Pitt head coach Jeff Capel addressed the media following his team’s 76-74 win over North Carolina on Friday. Here is a complete rundown of everything he had to say.

Capel: What an incredible college basketball game. I want to give a big shoutout to our fans, especially the students that showed up in the Oakland Zoo. For us to not be in school, no students here, we had an unbelievable turnout. We felt their energy, we needed their energy, and we fed off their energy. We’re really, really thankful for that. We wish our football team good luck today, hopefully we can be 2-0 today and we wish them great luck against UCLA.

I’m really proud of my team. We fought for 40 minutes. We knew that they were playing really, really well right now. They are as talented as any team in the country, but we fought. We got down early, but we stayed together, stayed fighting and we got unbelievable contributions from guys on our bench, and then these two guys besides me (Burton and Hinson) were incredible all night. Obviously Blake made some plays down the stretch. I think he scored 7 of our last 9 and Jamarius was unbelievable throughout the whole game. We rode him. He carried us and he made big plays. He defended, just an unbelievable performance by these two guys and just as important an unbelievable performance by our whole team. Guys stepped up and made big plays.

I would be remised if I didn’t say this, a guy that really stepped up and kind of turned the game around for us was Nike Sibande. His energy and he’s a guy that didn’t play much last game. I know that he would be important for us in this game and his energy, driving, and passing, his finishing - all of those things were huge plays for us. He had a two-play stretch where he drove it, drew contact, and Nelly hits a three. Then he comes down and drives it again and gets fouled and scores and that got the crowd into it, it got us into it. Just really proud of him for staying with it.

What would you attribute your recent success against North Carolina?

Capel: I don’t know. Honestly I don’t know. We’ve just happened to play well. That’s it. There’s no secret or anything. We just fought, played hard, and we played hungry and we’ve had some success. I really don’t know, we don’t have a secret.

You often preach about valuing the basketball. You only had 8 turnovers against a team like that. What do you have to say about your guys?

Capel: I’m proud of them. I thought our scout team did a good job of pushing us this week. It was interesting. I think we were ten days from competition, so you worry about that. You’re not competing and because of some additions in practice for us this week, we were able to actually practice and do some 5-on-5, which we really can’t do much especially with some talented guys. So I thought that helped us. They are athletic. They’re long and we did a good job of handling their pressure, getting open, and being strong. The things we talked about coming into this game, kind of the keys we talked about were transition defense, keeping them out of our paint and that was with their drives, obviously with Bacot, and then rebounding. I thought the difference in the game was the second half. We defended and we rebounded. They had six offensive rebounds in the first half and Bacot had five of them. They finished with eight and Bacot finished with five. I thought that was the difference in the game. In the first half they were 51%, then in the second half they were 33%. I thought our defense did its job and then we didn’t give up offensive rebounds and we were able to go down and kick some stuff in transition. We did a really nice job of executing and really just riding JB.

You always talk about mental toughness and in those final six minutes they are going to Bacot every time. What does it say about your team to be in that kind of dogfight and continuing to get stops?

Capel: Just like they said, it’s team defense as a collective group. Federiko did a really good job of not letting him get deep position. I thought Guillermo came in and gave us really good minutes. He scored a basket and got two rebounds. He did a good job. I thought when we doubled, we did a good job. We forced them into four turnovers. I think he had all of them in the first half. I think its a collective effort of trying to keep bodies on him and hopefully wear him out a little bit as the game goes on. 37 minutes is a lot of minutes for a big guy and maybe he got a little bit fatigued at the end.

How important was it to always keep the deficit to single digits? They led by 9 a handful of times, how much did that maybe give you guys some hope?

Capel: That was huge. I mean they got off, I think it was 11-3 when I called the timeout. Again, I wouldn’t say I anticipated that, but we haven’t competed and so I knew it was going to take a little bit for us to get back into it. As much as we practiced and tried to simulate, it’s hard to simulate their speed…and Bacot. As much as we show film and talk about the physicality that he plays with and the offensive rebounds. I thought really after the first five minutes we did a really good job of staying with it. They went on a run in the second half and then someone mentioned Blake hit a big three to kind of get us going. The thing I was most proud of that even though we did not shoot the ball well, which we have the past few games, we still stayed together and defended. That’s a sign of maturity for our guys, because in the past maybe we would have wilted, even perhaps earlier this year we would have wilted. But we kept fighting. We stayed together and we were able to go on some runs of our own.

What does that say about the veterans of this team that they found a way to win without a great outside shooting day?

Capel: Well that’s the key. It’s everyone has to be consumed with winning. Period. Everyone being consumed with winning. Like I mentioned, Guillermo didn’t play last game and he gave us really good minutes today. Nike didn’t play much last game and I thought he was a big catalyst for us. He changed the game with his energy, defense, and drives. Just his energy that he played with. It could be anyone, it could be a different guy each night. But guys cheer for each other, root for each other, and they play for each other. If we can continue to do that, then hopefully we can continue to have some success.

Were you happy with the kind of shots you were taking?

Capel: We got really good looks. It wasn’t our best shooting day from three, but overall we put up 46 points in the paint. We were able to drive and get to spots and make some plays there. We’ll make those shots going forward. I feel very confident. I felt the majority of them were good shots. There were some that were a little bit rushed, but we’ll live with that.

Burton led with 31 points, but the 14-of-17 shooting stands out…

Capel: Yea, incredibly efficient. He was able to get to his spots. That was one thing we thought coming into this game with their guards that we could take advantage of JB’s size and strength. Again as the game went on, we just put the ball in his hands and screened and kind of just him go to make plays and he made a lot of them for us.

Can you talk a little more about what Nike did for you guys today?

Capel: Just energy, man. He was able to drive and get to the basket. He had two field goals and three free throws and rebounded the basketball. I thought his defense and I thought he was an unbelievable teammate and I thought guys fed off of that of that energy that he brings, that he can bring, and that he brought tonight. Just an unbelievable example of always staying ready. Just staying ready. Some nights it might not be your night, you can’t put your head down and pout. You have to be ready. Nike had a great week of practice and I’m not surprised with how he played tonight.

UNC is known for having some last minute comebacks. How was it watching those last few possessions?

Capel: We have to be better in that situation. We were up four with 2.8 seconds left. All we have to do is just get the ball. We have two timeouts and it’s our arrow. So when we catch it, they have to foul us. We have to dribble, so we have to be better in that situation, because it did become very tense. We turned it over, they got a layup then all of the sudden you’ve got to go to the monitor and see what happens there. Fortunately we were able to get it in and run the clock out. But it was very intense because they are known for that. I remember growing up watching them have some unbelievable comebacks when it looked like they were dead in the water. I kept thinking about Ohio State this year. They were in a similar situation and they were able to send the game into overtime and win the game in overtime. Fortunately that did not happen.