Capel and the seniors reflect on Pitt's 84-73 loss to Xavier

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Pitt head coach Jeff Capel along with players Jamarius Burton, Nelly Cummings, Greg Elliott, and Nike Sibande all met with the media on Sunday following the team’s loss to Xavier in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Here is a complete rundown of everything they had to say.

Capel: First and foremost, congrats to Xavier. They played terrific basketball. Especially in the first half. They really shot it well. They were very connected offensively, and they were able to get a lead going to halftime and had a lot of momentum. So congrats to them. I wish them luck. Sean has done an outstanding job with his team. His guys have. Wish them well. I'm so proud of my team. You know, everyone in our program and especially our players have just done such an amazing job this year. For me as their head coach and for all of our coaching staff, I am so grateful for the journey that they have taken us on, they've allowed us to be a part of.

These guys showed up every day with a great attitude, with trying to get better. They were unbelievably together, faced different types of adversity, but never wavered in their commitment to each other and their belief in each other.

When you get to this part of the season, you know, it's cruel. Like, the ending is cruel because you're together, you're doing all these things, and then for everyone except for one team it comes to an abrupt end. I know our guys are hurting. There is a game that we really wanted to win, and we had a chance, but we just came up short.

But I'm just so proud of them. I'm so proud of -- I feel so lucky that I've had a chance to be around them every day and to watch them, to watch each of they are individual journeys, to watch our collective journey. These are a group of guys and especially these four right here that will always hold an incredibly special place in my heart.

Jeff, if somebody asks you a month from now, a year from now, a couple of years down the road, how do you want this team overall to be remembered?

Capel: A group of winners. A group that's unbelievably connected, and guys that came in and believed in themselves, believed in each other, and believed in our program.

This is a question for all four players. Your goal here was to make this program better than when you first came into it. How do you each feel about the future of Pitt basketball? It?

Burton: You know, first of all, I'm just grateful for this group. We're definitely leaving it better than we found it, and that's the goal. As seniors, as guys in our last year.

The future is bright. We put Pitt on the national stage. They're going to be able to get transfers out of the portal, and it's up to the guys that come in to believe in Coach and believe in the program and take it from here.

Sibande: I agree with what Jamarius said. We definitely brought Pitt back to, you know, a national stage to where it has a lot of attention now. So I think in our future it's going to be bright for Pitt. I think a lot of people should come here and believe in Coach. He did an amazing job this year with this group, and I appreciate everything, every experience we had this year for sure.

Cummings: I agree with what both of them guys said. To add to that, like J.B. said, we put Pitt back on the map, so we're definitely proud of what we did here, and the future is really bright because the coaching staff and everybody in this program, they all have a belief about themselves that can translate to guys who come in, like transfers like me. So I think there's going to be a lot of guys who will see that and understand that Pitt is definitely a place to be.

Elliott: You know, just like my teammates just said, the future is definitely bright for Pitt basketball because we have Coach Capel at the helm. He wasn't ACC Coach of the Year for nothing. He knows what he is doing. You know, like they just said, we're back on a national stage now. Everybody knows who Pitt is again. So if you want to come make noise, why wouldn't you come to Pitt?

This is for all the players. What can you guys say about the bonds that you guys have built through all the tests you guys have faced this season and how you all have stood together in the face of those tests?

Burton: I would say the bond that we were able to develop has been tremendous, and it's something we're all going to take for the rest of our lives. Each war that we've all been in has taught us lessons, and it's going to be something that we can teach our kids one day.

Sibande: I can agree with that, man. It's been ups and downs this year, but it's been an amazing experience, and it's something we can hang on to and learn from for the rest of our lives and our future. So it's going to be amazing when we can bring our kids back to Pittsburgh. We've got a banner now saying we made March Madness, so that's something we can bring them back to and show them. I wish we could have made it farther, but it's been an amazing experience to be here for sure.

Cummings: The bond we created is something special. We didn't know each other a year ago, so for us to accomplish the things we've accomplished, you know, be as connected as we are, deal with all the adversity we dealt with and still be able to come out here and make it almost to the Sweet 16, it's definitely something that none of us should take lightly. You know, it sucks right now. It stings we just lost, but when you have a little bit of time to reflect, we accomplished a lot of things, so I think the bond that we have is definitely a reason for that.

Jeff, a two-part question. First, Federiko, it looked like he went in for a minute and came right back out. Was that an injury he had from the last game or this game? Then, secondly, you know, your defense was really good against Iowa State. Held them to 41, and you guys gave up 48 in the first. What did you see defensively from your team in the first half?

