After Pitt beat Louisville on Saturday, Jeff Capel talked to the media about the win and more. Here's the full rundown of what he said.

Capel: First and foremost, I’m really proud of our guys. That was a big-time response from our game the other day. I thought we fought for 40 minutes, I thought we were incredibly together, I thought we were tough and I thought we executed. Some really outstanding performances. I thought our bench was terrific, and it doesn’t show up as far as points, but what they did of understanding defensive assignments, of defending, understanding the personnel and then on offense, spacing, screening, being strong with the ball when they had it - again, it didn’t show up as far as points, but it enabled our other guys to be able to get to spots and get openings. So I thought they were terrific.

I thought Jamarius was maybe his best game he’s played here. He was strong in how he played, but also in how he looked out there, and I thought we fed off of that. And John, in the second half, able to get the ball down inside to him, him being able to play through contact.

So, really proud. Will got a huge offensive rebound and was able to go and get fouled and get to the line and make a free throw.

So, again, proud of our guys, big-time response and hopefully something we can build on.

Can you expand a little bit on saying Jamarius looked good out there?
Capel: He had a strong look, like he was determined in how he was in huddles, how he was with his teammates, it was just strong. He looked like a leader out there for 40 minutes.

You had talked about fighting for 40 minutes; there were several instances there in the final five or six minutes where you would be up 12 and Louisville would get a three, but you would always answer - that wasn’t always the case this season. How much of what you saw in those final minutes stood out to you as a sign of growth from this team?
Capel: Well, again, it was growth today and it’s something we have to build on. We said that during one of the timeouts - it was maybe the under-8 timeout, we were up 12 and we talked about, ‘We’ve been in this position before a lot’ - I shouldn’t say ‘a lot’ - several times this year and we haven’t handled it well; let’s handle it well right now. Let’s fire back. Let’s get a stop. Let’s keep scoring. Let’s execute. And we were able to do that. They made a three, we came down and we scored; we got a stop, we were able to score again; we got fouled, we stepped up and made free throws.

So again, we built on it today; now we have to move forward and build on it when we get back together on Monday.

Jamarius talked to us about how it was very important this week that the guys bought into what you guys were saying and fulfilled what you guys have been coaching them to do. What did you see leading into this game that might have been different in the approach this week?
Capel: We were disappointed in our performance in our last game. Everyone. We didn’t have the fight that we’ve had the majority of the season. When we couldn’t score the first nine and a half minutes at Syracuse, we allowed that to affect everything, especially our defense. We talked about it, we showed it to them and we had some really good practices leading up to this.

And I’ve said, the thing about this team that I admire - and I really do; it’s not just coach speak - they’ve shown up, man. Like, they’ve shown up every day trying to get better. And it’s been hard; it’s been hard on them, it’s been hard on everyone, with some of these heartbreaking losses and things like that. It’s what makes me believe, and I believe it in my core, that good things are on the horizon for us, because it would be easy to jump ship, it would be easy to not show up or pout or feel sorry for yourself, and our guys haven’t done that.

You played Louisville 10 days earlier; what did you take away from that you think helped you in today’s game?
Capel: I thought we were better with understanding and executing - not just understanding, but executing - our defensive game plan. We understood personnel better. We understood strengths and weaknesses of each guy. We did a really good job of defensive rebounding. We did not allow them to get in transition. Even in our turnovers, we were able to get back and make them play against our half-court defense; the first time we played them, they really hurt us in transition. And then we didn’t play zone much this game, but when we did, it was better. We understood the mistakes that we made last time we played them - and they made us pay for them - and we did a better job of executing those things today. And then offensively, again, we were able to get to spots, in the second half we were able to get the ball inside to John, he was able to draw a lot of attention, which gives guys space to be able to do things on the perimeter.

What do you see energizing your guys in the paint? Mo had four blocks, you guys outscored them by 18 in the paint and John was talking about how their guys are too small as he’s pushing through them. What do you see that doing for your whole team?
Capel: I don’t think they’re too small. But again, John’s a good player. Mo’s a good player. And we have some good players. It’s just about executing, going out, doing what it is we talk about in the game plan and being able to sustain it for 40 minutes. We’ve had times where we’ve done it for 28 minutes, 32 minutes, 37 minutes; we have to be able to do it for 40 minutes, and we were able to do that.

You alluded to how rough the start of the season was, but what has it felt like for the last few weeks or month or so as you guys have stacked some wins, got Jamarius back and things like that?
Capel: For me, I know we’re getting better. That’s the biggest thing. I know we’re getting better. The attitudes every day coming into work, the stuff that guys are doing individually coming into work, wanting extra work, staying after practice with the coaches, extra film sessions and things like that - it hasn’t equated in as many wins as we certainly would like, and no one feels that more than us and no one feels that more than those guys that are laying it on the line every day. But I know that we’re getting better; that’s the big thing with me. We’ve had some adversity so far this year, but we’ve continued to show up, we’ve continued to fight, we’ve continued to try, and a lot of times, that’s half the battle.

The other thing is that we’ve continued to stay together. Even in the dark times when things haven’t gone well, when we’ve had gut-punching losses, guys haven’t pointed fingers, everyone’s accepted responsibility and we’ve come back and we’ve tried to get better.

You talked about in the tough times believing the team was getting better; did you feel like your guys believed that as well?
Capel: I think so. I mean, we talked about it. We would tell them that. We would try to encourage. It’s easy, when things aren’t going well, to slam down on people, to talk negative and things like that. They get enough of that, I’m sure, if they read social media. It’s our job as the coaches, as the leaders, to pour into them and get them to believe and let them know that we believe in them. And I do. I really and truly do. You guys here have known me long enough: I don’t do coach speak. That’s not me. If I’m saying something to you, then it’s something that I feel, I believe and things like that.

I think we can be a good team, but we have to understand the things that are necessary for us to be a good team. We have to bring people to the mud; that’s what we have to do. We have to - it’s not going to necessarily be pretty, but this was beautiful. This was beautiful today. And we have to be able to be together and be tough and execute for 40 minutes the things that we work on in preparation for these games.

What did you see from the three-guard lineup?
Capel: It’s been good for us all year. If you look at the plus-minus numbers when we’ve had three guards in, it’s been positive. It’s been very positive for us. So that’s a change that we made and it really energized practice the next couple days - I’m sorry, the two days prior to today, and I thought it was good. It gives us three ball-handlers, three guys that we can play off of ball screens. O has shown that he can be a good shooter, he’s a good defender. Obviously JB and Femi, it doesn’t wear just those two guys out all the time having to be the guys to handle. So it was good for us.

When you brought Jamarius in, how much of what you saw today was in line with what you thought he could bring to this team?
Capel: I thought today is more in line - but I think he’s done that. I think he’s done a really good job for us. I thought he’s been good, really, all year since he came. We knew, once we were able to get him back, that it was going to take awhile. You don’t sit out five weeks and come back and just automatically jump right into it and you’re good. It takes time to build up, to get a rhythm, to get your body right, to get your legs under you and things like that. He’s a worker and he’s a strong guy. He’s a man. And we need him to be a man, because we’re pretty young out there.