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Capel: 'A good win to finish this week'

Here's the full rundown of everything Jeff Capel, Federiko Federiko and Nelly Cummings said after Pitt's win over Sacred Heart on Saturday.

Capel: It was a good win for us to finish this week, to finish off this sort of energy cycle. We’ve had a lot of games in a short period of time, a lot of them on the road, so it was good to be back at home. I thought we did a much better job defensively in the second half. We were able to make shots in the second half and able to get some separation as the half went on. These two guys beside me were terrific all game, their energy, obviously Fede rebounding and we knew we had a size advantage and we wanted to try to take advantage of that, which we were able to do with him. And then Nelly was able to get going, making some shots and we got matchups that we wanted and tried to attack that. So I’m really pleased about that.

Now we head into exam period, which is really important. It will give us a few days off, give these days a few days to let their bodies get some rest and recover, and we’ll get back to work on Tuesday and start getting ready for the next one.

Before I finish and let these guys talk, I want to wish good luck to our volleyball team tonight. Big-time game. They’ve had an amazing year and we want to push them forward to keep going. So, hail to Pitt to them.

Fede, when did you learn that you were starting today and what was going through your mind as you were getting ready to start?
Federiko:
Like, last week. No, this week.

Capel: Yesterday.

Federiko: Yesterday. Yeah.

Capel: That’s how long of a week it’s been. Seriously.

Was there a point in the game where it kind of clicked for you, ‘I can almost take over this situation because of being bigger and getting a lot of the rebounds and putbacks?’
Federiko:
Like Coach said, we watched the scout and we knew we had a size advantage, so I just wanted to use that.

Was physicality a big emphasis coming into this game after the way you guys got out-rebounded at Vanderbilt?
Federiko:
I mean, rebounding, that was one thing that I wanted to improve: go get the rebounds. So, for your question, no.

Fede, there were more than a few times they came to double-team you and try to pressure you into mistakes, and you either split them or you were able to find an open man in the passing? How much of that is improvement in your game that you’ve seen from just practicing with your teammates?
Federiko:
A lot. A lot. A lot.

Nelly, six three’s for you tonight, 24 points; how did it feel for you when you had the ball one-on-one? You were taking the ball up all night. How did it feel for you running the point, you know, creating yourself?
Cummings:
It felt good. I mean, I’ve ran the point the whole time, but it felt good to make some shots, for sure.

Nelly, over these last three or four games, you’ve been on a bit of a tear. Does something feel different now as opposed to the beginning of the year? Or is it just as simple as making shots?
Cummings:
I mean, it’s as simple as getting comfortable, making shots, being here longer than a few games. So I got a chance to get comfortable. That’s just a product of being in the gym a lot.

With Jamarius out, you knew you were going to have to play a lot. Did that change your approach defensively? You had to make sure you didn’t get into foul trouble because they needed you on the court.
Cummings:
Yeah, I mean, defensively, it didn’t change my mindset much. I really wanted to just be aggressive and not let - be a good team defender. But with Jamarius out, obviously, I knew I had to do a little more, so I had to be mindful of that.

What’s it like when you and Greg are both hitting at the same time? Because both of you kind of came on, and when you’re hitting shots, it’s making it hard for teams to defend the floor.
Cummings:
Yeah, I think Greg’s a guy whose energy is contagious, so anytime he’s making shots, we all feel like we can make shots. He’s a great teammate and a great shooter, so anytime he’s going like that, all of us feel like we can do that.

Jeff, we were talking to Coach Latina, and he said when he saw Federiko was the starter, he was like, ‘Oh,’ because he thought they were going to be able to take advantage of John’s lack of mobility from what they had seen on tape. How is John doing? What’s been his work in practice? How have you seen him?
Capel:
You know, we haven’t because of the way our schedule was set, we haven’t had a lot of practice time. We’ve had some, but we haven’t had a lot. He’s getting better. I thought he was better today. I thought he was better today. It’s really hard when, for six weeks, maybe for a couple hours or a few hours a day, you can bend your knee. He was in a brace for six weeks. I think the last week, the sixth week, he could bend it a little bit. They took some tension out of the brace. And then you come and your first game is against Michigan. And with the way our schedule has been set and with the way we’ve had injuries and trying to manage that, we haven’t been able to do a lot of five-on-five in practice. So I thought he did a better job today.

