After Pitt's exhibition win over Edinboro on Wednesday, head coach Jeff Capel and players Nike Sibande and Blake Hinson met the media to talk about the game, the exhibition season and what lies ahead. Here's the full rundown of what they said.

Capel: The main thing, first and foremost, we were able to get out of the exhibition games without any significant injuries to the guys that are able to play. I thought we did some good things today. Obviously, the guy on my left really played well and shot the basketball well, but I’m really proud of Nike for how he played and distributed. He drove and played through contact, which is a big step for him and his progress back from injury and missing all of last year. I think he’s just been going live full-contact for about two weeks now, and I think he’s going to continue to get better and better. I thought he made some really good passes, some really good decisions and really helped us be better offensively.

I thought defensively in the second half, we settled in and did a much better job. In the first half, we were just kind of scattered and we were constantly in rotations, and that led to them getting some good baskets and having 30 points at the half. I thought in the second half, we did a much better job of adjusting our defense, containing the basketball, our rotations were better on our ball screen defense and that allowed us to get out in transition. We rebounded the basketball; they had nine offensive rebounds at halftime and had five in the second half. I think they had two or three late there in the second half, so we did a much better job of that.

You know, it gets real now, so we’re excited about the first game on Monday. We’ll be off tomorrow, be back on Friday and get to work, start getting prepared.

Nike, how did it feel with you guys being able to establish yourself? I know you missed all of last season, but you were part of the team, you’ve seen Pitt basketball, now you’ve got guys like Blake, guys like Greg - what’s it like playing with them and scoring the way you guys are scoring?
Sibande: Overall, it’s just amazing playing with them. Great guys, came in from the start and just tucked their head and got to work. We’re just all on the same mission, locked in, and we all have the ultimate goal to win and get the job done, so we’re all focused on that and it’s been amazing, for sure.

Nike, Coach said you have been cleared for a couple weeks now, but when did you feel like you were ready to get back 100% and do everything you would normally be able to do?
Sibande: I’ve just been going with the process, taking my time but still working every day. It’s just been amazing to be back and I’m excited to keep continuing to work, continuing to grow and get better and gel with my team and continue to get better with the guys, for sure.

For Nike and Blake, how excited are you guys for Monday, to get to be able to play in a regular-season game? You’ve got through all the preseason stuff, you have two scrimmages - it’s real on Monday. How excited are you guys for that?
Hinson: Nothing changes for me or the team. We’re here to play the same brand of basketball we’ve been playing. But always excited to get a chance to play basketball. At practice, at games, it doesn’t matter.

Sibande: I agree with that 100%. Just excited to get to it. Nothing changes. We’re still coming the same exact way.

Nike, you said it’s been a process, but were there moments tonight where you felt back more than you have? Games are different from practice, right?
Sibande: Really, like Blake said, our practices are like games. We come into practice and we get to work, every single day, so just continue to get better and lock in every single day with the guys and get better. Nothing for me personally changes; it’s just a continuing process of just continuing to grow and get better.

Blake, you’d never guess that you hadn’t played in a couple years. When did you first feel that the rustiness had gone away from your game?
Hinson: I wouldn’t say there was any rustiness, because staying confident in myself through these last two years - I wouldn’t say any rust was there.

How do you explain the fact that you were so effective tonight?
Hinson: They found me and I hit the wide-open shots that they were giving me.

Coach, 67 possessions for you guys tonight. Was tempo an emphasis coming into this game?
Capel: Well, it’s been something we’ve tried to work on in practice all the time. We feel like we have quality depth, we have some guys that can get out and run, so we do want to play at a good tempo. In order to do that, though, we have to be good defensively. We were able to force 24 hours today. In the first half, we started blitzing the ball screens, and that kind of increased the tempo.

Our team, we’re going to have to do some things defensively a little bit different to create that type of tempo. There are some things that we’ve done in the first two games - the first two exhibitions, I should say - but there are a lot of things that we’ve worked on that we haven’t shown that will be ready once we get to Monday. So tempo has been a point of emphasis since we started.

You talked about getting more assists, working the ball around; I think Nelly had five, Jamarius had five, Blake had three. How did you feel about how they did and how did you guys feel about the flow of the offense and the passing?
Sibande: That’s just something that we take pride in: making the right play every day. Capel, he gets on us and tells us, you know, continue to swing that ball and share it, because we all can score the ball and we all have done it before. So I feel like we all can make plays and be off the ball, on the ball, and just continue to get better.

Hinson: Yeah, that’s something this team must do to be good offensively. I feel like we all know that, so we’ll continue to do that.

Capel: It’s who we’ve been since we’ve been together. We sent these guys a stat last night and a couple of clips we showed today - you know, yesterday was our 25th practice, today, because you count these exhibitions as practices, so it’s 26, and starting yesterday, 75% of our made shots have been assisted. So we’ve done a really good job of sharing the basketball and finding the right guy. One of the things that was really cool about tonight, everyone knew in the first half, he had it going - Blake had it going. Everyone knew he had it going and guys were finding him. There was genuine excitement to see him in that kind of rhythm, and that’s something that we have to do all the time.

Would you say you’re pleased overall with what you’ve seen in these two preseason games?
Capel: I am. I am. We have a lot of work to do, but I’m pleased.

Blake, you talked about playing the same brand of basketball going into Monday. That brand of basketball that you guys have played in these two preseason games has included a lot of three’s; is that going to be the same thing?
Hinson: I can’t tell you what the future’s going to be like, but we’re going to try to play the same. I think our offense has been going good, as far as assists go, so just moving the ball and trying to find our offense through that is what we’re based off of.

