Capel and the Diaz Graham twins break down the win

Jeff Capel and Guillermo and Jorge Diaz Graham met the media after Pitt's blowout win over Louisville Tuesday night. Here's video and a full rundown of their remarks.

Capel: I’m really proud of our team’s performance today. After being off since last week and not having competition, as a coach, I was really concerned, and I thought the first four minutes, our defense wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be and I thought that’s what it was because of. But I thought we settled into the game. After the under-16 minute timeout, I thought from that point on in the first half, our defense was really good. Obviously we made shots, we shared the basketball. I think at halftime we had 14 assists on 16 made field goals, and for the game, to have 23 assists on 28 made field goals, we played the right way, we shared the ball, the ball had energy.

These two guys came in and really did a great job of blocking shots, of moving the basketball, of moving without the basketball. Jorge, to get fouled and get to the free throw line six times, G to have 11 points and five blocks and I think he had five rebounds. It was great to get those guys some minutes, and they were very productive, as was Nate Santos.

So again, I’m really proud of the effort and I look forward to the next one.

Question for both of the twins: how fun was this one, getting involved, playing some quality minutes together on the floor and really having both of your best games at Pitt together in this win?
Jorge Diaz Graham: I think it was pretty fun. Sharing the court with my brother is very fun. That last play we did, I gave him the three, he made it - that was really, like, it’s almost like a dream you have: playing with your brother, making plays in front of an awesome crowd and I’m really happy with it.

Was that one more fun that the play before it when you drove for a basket and made a play on your own? Was it more fun when you dished to him or more fun when you finished?
Jorge Diaz Graham: Oh, no, I always say the assists are more fun, because a bucket makes happy one person, but an assist makes happy two persons. And being my brother, more happy.

Guillermo, you had five blocks on the night. Jorge had four. But it seemed like you guys were really feeling the energy on defense. What’s gone into developing that defensive presence for you guys?
Guillermo Diaz Graham: I don’t know. We work on defense every day. I think it’s just really what the guy is going to do, you know? So we got one block when he got drived and he’s not fouling, he’s letting him take a bad shot, and those are the perfect ones to smash the ball and just like celebrate.

When you guys get a block like that, what’s the energy like from your team when you’re feeling that impact on a game?
Jorge Diaz Graham: I think it’s awesome. That happened the first game here at the Pete and we got a tech for that, but you can see the energy in those plays.

Guillermo, you were both part of a bench effort with over 40 points. Can you talk about what this reserve group has been through this year, where you’ve been called upon for different roles but tonight it was to just contribute to a dominant scoring effort?
Guillermo Diaz Graham: It’s the same thing I said before. I think on the bench, we’re all ready. We have an amazing group of guys and we’re all working every day. There’s no one left behind and everyone on the bench is ready to step up and make plays and help the team raise the team energy. It’s a great, great thing we have here.

Guillermo, Coach mentioned how there were six days between your last game and tonight; how much was that extra rest beneficial for you guys in this game?
Guillermo Diaz Graham: Off days are always good. But you have to at least do something on your off days. You can’t just take a whole off day. Do some treatment, do something. But it’s always good to get off days, but when you come back, you have to come back with extra energy to recover the two days you were just laying in bed.

Jorge, there was a sequence in the second half right before a timeout where you were going for rebounds underneath the basket and there were three or four different - can you take us through that? What was going through your mind as you were trying to get the ball?
Jorge Diaz Graham: Honestly, I was under the rim and all I saw was, I think it was number 34, jumping over me every time, and I was just trying to get the ball back. He always, like, jumped over me. There was a moment he shot and I saw the ball and I was like, ‘That’s my ball. I have to get it.’ So I just jumped, I grabbed it and I held onto it and they were grabbing at my face - you can see the scratch on my face - I was just holding the ball until the ref called something. I feel like it was just a constant fight and it felt great having the ball finally.

How much more prepared do you feel for fights like that after all the work you guys have put in to get ready for games like this?
Jorge Diaz Graham: We practice that every day with T.O., kind of, with the pad. But once you get in a game, it’s just like real life. Because there’s no pad; it’s just like, boom, and it really hurts now. But mentally, you are ready - I saw the ball; I didn’t care who it was hitting me, I saw the ball and I went and grabbed it, and I think that’s, in part, thanks to T.O.

Guillermo Diaz Graham: I think Fede had a layup that he went through contact and he finished it; that’s literally what we practice with T.O. in practice - getting smashed with a pad and finishing through contact. The work is paying off.

Jorge and then Guillermo, what has it been like to be part of this team?
Jorge Diaz Graham: Honestly, as soon as I got to America, I was very worried about selfish players, because it’s what you see overseas. It’s just players playing one-on-one every time and I didn’t like that. But coming here to Pitt, having these teammates, it’s been awesome because they are so happy to share the ball and you can see in the stats - 23 assists - it just reflects how we move the ball, how we share the ball, how we care for each other, because most of the passes, you have a good shot, but with that extra pass, you create a great shot for your teammate. And if he makes it, it’s very happy. I’ve been very lucky with that. Last year, too, I had great teammates, so I’m very happy.

