Capel: 'We kept making plays'
Pitt head coach Jeff Capel met with the media over Zoom following his team’s 76-67 win over North Carolina. Here is a complete rundown of his remarks.
Capel: First and foremost, really proud of our guys. Big-time win to be able to come on the road in this type of environment against this team and program. They’ve been one of the better teams in our league and to gut out a win like this is big. First and foremost, the way we started the first half was outstanding. I thought our guys were really locked in on both sides of the basketball and I really thought we did a great job of executing our game plan and how we wanted to attack. Our guys did an amazing job defensively in the first half. Everyone talked about us scoring, which we did a really good job of that, but to hold that team to 23 points in the first half, 27% from the field was I think the thing that allowed our offense to be really good. In the second half, again we kept extending the lead and doing a good job. We knew they were going to make a run, but we were able to withstand the run. So, really proud of our guys, that’s a big-time win, and hopefully it’s something that we can continue to build on.
You mentioned about withstanding the run, what did you guys do so well to avoid that run until late in the game?
Capel: Well we kept making plays, that was the main thing. We kept making plays, whether it was John’s four-point play, we may have gotten a little lucky there. But guys driving and getting to the basket, whether it was JB or Femi. Will made a big-time pull-up jump shot, that was a big shot for us and gave us great minutes. Noah off of a ball screen, glided and finished. He made a great pass. Those guys did an amazing job as we were battling a little bit of foul trouble. I think that was the main thing, we just stayed together. The other thing is they had nine offensive rebounds in the first half, they finished with 11 and got the last two in the last minute of the half of the game. So I thought that was a big thing, we did a nice job of keeping them off the glass.
What do you think about your defensive effort tonight?
Capel: The biggest thing with them is that we wanted to keep them out of transition, so we were able to do a pretty good job there. And then we wanted to play post defense early, and at times we were going to trap Bacot. We were going to run and trap him. So that was the thing there and I thought John did a really good job. The other thing that helps is keeping them on the bench, getting them in foul trouble. He had to sit for extended periods of time and so that’s another really good way to defend a very good player, which he is. We wanted to have a sense of urgency at the three-point line. We knew how well they were shooting it, 9 1/2 makes a game from out there in conference play. Almost 40%, I think it was 39.6% to be exact in conference play. We really wanted to have a great effort in doing that. We wanted to switch on time and we did a good job. We got fortunate at times where they’d miss some, but again just thought executing what we talked about we did a really good job of.
In the tense minutes late in the game, what did you see from your guys?
Capel: They believed. Again when we got the jump ball which was their possession, we caught the ball a little bit deep and again it was their possession. We started doing a good job of breaking the press and guys were being strong. We made big throws. Guys stepped up and made big free throws. We knew they were going to run and jump and trap the ball screen, so we did a really good job of meeting the pass as they tried to take other guys and flash. That last four minutes we did it without having a timeout, so our guys did a heck of a job of not turning the basketball over in those minutes and making sure we got plays. Then down the stretch we got John back in the game and did a really good job there.
What goes into the effort to get five charging calls and be able to switch to the right spots?
Capel: It’s one of the things we talked about. We tried to show them on tape the ability to take charges in this game. We tried to play the percentages. Leaky Black, he’s an outstanding player, but in conference play he was only averaging three field goal attempts a game, less than one three by far a game. So we really tried having that guy be the roam guy and play off of him. Our guys did a great job of executing that, we were over in the help side for the most part and guys just made dirty work plays, and that’s who we have to be. Again, we’ve done a pretty good job the past few games of doing that.
What’s the significance of three straight conference wins, especially with two of them on the road?
Capel: For us, we’re just trying to get better. I’ve said this over and over: our guys have done an amazing job of showing up everyday, even when things were dire and not good. We try not to listen to the outside noise. We tried to concentrate on us, focus on us, and the things that we can control. We tried to take it day by day and by game, not get too down, not get too up, but to concentrate and focus everyday. We’ve done a good job of that, and because we’ve done that we’ve gotten better. Hopefully we can continue to get better and continue to build on and have even more belief in what it is that we’re doing and how we need to play in order to be good.
What do you think about the emotional maturity of your team after tonight’s game and how they are growing there?
Capel: We’ve gotten a lot of experience this year. We’ve had to play a lot of young guys, where this is their first time. Whether it’s their first time at this level, first time this time of year, their first time in some different environments. You grow from those, even when you fail. Sometimes failure can be the best teacher. We’ve grown, but the thing that I’m proud of is that we’ve just continued to show up. We’ve continued to show up and for the most part we’ve had really good attitudes and we’ve just tried to get better every game. We’ve done it, and hopefully we can continue to do it. We’ll enjoy this tonight and we’ll move on tomorrow once we get back and we’ll start concentrating on Georgia Tech.
What allows Hugley to elevate his game when going up against another really good center?
Capel: He’s talented and competitive. When you’re talented and competitive, you thrive on playing against really good players. It’s a measuring stick to where you are. Bacot is one of the best big guys in the country and certainly one of the best big guys in our league. I know John has so much respect for him, but I know he was really excited about the challenge with the opportunity to play against him and he did some really good things for us.
What kind of growth have you seen from the second Virginia Tech game, or is this something you knew was within your guys this whole time?
Capel: I thought that it was in reach for us, especially once we got Ithiel back and knowing it was taking a little bit of time to get in rhythm. We were close to being whole, that’s the main thing. The team we felt that we would have at the beginning of the year when we started playing games, we had to get adjusted to. It took a while. We were down two really talented guys, two guys in the backcourt that we thought would be two of our better plays. We continued to battle. We got experience. We stayed together, which is really huge. As we’ve gotten close to whole, we’re still not there and won’t be, but this is as whole as we’ll be. We’ve gotten better because we’ve shown up and we’ve worked and we’ve put in the time and hopefully that is something that we can continue to do.
What have you seen from Horton that he’s gotten his rhythm back so quickly?
Capel: Practice, repetition, extra work. Some of the stuff he does on his own, some of the stuff he does with us. Just being aggressive. Look, getting in rhythm is also our guys understanding how to play with him. It doesn’t just happen, him understanding like what a weapon he is for us and that helps everyone. It helps Femi and JB on their penetration. It helps John inside, it helps Mo. Just getting back into the rhythm of playing with us, and us with him. Both of those things. He played 40 minutes tonight and he wasn’t tired, so that’s another great sign for us.