Capel: 'Guys made big-time plays for us'

Capel: Before I talk about this game, I want to talk about two things. Number one, obviously everyone saw what happened last night with Damar Hamlin. These guys know him, guys on our team, he’s part of our community, our athletic department. I got to know him. Unbelievable young man, great spirit. Every time I saw him, he was in a good mood. Unbelievable personality. So out thoughts and prayers are with him, his family, the Bills family, everyone in the NFL. We know he’s a fighter and he’ll continue to fight. Everyone stay prayed up.

And I told these guys after the game, this has been an emotional past couple of days for me. When I got named the head coach at 27 years old at VCU, I was fortunate that I inherited a young man named Willie Taylor, who was a really good player. When I was an assistant there, he was a junior; my first year as head coach, he was a senior, he was really good, and I woke up Sunday to the news that he had passed away at 42 years old. So I’ve had a heavy heart. I really want to send condolences to Willie’s family, his kids, the VCU community because he was a guy that was really loved by the fans there. He was one of the most exciting players I’ve coached.

I’m really proud of my team. We have so much respect for that program, for Virginia’s program. You can say that they’ve been maybe the standard-bearer in the league the past eight to ten years. And in order to beat them, you have to beat them, because they don’t beat themselves. And you have to be tough, you have to be tough for 40 minutes, you have to be together and you have to fight. And I thought we did that. I thought we did that all game. It didn’t show at times in the first half. But once we got into the rhythm of the game in the second half, we were able to do some really, really good things. And everyone on our team stepped up. These two guys beside me were incredible. For Nelly to have eight assists and no turnovers against that defense, and then once again, Nike gave us an unbelievable spark throughout the whole game on both ends of the floor.

But other guys stepped up, made some big plays, we were unbelievably connected and we beat a really good basketball team and a really good program, so I’m proud of that. We’ve got a long way to go. Still can get better. We’re going to continue to work to get better. Enjoy this and start getting ready for the next one.

Nelly, you guys had eight turnovers in the first half and none in the second. What led to protecting the ball the way that you guys did there?
Cummings: I think we just wanted to win the game, so whatever it took to win, we were going to do that, and obviously we were turning the ball over too much, so that was an emphasis by us.

Tony Bennett talked about how you guys did some switches in the second half that really confused some of the things they were trying to do. What were some of those switches?
Cummings: I think we just kind of locked in defensively. I don’t think we were intentional with certain switches; we were just locked in and trying to take away whatever their first option was.

Nike, talk about this group’s ability to just find a way to get going when it’s backs against the wall. This is another game where you were losing and you needed a basket and seemed like you always got it and you got it from different people. How is this group able to do that?
Sibande: We have a very special group of guys that know how to put the battery in each other’s back and play with each other. We all believe in each other and we all talk to each other like we are the best players, so I feel like that’s the reason why.

Nike, this is the second time in a row your coach has talked to us about the spark and energy you bring off the bench. What’s going through your mind when you’re getting ready to go in for that first time?
Sibande: Just trying to go in with a clear head and give my team the best advantage I can. Starting off with defense, I come in the game and I’m thinking, ‘Okay, how can I stop whoever I’m guarding?’ Or get a quick turnover or anything, just help, just put my hands and help.

Obviously just one of your baskets tonight, but that dunk was pretty powerful, especially for a guy coming off a torn ACL. How did that feel for you in the moment, throwing that dunk down?
Sibande: It felt amazing, man. It’s been a long road and it felt amazing to throw that down, for sure.

Nelly, what’s it like for you to see him do that? That’s got to give you so much inspiration to see your teammate and the journey that he had back to the court going and doing those physically incredible things?
Cummings: It feels great to see that, man. I wasn’t with Nike for the first few months of his rehab, but I saw him go through a lot of the hard rehab he went through, and it’s a blessing to see him do the things he’s doing.

For either one of you guys, when the tide starts turning and you’re in the middle of a 14-0 run, can you feel the energy building inside this building? Can you guys feel the crowd kind of turning, coming up on your end and really gaining that momentum?
Cummings: Yeah, I think everybody in the gym can feel it. That’s an advantage. When you’re at home, you want that crowd on your side and I think we got that tonight. We’ve had that the last few games, and we hope we can continue to have it.

Nelly, to Coach’s point, how do you have eight assists and no turnovers against that defense?
Cummings: There’s no special recipe. I just wanted to make the right play when it was in front of me.

