BLACKSBURG, Va. — No. 18 Pitt improved to 8-2 on the season with a 64-59 win over Virginia Tech on Saturday at Cassell Coliseum. Following the game, Pitt head coach Jeff Capel met with the media. Here is a complete transcript of everything he had to say.

Capel: That’s a heck of a win by us. We beat a team that I thought played really well, played inspired, played with desperation. They didn't look like a team that had lost five in a row, but maybe because they had, they played with a sense of urgency. And for us to grind that victory out, to come from behind, to defend like we did in the second half, and to get back to playing like we've been playing for the majority of the season.

I thought we were ready to play. Their physicality and how hard they played early kind of knocked us back. They pressured our bigs away from the basket. They pressured Jaland away from the basket, especially when he gave it up. And then they made shots. In the first half, to make six threes in the first half, and they hadn't been shooting the basketball well. Johnson, I think he made his first three of the season. Burnham made a three.

I mean, they were just shooting the basketball. I thought it was an unbelievable effort by Virginia Tech, but we just made plays, we stayed the course, and we got stops. We rebounded the basketball, and then we were able to make enough plays on the offensive end to win.

Really proud of my group.

I think after halftime, you called a timeout with about 18 minutes to go. What was kind of the message at halftime and there?

Capel: Well, we talked about how we had to defend and we had to play with more force. And start of the second half, we scored, but we did not do it defensively. We gave up a straight line drive, and we had no resistance. And then they came down, they scored again off of a ball screen, and we didn't compete on the play. And so that's what the timeout was for, to try to get our defense back and to challenge our guys to be the team that we've been all season. And I really loved how we responded.

Jeff, were you comfortable with all the threes, the looks that you guys got from three-point range?

Capel: For the most part, yes. We knew coming in, this was a heavy help team off the ball. We anticipated them giving a lot of attention to Jaland and the ball screens. And so we felt like that we could maybe hit some short rolls, and that could kind of ignite our offense from there. I thought we got some really good looks in the first half. We didn't make them. I thought we got some pretty good looks in the second half. We didn't make them.

Guillermo made a huge one after missing. Loved that he had the confidence to shoot it. We had a couple go in and out. For the most part, I thought we did generate some good looks.

Jeff, you're down four with 2:44 to go, and then they only scored one point the rest of the game. What did you like about how you guys played down the stretch?

Capel: I just thought there was a toughness, a level of toughness that we've had all season. But at the end of this road trip…We’ve been on the road. We haven't played at home since November 18th. We've been on the road since Tuesday. Went to Starkville, stayed the night Wednesday night. And I didn't know how we'd respond. I mean, we got boat raced on Wednesday, and I wasn't sure how we would respond. And again, they came out, they played really hard and knocked us back early. But the toughness the last 2:44 when we were down four was really who we've been all season, and it was great to see us for the last 18 minutes of the second half get back to doing that.

Speaking of that last four-minute stretch, I think Jaland had nine points there. I mean, what's it say about him as a player to kind of have that takeover effect?

Capel: Yeah, he's a really good player, and we trust him with the ball. We trust him having the ball in his hands to make a play for himself or for someone else. We wanted to put him in ball screens and to have him make reads and just to make plays, and he made just about every play.

You mentioned how well Tech shot in the first half, but second half, that was not the case. What did you like about how you played?

Capel: I just thought we played with more force, with more physicality. We didn't get knocked off of screens as much. I was really proud of Jaland. It's probably the best that I've seen him play defensively. For him to pick up and get a couple of steals, I thought that ignited us. When I called the timeout at about 18 minutes, he was the guy that gave up the drive, and Rechsteiner hit a pull-up jump shot, and I don't think we competed on that play. I really got after the team, but especially Jaland in that moment. He stepped up big time on the defensive end, and that was one of the things that ignited us.

What did you like about having Zack in the starting lineup today?

Capel: Yeah, I thought he was good. Zack's been good for us all year, and I felt he's a starter. He's played starter minutes all year. We got demolished on the boards at Mississippi State, and so we wanted to put Zack out there with his athleticism, hopefully to help us on the boards, and we were able to win the rebound in battle tonight, this afternoon, I should say.

Coach, nine turnovers in the first half, just three in the second half. What adjustments were made there that contributed to that?

Capel: We just valued the ball more. We were stronger with the basketball. We got used to how physical they were. They really pressured our bigs away from the basket. In the first half, I think they had 19 of their 36 points on second-chance points and on our turnovers, and so we talked about limiting those, and I thought we did a much better job of playing through physicality in the second half.

Just two games in 24 days coming up. How will you use that time, and how important is the rest?

Capel: Well, the rest is important. I mean, again, we've been on the road. We haven't played a home game since November 18th, and this schedule has been really challenging. That's why this win is so huge for us, and even the manner in which we did it and how we had to grind it out, to a certain extent, I like that more. I mean, look, I would have liked to have, excuse me for it, not to have been close. But again, I wasn't sure how we would respond after getting smacked around like we did on Wednesday, and then they did it in the first half, and I loved our response. I think this is something that we can build on. It'll be good to be back home on Wednesday, and we'll get a chance to get some practice in and to really try to work on some things that we need to work on, which is a lot.