Capel: When Federiko came in the game, he was limping as he was running up and down the court. I'm not going to put him in a position where he could cause any further damage, so I made that decision not to play him any more the rest of the game. Like I said before this game, Iowa State was not as good of an offensive team as Xavier. Xavier has been an elite offensive team all year. So, again, I just thought they were really good offensively. They were moving with great pace. They made seven threes in the first half. The ball had energy. I think 17 of their 19 field goals -- or they had about -- I think they had about 14 of 16 field goals were assisted on in the first half. So that's who they've been. We couldn't disrupt their rhythm.

Coach Capel, what strategy do you employ when you find yourself down 14 at the break and then by as much as 20 down the stretch? How do you coach that, and how did it work today?

Capel:: You just coach, period. No matter what the score is, no matter what the situation is, you coach. When we were down 14, we talked at the half. We talked about some of the things we didn't do well. We wanted to come out and gradually chip away. Obviously, we needed to play better defense and especially guard the three-point line. When we were down 20, the same thing. Keep fighting, stay together, be who we've been all year.

And, obviously, it didn't work out well for us. We lost, but I thought we kept fighting. We had a chance down the stretch. We got it to ten. We had a couple of really good looks that we just missed that we could have put a little more game pressure on them. We started fouling. We had a guy that hadn't been a good free-throw shooter all year, and he missed some, but he stepped up and made some for them.

Jeff, all four of your players have mentioned transfers, but you've got a couple of seven-foot freshmen already in your program. Can you kind of address the development that the Diaz Graham twins have made over the past, what, three, four weeks and how much of a foundation they can be to build on moving forward?

Capel: Well, I think they've gotten better all year. Like I've mentioned over and over, I mean, they work. They enjoy the process. They're not afraid of it. I think one of the main things and something that's been different in our program this year that we've not had since I've been here is that they were very lucky and very fortunate to have these four guys because these four guys are really good examples of what a good college basketball player should look like or can look like if you put in the work, if you put in the time, if you are serious about it. So I think they will continue to grow and get better, as will Federiko, as will the other guys that will be returning in our program. Like I've said over and over, I think their futures are very bright.

For J.B. and Nike, I mean, you guys were here for a couple of years. You know, you were around for some tough seasons. I'm sure after a while you'll be able to reflect on what this season means, but, I mean, can you picture you guys are sitting on this stage after some of the things you guys went through and maybe the prior seasons before this one.

Burton: Yeah, I mean, I knew it was possible with the group that we had. This group is special. This group believed and this group was selfless from the start, and that was the biggest thing that allowed us to be able to sit here today.

Sibande: I agree as well, man. It was tough, you know, going through these past couple of years, but I knew with Capel bringing in guys and, you know, us coming together as a unit, we've been very selfless all year, and we believed in each other and believed in the team and in our coaches as well. It's been a good ride, and it's for sure, you know, something that has been amazing for sure.

Jeff, can you talk to the work that especially your seniors have done to set the tone that you want Pitt basketball to represent in the years to come?

Capel: Well, I think when you hear them up here today, when you've heard them being interviewed, I mean, just the things that they say, and not just say, they follow through with actions. I think that speaks volumes. They're tough. They're workers. They're selfless. They're really, really good teammates, and they all wanted to be a part of something. They all had healthy egos, not ego problems. And they all had the ability -- these four guys had the ability to believe even when something maybe didn't look strong. They had the ability to believe in themselves, to believe in each other and to believe in what we could do together.

I think they understood in order for it to become what it did become, it had to be together. Again, these guys, man, all of them, but these four were the leaders. You know, just what they've done for our program, for me, for the city of Pittsburgh, for the University of Pittsburgh, you know, it's been a group of guys that I think our city fell in love with, I know our fan base, I know our students. I'm so grateful to them, our students, just what they've been for us all year.

Jeff, you said the process of building this team started pretty much at the final horn after the '22 season. Will you give yourself a chance to breathe and reflect before you start working, or will you start right away and start tomorrow night?

Capel: Unfortunately, in the way the job is now, you don't really get a break. You know, it's not like it was five years ago, ten years ago in the profession. So you get right back to it. You start to figure out. You try to figure out -- the very first thing is that you try to figure out your roster. Then you try to figure out who can you go get?

I have people on my staff that have already started that process as far as looking at young guys, or guys, I should say, that have entered the portal already. Some high school kids. I mean, look, we'll look everywhere to find the right people. We want to get good players, but it's really important going forward, especially after this year with these guys, to make sure we have the right people. So that will probably happen when I get back to the hotel. We'll start looking at that.