Nike, it seems like the ‘battery in the back’ saying that you said - it seems like all of your teammates say it. Is that something that you’ve seen resonate with people kind of following the tone that you and some of the vets are setting like that?
Sibande: Yeah, for sure. That’s something that we talked about as a group, just putting the battery in each other’s back and helping each other out any way we can. Part of that’s just pulling somebody to the side and just telling them something positive. It’s making sure they hear something that they need to hear. We all have that good communication with each other and we’ll continue to do it, for sure.

Nelly, a few of the assists you had were to Fede underneath. He continues to seem to find his feet. What have you seen from him that has made him so reliable for you?
Cummings: Fede, he sets really hard screens, he rolls really hard, he’s always just going to give his all. He’s always going to be in the right spots, so it’s up to us guards to make sure we get him the ball.

Nike, it’s hard not to notice the (Damar Hamlin ‘Chasing Millions’) shirts you guys are wearing. How did it come about that you all ended up wearing those things?
Sibande: A close friend brought them up here for us, and we just wanted to wear them to support Damar. We all know the situation that he’s going through and we all have our hands together for him. We definitely wanted to show our support and our love for him.

Nike, Coach said you know Damar personally. What kind of person is he, from your experience and your friendship with him?
Sibande: He’s a real genuine person. He just wants to help everybody out. He’s really giving and he just wants to see everybody win. Really selfless guy and he really cares about people, so we care about him as well.

Nelly, do you have anything to add to that about Damar?
Cummings: Man, that’s my guy. I don’t want to add too much more. I just really want to pray for him, man, and nothing but the best for him and his family, because he’s a very genuine person and you hate to see something like that happen to a guy like him.

Nelly, it was a 13-point deficit in the first half, and then at five separate points, Virginia led by 12 in the second. To have that kind of resilience and have that kind of fight, maybe earlier in the season, the Pitt team might have lost that, but what is different about this Pitt team?
Cummings: I think it’s something that you guys all have hit on today: we put the battery in each other’s back. So I think early in the season, we kind of were figuring each other out, but now we’re really locked in with each other and we’re really trying to do everything we can to help each other.

Jeff, going back over the protecting of the basketball that you guys did. Virginia pressed you guys a lot, especially early in the first half they had some key steals. What were you guys doing to kind of avoid some of the traps that they set up?
Capel: Well, I just thought in the second half, we had a better feel. It’s hard to simulate how hard they play, how big they are, how physical they are. We talked to our team about it, but it’s hard to simulate it. I just thought in the second half, we had a better feel of what they were going to do, how they were defending, how it felt, the ball screen coverage and things like that.

The thing we talked about was, we have to be strong, have spacing, get off the ball quickly and then make decisions, and I thought we did a better job of that in the second half.

You held a top-20 offense scoreless for about nine minutes between two stretches; what’s the key to that?
Capel: I think we’ve been a pretty good defensive team this year. We’ve defended well. But the thing we have to do is be connected. I thought in the second half we were just way more connected on both sides of the floor. If you look at it, the numbers don’t say it in the second half, because their percentages are 46 and 57. But we forced turnovers; that was the biggest thing. Coming into this game, the last four games, Kihei Clark was 29 assists and seven turnovers, and he had five turnovers tonight. So we were able to do some things, we changed some coverages up a little bit, how we wanted to defend them, and our guys just executed very well.

Tony talked about how you guys picked up the aggression as well; is that part of that connectivity - the ability to kind of go after guys like that?
Capel: I thought it was that, and just again, we had a better feel of the game and got into a better rhythm, got a little bit more confidence, we were able to make some shots and the intensity of the crowd, the energy of the crowd, gave us a little bit of lift, too.

When you brought in Nelly, you talked about the importance of his experience, his experience as a winner, the fact that he’s an older guy that’s played; obviously, you’ve got some other guys with experience, but have you started to see exactly what you thought you were getting in him when you got him?
Capel: Yeah, I’ve seen it since he the first day he stepped on campus. Really, from the first time I went to his house and sat in his living room with his dad and his younger brother and we talked and that’s the day that he committed; from that point, he has been just all about winning, just consumed with winning and whatever he can do to help us win, whether it’s to help us recruit someone, whether it’s to be here when we have someone here for an official visit, whether it’s talking to guys individually, pulling guys aside, watching extra tape, getting other guys in with him to watch extra tape, doing extra work - it’s all of those things.

In your experience, how unusual is it for a team to have no turnovers against Virginia’s defense in a half?
Capel: I’m not sure I’ve seen it since I’ve been in this league, but our guys did a really, really good job in the second half of being strong with the basketball, getting off of it and making the plays.

