Pitt head coach Jeff Capel met with the media on Wednesday following Pitt's 81-79 win over Wake Forest. Here is a complete rundown of everything he had to say.
Capel: What a basketball game. Heck of a game, two good teams that fought for 40 minutes. I'm really, really proud of my team because that was a very good basketball team that we beat. They're so good offensively. They spread you out. They can shoot it. Appleby is really good off the bounce. Guys inside who shoot a high percentage, but I thought that we were very good offensively. I thought the ball had energy. I thought we learned from the last game as far as we moved the basketball. We didn't settle. To have 22 assists on 28 made field goals is big-time. Obviously to be able to hit 18 threes, I thought we were able to do that because the ball had energy. These two guys beside me (Hinson and Elliott) combined for 14 of them. And at the end we were able to get a stop. We were able to get a stop. We knew as a staff looking at analytics Appleby is not as efficient going left. So we were able to get him going to his left and to force a tough shot. He is an outstanding player and he makes big-time shots. We were fortunate he didn't make that one. We were able to get a stop at the end and come up with a big-time win. I'm really, really happy for my team.
What can you say about what Wake Forest was doing to keep the pace up offensively?
Capel: Well that's what they do, they play at the fastest pace in the league. They're a very, very good offensive team when you look at their numbers from the field and three, their assist numbers with Appleby leading our league in assists. They're a really talented basketball team and an especially a very good offensive team. I thought in the first half we defended them pretty well and they made some really tough shots. Even in the second half we're right there and they made some tough shots. They've got some guys that can just make — Williamson, Appleby, obviously Monsanto can really really shot, he's a weapon. They put a lot of pressure on your defense because they have a guy that can create off the bounce in Appleby. They have another guy who can create off the bounce in Hildreth. They have two bigs who play their role, they're in that dunker spot and they're incredibly efficient. I think Marsh was 90% from the field in conference play. I'm not sure if I've ever seen that. He understands who he is. They put a lot of pressure because of their talent, spacing, and the things that Steve allows them to do.
How do you feel about your team's defensive effort tonight?
Capel: I thought an area where we got better was we didn't allow them making tough shots to demoralize us. We just kept playing. It helped that we kept scoring, that really helped, and then we made shots. I mean that was it. The 1-3-1 got us a little bit off-balance. I thought we were in a really good rhythm and they went to that and that got us a little bit off, but even that at times we got really good looks. At times we had some wide open threes that we just missed. I thought when we penetrated the zone and we didn't just stand out, I thought we did a very good job of attacking it.
Was this the ball movement has been since ACC play started?
Capel: Probably. It probably has been. We moved it really well when we played at Northwestern. This is by far the best we've shot the ball here and we needed every one of them.
What can you say about the contributions from the bench?
Capel: Well we need those guys and we need their energy. It may not necessarily mean scoring, but I thought they did some good things defensively. Obviously they all scored. I thought Jorge came out and gave us some good minutes and took a big-time charge. We need everyone. We need everyone to come in and give great energy when they're in the game and those guys from the bench did that.
Federiko did not have a big night scoring, but was really solid defensively. Can you talk about what he was able to do?
Capel: Fede is not a scorer yet. That's not where he is with his game. He's not a guy we're going to throw the ball to with his back to the basket. Fede is a guy that is in the dunker spot, lobs, plays off of penetration and if they switch maybe we can get it to him then or offensive rebounds. But he does a really good job defending. He does a really good job of ball screen defense and he's a presence around the basket where he can cause some difficult shots or try to finish over him. He was really really good for us.
Can you talk about the analytics more on defending Appleby on that final shot and making him go left? How much of that is a call in the moment or if that is more game prep?
Capel: We knew that 85% of his offense was him going right. That's something we talked to our team about when we started going over our preparation for Wake Forest on Monday and there are little reminders throughout the game. We didn't do a great job all game, but on that last possession we did a really good job of it.
As an old-school guy, how much do you put into analytics?
Capel: It's very new for me. This is probably the first year I've kind of really gotten into it.
Are teams defending Burton differently the past few games, or just more aware of him?
Capel: No. I don't think they're defending him differently. The difference was today was that they played more 1-3-1 than they have. They've always played it. I haven't seen them play it for extended periods of time. JB is a guy that is normally getting to the basket and posting and things like that, but that 1-3-1 kind of takes away that. I thought he did a good job of reading things and making the right plays.
How are you planning to carry this momentum into Saturday?
Capel: The thing that this job has done a very good job of all year, and we have to continue, is moving onto the next play. So tomorrow we'll get back and get together for more of a mental day. We'll go over feedback from this game. We'll show stuff that we did well, stuff that we can improve on and then we'll turn our attention right after that when it's over with and we'll turn all of our attention to Miami. We know they're very good. We know they beat the heck out of Florida State. At the end of the day they're a very talented team and very good on both sides of the floor. It will be an unbelievable challenge for us and by Saturday we'll be ready.
On that last possession, were Blake and Nelly both options to shoot?
Capel: Blake should have shot the ball. He should have shot the ball in that situation. We executed it perfectly. That's a play next time he'll shoot it. We've got to know that and got to know the clock in that situation. That was a mistake, but we didn't allow it to carry over to the next thing. We got a stop at the end.
In the last minute you pulled Nelly for Nike, but he committed a foul and you put Nelly right back in. Was the foul the reason?
Capel: No. We were going offense-defense. That's what we were doing, offense to defense in that situation.
Who talked you into analytics?
Capel: I've always looked at it, but I've never really — I look at it now and try to figure things out. We have some guys on our staff that are really, really into it and have helped me understand it a little bit better.
