But overall, I thought we did some good things offensively. They’re just elite on that side of the ball.

What changed for you guys late in the game?
Capel:
We were able to force turnovers. That’s one of the things coming into the game that we wanted to do. We felt like that, if we could pressure the basketball and force turnovers, that would allow us to get out in transition and get some easy baskets, to play against their defense that wasn’t set. I thought, when we did that - and towards the end we were able to force some turnovers and get some defensive rebounds, we were able to get in transition, soften their defense up maybe a little bit. And then we had a little bit of movement. And we made some shots. We made shots.

Given what you guys do as a team, with a couple good, fast and athletic dribble-penetrators and with some of your struggles from outside this year, how much more difficult is a matchup playing a defense like that that really tries to limit those closest to the basket?
Capel:
I don’t think it matters what kind of offense you have. I think anyone that’s played against Virginia, with the exception earlier in the year of Purdue, has struggled to score against them. I just think that’s the way their defense is built, whether you’re a transition team or you’re a shooting team like Notre Dame - no matter what, they’re able to kind of strangle you. Certainly, for us, the strength of our team is penetration, trying to get paint touches. We’ve been incredible inconsistent shooting the basketball, so it’s frustrating just about every game.

There have been splits between first and second halves in the past; this was one where it was in the final four minutes where things really picked up. Is there something with this team where it seems like they don’t really get fully ignited until their backs are really up against the wall and they kind of have to -
Capel:
I don’t agree with that statement. I don’t think ‘fully ignited’ - we may start making shots late, but I think we come ready to play most of the time. That’s what I think of ‘fully ignited,’ like, you’re ready to play, you’re juiced up. I think we have that. I just think, when you go through lulls, six minutes today, five minutes in the other game, whatever, you don’t score - when you’re not experienced and you’re not mature, that affects everything. It affects body language, it affects defense, it affects rebounding, because you put so much on yourself to score and you know we’re struggling. Today, we got down and we started pressing and we were able to force a couple of turnovers and get some easy baskets. You saw the ball go through the basket. We hit a three, finally. McGowens hit a three. So those things, I thought, gave us a little bit more juice and I thought it put them on their heels.

In the last couple of seconds there, as the free throw was taking place, you went to the ref and said you were going to call a timeout right away. During the timeout, were you checking to make sure the inbounds was coming under the basket?
Capel:
Yeah. I didn’t know if it was on the side or under the basket.

Is there a point on the clock where you’re comfortable having your guy come across half-court and then call a timeout?
Capel:
There wasn’t enough time right there. There was 4.3 seconds. So, if we got a rebound and got it across half, it probably would have been about one second left, maybe two seconds left. So in that situation right there, we wanted to call a timeout to get something set up, to get Murphy in the game, to space, hopefully to get a little more space. With four seconds left, I know you only have four dribbles and you have to go full court, so it’s really not going to be a pass unless they just come up. The play was for Xavier to get the ball and just go play, and hopefully Murphy could space, he could get to a spot and get to a shot. Unfortunately, we didn’t execute. We didn’t do that.

Is there a time on the clock where you think to yourself, ‘I want to get to the front court’?
Capel:
Yeah. If it’s like 10 seconds, eight seconds left, then yeah, you can do that. But with 4.3 seconds, there wasn’t enough for that.

Was the official checking to make sure that the shot was late?
Capel:
I have no idea what they were checking. I don’t know. I mean, I knew it wasn’t good.

Ryan was 0-of-6 today, held scoreless; what do you feel is at the root of some of his struggles as of late?
Capel:
I think he missed a lot of time. Missing a lot of time, with the way our schedule’s been, we haven’t have a lot of practice time, so I think it’s rust.

You had talked about seeing the ball go in the basket. He was out for three games but it’s been about a month now since he made a shot in a game. Does it seem like there is frustration building with him?
Capel:
Yes.

This obviously predated your time here, the violations, but with the NCAA’s ruling, what kind of effect does that have on the program?
Capel:
None. Absolutely none. No impact at all.

Is it wise on the NCAA’s part to limit coaches in the way they do?
Capel:
I don’t think about what the NCAA - I don’t get into what’s wise or what they do. That’s their thing. I coach my team and worry about my program. So I can’t answer that.

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