Do you feel like you guys have a lot better of an answer for when he’s not available compared to last year? Just, you’ve got Fede coming off the bench to start today and he’s got a double-double?
Capel:
Yeah, well, I think - I’d like to think that we’re better across the board than we were. I hope we are because we weren’t very good last year. So I’d like to think that all of us, including me, we’re all better than we were last year.

Do you expect the knee inflammation with Jamarius - is that something that pops up every once in awhile or is it kind of scheduled to have days off?
Capel:
No. It’s something that pops up every once in awhile. So we’ll have to manage it throughout the year.

You alluded to it with John, but does the mental aspect of his recovery match in importance the physical side, just not getting frustrated, understanding that this is going to be a gradual slow process?
Capel:
Yeah, and I feel for him. I love the kid. He’s a great kid. It’s just difficult when you have an injury and you come back in the middle of the season. There’s a rhythm to everything. For six weeks, we were without him, so we had to adjust what we were doing. And I thought we became pretty good at that with the way we were going to play. So when he comes back, we have to adjust to him but he has to adjust to us, and as he continues to get in better shape, as he continues to work and play with these guys more, I know that he’ll be better. We know, when he’s really good, what he is. It’s just, you know, taking the time to get back to that point. It’s going to happen for him; it’s going to come and we’ll be a much better team when that happens.

How much do you have to stress that to him to keep the frustration in check, knowing that it’s going to be a process?
Capel:
Yeah, it’s frustrating. I feel for him. I really do. I really do. Even for, you know, the coach to say that, it’s - I understand it, but when you’re a really good player and you’ve been a really good player, you know, when you’re struggling a little bit, especially publicly, that can be difficult. But again, John has a great support group around him, his family, his high school coach. We’re a part of that, not just our coaching staff but our athletic administration. He’s got great allies, great relationships, great teammates, and we’re going to help him get through it.

What has Fede done to get to where he is now, to be reliable for a double-double?
Capel:
The main thing - look, the double-double is great, but the main thing is that he plays hard. He plays hard, he defends, he rebounds. We understand who he is. Today, he was able to - we were able to throw it to him where he was able to finish because of the size. That’s not normally who he is for us. He’s more of a rim-runner playing the dunker spot and play off of penetration from other guys; that’s normally who he is. But the main thing that he does, man, is that he gives us great energy. When we played at N.C. State, he played really well. The things may not show up in a box score, but his screening, he’s very physical with his screening. Rim-running, that draws other guys because he’s a lob threat, and now all of a sudden, we’re getting kick-outs for threes. That happened at Northwestern. So he’s played really well; he just happened to have a double-double tonight.

I asked Nelly about his approach on defense. Did you talk to the game before the game of, ‘Look, you’ve got to be smart, we need you on the court’?
Capel:
Yeah, it’s not something that we talked about. It’s not something that we talked about. But I know that Nelly’s smart enough to recognize the situation and not put himself in position where he would get silly fouls. We wanted him to still be smart and aggressive defensively, but just not to take chances.

You mentioned how you guys improved in the second half on defense. What were some of the things that you saw in the first half that you guys were able to shore up?
Capel:
We didn’t guard the ball well. They were able to penetrate, especially Carpenter; he was able to just go downhill all the time. Solomon was able to make a couple threes. They stretched us out. Those two guys really hurt us with their dribble penetration. We were getting over-extended at times. They’re a difficult team to defend because of all their movement. And then in the first half, they made a few threes, which sometimes makes you want to push up even more, and now all of a sudden they start breaking you down. We talked about getting our shape defensively in the second half better. We were in the gaps, we were helping a little bit more. We did that and we were able to get the deflections and get some steals. We had 12 steals in the game; I think a lot of them came in the second half.

Greg’s had 38 points, nine threes, in the last two games. How important has his shooting from outside been for you guys?
Capel:
It’s huge for us. It’s huge for us. But the main thing is that, like you heard Nelly say, he’s a great teammate, he brings great energy, incredibly positive, understands who he is, doesn’t try to do things that he can’t do and throughout his career, he’s been a really good shooter. He’s been a plus-40 from the three-point range shooter throughout his career, and he’s done a really good job for us the last few games.

It seemed like you guys were getting to the pro spot a little bit more to open up more opportunities; even Jorge was getting there and that allowed him to feed down to Fede? Has that been an emphasis?
Capel:
What’s the pro spot?

I’m sorry. The space behind the foul line and the three-point line.
Capel:
Yeah, they went zone so we thought the middle was open, and we did a good job - Blake and Jorge mainly, those two guys were able to get there, make some shots, make some plays. Again, we were just trying to find an opening in the zone. And we were able to make some plays there.

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