Guillermo Diaz Graham: I think we all have more joy when a teammate makes a basket than our own basket. I’m talking about the whole team. I think we all enjoy when someone makes a play, someone makes a basket, more than when we do it ourselves.

I saw the smile you had when they were giving answers. How much joy does it bring you to see these guys play so well and really get some shine?
Capel: They re awesome. Those two young guys, man, are awesome. I mean, from the time they took their official visit here and every day we get to be around them, they have joy for playing basketball, for being good teammates, for working. They’re not afraid of it. They’re going to be really good players here, and I was happy that they were able to get extended minutes and play well. They were able to do that because they played well.

Is that energy carry over - you have old guys like Nelly and Jamarius; do you see it impact those guys?
Capel: Our whole team is that way. It’s been that way, to be honest with you, really from the beginning. Even when we lost those three games in a row - in the third one, earlier in the year, VCU, those two guys came in and gave us a huge jolt and put us in a position where we had a chance to win. You saw it then. You saw the energy that everyone felt and how happy everyone was for them. We just weren’t able to win it then. But our whole team is that way. They care about each other, they’re happy for each other and it’s been pretty cool to be around.

23 assists, the most you guys have had on the year, but you talked about: that’s been you guys’ game, having high assist rate. How proud are you to see your guys execute in that way, even in games like this where the game is getting away?
Capel: I’m really proud of that, just because like they said: you pass up a good shot for a better shot. And we were able to make a lot of shots tonight. I think that’s because the ball had energy. We shot the heck out of it. We shared it. I would like to have less turnovers than we had tonight. But the 23 assists were great.

Greg’s had a really solid stretch over the last few games. What goes into that kind of work for a shooter like him and what have you noticed him doing over the last couple weeks to get him into this groove that he’s in?
Capel: I just think you keep shooting. That’s the main thing. Greg is always doing extra work, so you just keep shooting. And then you have to have convenient amnesia. If you miss shots, as long as they’re good shots, you have to have the confidence that you’re going to make the next one. And we have a lot of confidence in G.

You’ve said that phrase - convenient amnesia - about a few players now. Would you classify your team as a whole as having that trait?
Capel: Well, I think the thing we’ve talked about all year is just staying in the moment. We can’t let the past affect us. If you turn it over, you can’t let it affect the next play. If you miss a shot, you can’t let it affect the next play. If you do something great, you can’t let it affect the next play in a negative way. So it’s the same thing. We have to be in the moment all the time.

13 blocks from your team tonight and 12 of those 13 come from guys who will probably be back next year. How optimistic are you about the youth that you have in your front court right now?
Capel: I love my team. Again, we’re just staying present. We’re focused on right now and trying to get better each day, and that’s all we’re concerned about. But I love this group of guys.

Do you see the progress in those kind of numbers with those young guys? Because entering this season, it was supposed to be about the front court but it was supposed to be about a guy who’s not playing right now, and with all three of these guys taking on more than what they were expected to, do you see numbers like that and just ooze pride, essentially, because of the way they’re playing?
Capel: Well, I’m proud of them because they work, because they’ve earned it. It’s not just that there was opportunity. They’ve earned this because of how they’ve worked every day. Those three guys, they love the gym. They love it. They’re here early, they’re here late, they’re always together. They call themselves - there’s really four of them; they call themselves the quadruplets. It’s the twins, Federiko and Nate. And they’re not afraid of the process. They enjoy it and they do it with joy every time they’re in this facility.

I know how you think and I also know there’s seven games left, but do you know or do you care that you’re in first place right now?
Capel: No. I care that we won this game and we did some really good things. I’ll go evaluate the tape and then we have to go play Florida State, who beat us here and they’re playing really well right now, so that’s all I’ll allow myself to focus on.

Is it a badge of maturity and staying in the moment for your guys to keep sticking to a game plan, even when you’re getting away from a team that you’re clearly playing better than and you’re hitting the shots - at one point you guys were shooting like 79%. Is that another level of maturity to stay focused like that?
Capel: It’s one of the big things we talked about at halftime - to be mature, to not play the score. We feel like we’re playing for something bigger. So we’re trying to get better each second we’re out there, so to play the game the right way like we did the first 20 minutes, to come out right away and execute, to get stops, to correct some things that we talked about at halftime defensively that we felt like we could do a little bit better. Our guys did a really, really good job the first four minutes, to come out, get stops, score, get stops and score and to extend the lead.

You just had three games that came right down to the very end. Obviously that said something about your team that you were able to win those games. Does it say almost as much about your team that you’re able to win a game like this?
Capel: You know, any time you can win a game like this is great. The thing I’m proud of is that we were off for six days as far as competition. We didn’t have competition. For us, where we are right now, we can’t have a lot of competition in practice, because we have guys that are banged up. So we’ve been dealing - since last Wednesday, we took two days off, we came back on Saturday, we had a couple guys that were sick and couldn’t practice, so there’s not a lot of competition, of physicality we can do. That breaks your rhythm. So I was proud that, after the first four minutes, we were able to get back in that mold and getting stops and executing. So I was proud of that effort after, you know, six days of minus-competition, that we were able to come out and perform like we did.