Nike, there was a play tonight where you and Blake were running down the floor in transition and Blake hit you with a no-look pass. Tell me what it’s like to play alongside a guy like Blake who shot the lights out tonight, can be physical inside and can dish it to you on the break?
Sibande: Aw, man. What does he say all the time? He says, ‘Ja Morant.’

No, it’s amazing, though. Blake, unselfish guy, found me in the break. It’s amazing, and I’m excited to get more plays like that, for sure. Me making a play for him, him making plays for me, for sure.

Do you model your game after Ja Morant at all?
Sibande: No, I don’t model my game. I study a lot of players, but I don’t really copy anybody’s game.

The last two games, you have the warmups that say “Vote.” Did the team come up with that or where did those come from?
Capel: Yeah, it’s something from the team, something they talked about that we wanted to do. Since I’ve been a head coach, I’ve always talked to my players about being more than athletes. Unfortunately, a lot of these guys - young people - that’s all people see them as, is just athletes. And when I was their age, that’s all I saw myself as. As I’ve gotten older and understand the world, they’re much more than athletes. These are smart, really good young men, and for them - I’ve always encouraged my players since I’ve been a head coach to vote. I’ve never told anyone who to vote for. I’m not a big political guy, but I understand what people did, what they sacrificed to give us an opportunity to vote, and I want them to understand that. So that’s something that we came up with as a team, and I’m proud of these guys for understanding that they’re more than just student-athletes.

What’s your sense of availability for John and Will for Monday night?
Capel: I don’t think either will be available. I know they won’t be available.

Do you have any sense of how long it might be?
Capel: No. We’ll have more information, I think, on Monday.

We saw in the last practice - you talked about how you didn’t have many people to work the post - we saw Tim O’Toole just battering Fede and the twins with a shield. How have you seen them respond to that kind of training and the challenges you have put to them?
Capel: I mean, those guys have been terrific. They have great attitudes. They want to be good. They come to work every day. It’s been very different from what they’re used to: Federiko coming from junior college, the twins coming from Spain and being one year in this country. But they love it. They love it. And the thing we’re just trying to do is get them ready for the physicality of college basketball. That’s something that’s a little bit different from the way they’ve played - Federiko from junior college and being in Finland, and then the twins. So trying to get them prepared for what’s to come.

Unfortunately, for the past month, we haven’t had John in practice. Because he is very physical. So we’ve had to try to figure out different ways to do that. And they’ve responded well to everything.

Nelly didn’t play in the second half.
Capel: He was cramping at halftime, so we just didn’t go back to him.

Despite the offensive struggles you had last year, you guys have scored 90-plus points in these two exhibition games. How much confidence does it give you and the team overall that you can be offensively efficient without your leading scorer?
Capel: Yeah, you know, we hope to be as we go forward. We understand that the competition is going to become better starting on Monday, and it will increase as the season goes on. But we want our guys to be confident, to take shots, to take good shots, to understand that we have to move the basketball and we have to do it together. We don’t have one guy right now that I think is like a dynamic guy that can create off the bounce and just get places and score at will or a guy in the post. We have that, we feel like, when we have John. But without him, we really have to do it even more together. My hope is that it makes us even better when John is able to come back - other guys are confident, hopefully we’re continuing to shoot the basketball well, the movement’s there, the spacing’s there, and as we get the big fella back, then everything becomes a little bit better.

How has Fede filled in now that he seems like the guy that you guys are feeding more in the paint?
Capel: The thing that he’s doing - again, as we looked at our team, as we put this team together, we looked at John as the guy that we throw it to, that we can kind of play through out of there. He’s power. That’s what he is. He’s physical.

G - Guillermo being G - he’s the more skilled one. He can pick-and-pop. He can pass it. He can put it on the floor from out there.

And then Federiko is the athlete. He’s the guy that can play above the rim. So we’re not going to throw it to him down there to necessarily make a post move. We want him in dunker spots. We want him in ball screens, rim-running hard, putting pressure on the rim, because we have a guy we feel like we can throw it up to that can go up and play above the rim. So he’s done a pretty good job of that. He’s got to continue to do more. As he continues to get better and in better shape and all of those different things and understanding when to roll, understanding the shooting that we have around him - when those guys are coming off screens, there are slips that are available and different things like that. So it’s a process for him, but I love the fact that those guys are really, really eager to learn.

Seven points in six minutes for KJ; what did you like from him tonight and where does he stand in terms of maybe working his way up in the pecking order among the guards?
Capel: KJ is terrific. He and Fisch are two of the best walk-ons that we’ve ever had. We missed KJ in our program. He was with us the first couple of years, then he transferred, then he wanted to come back this summer. Right now, we have nine scholarship guys in practice so he’s the 10th guy. He practices every day, he pushes our guys and he’s a good player. That’s what we need him to be: a good player every day.

He brings unbelievable enthusiasm and joy to playing basketball, which becomes contagious.

You saw when he had the and-one and the entire bench erupted; it really seems like the guys respond to him, despite him being a walk-on.
Capel: Yeah, he’s a guy that everyone loves because of the joy that he brings every day. I’ve never seen him in a bad mood, and he just has such great positive energy all the time, which is contagious.

Because you have so much depth, is this going to be an easier team for you to coach because you have more options?
Capel: I hope. I hope. We’ll see.

You have more options, though, to do different things, right?
Capel: Right now we do. And hopefully we can get two more guys back and we’ll have even more options. But I’m excited about where we are. We’ve been able to get to this point without, hopefully, any significant injuries that’s going to be for a year or anything like that. Guys have had great attitudes, we’ve worked, and like I said, we’ll start for real on Monday.