Can you talk about Blake’s ability to make big shots late in the game? It feels like every time you guys need something, especially from outside, he’s there to knock it down. He did it again today. What is it that allows him to make those big shots time and time again?
Capel: Blake has convenient amnesia. Which is a really good thing for a good scorer. For me, I have to be careful because at times he doesn’t take great shots. But I have to be okay with that, because there are other times when he’ll make shots that makes us look good as coaches, and that’s something you can’t teach. He’s not afraid of the moment. He actually loves the moment. And I think what you see is someone that has so much joy of being able to play basketball, be a part of a team, be a part of a program, be a part of a community and to have people that believe in him, which is us and his teammates and these fans. He’s been really good.

Was Nelly hurt in the first half?
Capel: Nelly’s been sick. He’s been sick for about a week. And he was dealing with that.

Beating Virginia and knocking off two top-25 teams in a row, that’s a place this program hasn’t been in a long time. Have you been able to take some perspective about where you guys are at right now?
Capel: Nope. I stay in the moment. I’ve learned that over my career: just to stay in the moment. We’ll enjoy this tonight, we’ll be off tomorrow, we’ll get back together - I think today is Tuesday, we’ll get together on Thursday and we’ll start our preparation for the next game. I’m grateful of where we are - mainly of how this team has come together. It’s been really cool to watch it, and to watch their belief in each other, to watch them be selfless with each other and to give to each other. It’s been a really cool thing to see. But we have to keep going with it.

Coach Bennett noted that you guys quote-unquote ‘switched things up’ in the second half defensively. What do you think was the biggest difference-maker defensively for you guys in that half?
Capel: I thought we got into a better rhythm of what they were doing, the speed, the cutting, things like that. We did do some things where we, especially with certain lineups, where we made some switches off of ball screens or off of down screens when they had a little bit smaller lineup in. We did do that. I thought that helped us. That kept them out of the paint, which is where they lived in the first half. I thought we did a better job of rebounding. In the first half, they got eight points - two 50/50 balls, two three’s and on another one they got fouled and they made two free throws - that’s eight points right there. I thought we did a better job in the second half of coming up with those.

We don’t see many teams attack the paint the way you guys did against Virginia because of the way they pack it in. Was there something you saw or was that just a mindset strength of your group? What kind of led to that?
Capel: I think one of the things that helps us this year is that we can shoot. So that makes you maybe a little bit fearful, so you extend a little bit more. And we thought we could drive them, so we talked about spacing and attacking. We have some guys that are pretty good at attacking. I just thought in the second half - I thought we were so frantic in the first half. And again, you can’t simulate that; you can’t simulate their size, the speed in which they do things, the physicality. I just thought we got into a better rhythm in the second half. We were able to see things a little bit clearer and attack it better in the second half.

When you had that run, they had Shedrick on the bench, which meant that if you got past the first level, they didn’t have rim protection. How big a factor was that?
Capel: I mean, that was big. But even when he was in, we were trying to pull him away from the basket. We were trying to put him in ball screens to get him away and then guys just made plays, man. Guys make big-time plays for us.

What is it about you guys that, when you face a team that - like, Virginia today was playing the way they wanted to in the first half and you guys had some moments when you were frantic, but it seems like several times this year, you rallied and found your strength that kind of overcame that?
Capel: I mean, again, it’s a team, like you’ve heard them say, they believe in each other, they believe in what we’re doing. We’ve been through adversity, which has made us stronger, which has made us tougher. And they just play for each other. When you’ve got a group that likes each other and they play for each other and there’s no jealousy, there’s no pointing the fingers, it’s a pretty cool thing to be around, and we want to try to maintain that for as long as we can.

Obviously, Tony Bennett has been around for a long, long time, and he had some really nice things to say about you and your program. He basically said, even though it hurts to lose, he’s happy for you and the way things have turned around. That’s got to make you feel good that a guy who’s as respected as him sees what this program is and can be.
Capel: Well, there’s no coach that I respect more than Tony. I respect the way he goes about things. I respect the way he runs his program. I respect the way his program represents the ACC and college basketball in general. There’s no better guy in college basketball than Tony. So I’m grateful for that but probably more importantly, I’m grateful for his friendship.

What’s tougher to game plan for - a Tony Bennett offense or a Tony Bennett defense?
Capel: Everything with Tony Bennett. Everything with the University of Virginia. That’s really hard to prepare for.

Good night.