Pitt head coach Jeff Capel met with the media following his team’s 66-46 loss to Boston College in the ACC Tournament on Tuesday. Here is a complete rundown of everything he had to say.
Capel: Well congrats to BC, they were outstanding today. They really dominated the game especially once John went out with the second foul in the first half. Earl has done a really great job of coming in and trying to establish a culture right away with the program in his first year. He has really done a great job with some of the pieces that were left and with both Langfords and Karnik and it really starts with those guys. Then he added some pieces, and they’ve been tough all year. They’ve been a really tough basketball team and they’ve gotten better all year. This was certainly not the outcome that we wanted or anticipated, but I’m proud of my guys. This has been a really long year, and it’s been a hard year. We have had a lot of adversity right from the beginning, right after the first exhibition game or during the first exhibition game is when it all started. It hasn’t looked like it over the last two weeks, but our team got better from the beginning of the year to where we are now. The thing I’m grateful for and what I told these guys in the locker room is that we were able to get better because we continued to show up. We continued to work and tried to get better. It would have been very easy for us in the middle or end of November just to fold, to kind of give up and give in with the things that went through: the close losses, heartbreaking losses, and things like that. But we continued to show up. We continued to fight and because of that we got better. We showed glimpses of that at times this year of what we could possibly be. We just never were able to be consistent with it. But I’m proud of or guys and the fight that they had all year. I’m proud that we stayed together and continued to fight just today and really the last couple of weeks. We beat North Carolina, but we came up very very short.
You’ve had some tough stretches in each of the past two seasons as well, how does this one feel compared to those?
Capel: I’m trying to remember the last couple. I’m so in the moment right now. Certainly last year we didn’t finish with a whole roster, the roster that we started with. We were able to do that this year. It’s hard for me right now just to look in the rearview mirror just because I was so into this moment and trying to be prepared for this. I can probably talk about that a little bit more and in better detail as I assess it. Right now I’m just not in the moment of assessing anything. It’s been so fresh that it’s over right now. Again, I just think these guys have fought. We’ve fought, we continued…After both of those games against Virginia Tech especially at Virginia Tech — that was another time we could have folded. We could have thrown in the towel and maybe in previous years we’ve done that, where the losing streaks really extended. But after that we went to Florida State and we won. We went home home and won then we went and played a very good North Carolina team and we won. Since then we have not played well on both sides of the basketball. Part of that I think these guys and the guys that played a lot were tired. I think they were mentally and physically fried. Again it’s no excuse, but we just didn’t play well the last 2 1/2 weeks of the season. We just didn’t play well.
You mentioned your teams showed glimpses throughout the season, why do you think those never translated into something more consistent throughout the season?
Capel: The very first thing is I think it’s very hard to win and I think when you don’t have a reference point of winning and older guys in your program that have won. I think that’s the most difficult thing to understand the discipline daily to take in order to become consistent. We have not had that since I’ve been here. Hopefully that’s something we can have as we move forward in the changing landscape of college athletics, especially college basketball. But it takes discipline, commitment, sacrifice — it takes all of these things. Also, we have to get better players. I mean that’s the reality of it. It’s nothing against and it’s not anything personal, we have to continue to add better players. We have to recruit better. All those things, we have to do better. We have to continue to develop guys and continue to help them reach their potential as players. Those are things that we have to continue to do.
What has Mo Gueye meant to your program?
Capel: I love the kid. I wish we had him longer, because you saw how much he’s gotten better. He’s an amazing kid to be around. He’s a worker. He keeps his heads down, comes to work everyday, and is eager to learn: really good listener, takes constructive criticism, takes feedback, seeks it out. And he got better and better as the season went along, and as he gained confidence at this level and understood the different things: speed, physicality, and things like that. I think he just got better and better and I think he has a very bright future in the game.
What areas of your roster do you feel improved the most this offseason?
Capel: I think every area. We have to get better in every area of the game: shooting, ball handling, decision making, depth - all of those things. We have to develop the guys in our program and we have to go out and get players. That’s the lifeblood of every program, so it’s not just us. You have to continue to add, continue to develop and all of those things and that’s what we’ll look forward to doing.
Talking to the BC coach and players, they mentioned the scoreless last five minutes of the first half and the technical as turning points. Did you notice a particular moment where it felt like it was getting away?
Capel: I thought when John picked up his second foul. I thought that’s when the game changed. We didn’t have a guy that we could go to inside that could draw a double team and get other guys shots. We were in incredible foul trouble. Femi was out, JB had two and picked up his third, and so we had some lineups out there that we have not played or practiced with. I do think the last five minutes conceded with John picking up his second foul and coming out of the game. Certainly that sequence where there was a flagrant and a technical foul. They got four free throws right there and we had actually done a pretty decent job the first couple of possessions in the second half we had gotten stops. But we weren’t able to convert it, we had made one free throw during that stretch. We went 1-for-2 from the line and a turnover. Those are the plays right there that we have to be able to convert and certainly the technical and flagrant then them having possessions right after. It was also Femi’s fourth foul where he had to sit.
You mention recruiting and this was the first year of the NIL rules. Pittsburgh is a great sports town without an NBA team. Is that an advantage in getting players where they are going to be the best known players playing in that market?
Capel: It could be. It certainly could be, but you also have competing factors with the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins right there as well, but it’s something that could be. It’s something that is going to be really important for every program moving forward, especially the program at the power five level. The Name, Image, and Likeness. Last year after last season you had two just two things that happened in college athletics with the one-time transfer and the name, image, and likeness. You had them where both happened during a global pandemic. It totally changed the landscape of college athletics, when the landscape of the world was very different because of the pandemic. There has been an adjustment period for everyone. I thought a couple of the guys we got from the transfer portal were very good for us with Jamarius and Mo. Teams can drastically change if you’re able to get the right guys, and in some cases if you get lucky you get lucky. In our league you look at Wake Forest and look at the huge jump they made just from the portal and the development of a couple of their returning guys in Muscius and Williamson. Miami did a good job in the portal, so you can change. You have to be able to develop, you have to be able to get the right pieces and the name, image, and likeness can really assist you with that.
