A loss in basketball can sometimes create teaching moments, or at least that is the line of thinking for Pitt head coach Jeff Capel’s right now. Pitt’s 82-78 defeat to Louisville over the weekend was very much on his mind when he spoke to the media on Monday, and for him, and anyone else watching, noticed the same problem about his team.
“We have to rebound better,” Capel told reporters over Zoom on Monday. “We have to pursue the basketball better. We have to go after it, period. I mean, that's the solution. We have to fix it. It's not any tricks, it's not any things like that. We have to finish our defense up by rebounding the basketball.”
The Panthers lost the game on Saturday largely due to their effort in the rebounding department, as they trailed the Cardinals 44-31, which ultimately led 22 second chance points.
In a tight game, that made all the difference.
Pitt dropped to 12-4 overall and 3-2 with that loss, and will carry that record into tonight’s game against Florida State, set for a late 9:00 p.m. tip in Tallahassee. This will be the first test for Pitt to see if the changes have been made, or if the lessons have been learned, about going after the ball with a little more emphasis.
The assignment, however, will be difficult. When sizing up the 11-5 Seminoles, Capel talked a lot about their height and shot blocking, which is a normal trait for this program.
“You have to be able to be good offensively, but understand it's a little bit different,” Capel said of preparing for Florida State’s size. “We'll have a couple of days to prepare for it. It's a late game on Wednesday, so we'll have part of Wednesday as well, and hopefully we can be good, we can be poised, but my main thing is that we have to be tough. We have to be tough, we have to do the things necessary in order to win on the road in this league, which is difficult.”
Pitt will not be in for very many surprises tonight. Florida State is still coached by Leonard Hamilton, who has been there since 2002 and has largely kept the same blueprint. Hamilton-coached teams always play a deep bench and feature plenty of size, and this year’s version is no different.
The ‘Noles are led by versatile 6’7” forward Jamir Watkins, who tops them in scoring at 18.2 points per game, which is good for fifth in the ACC as well. Capel sees an obstacle in accounting for the talented Florida State star.
“He's big, he's physical,” Capel said of Watkins. “He can shoot the basketball from three, he can put it on the floor. He can get the spots. He's a good offensive rebounder, and he's a really aggressive, hungry player. I think he's one of the better players in our league, one of the better wings, and he provides a lot of challenges.”
The only other player averaging double figures is Malique Edwin, a 6-11 junior forward, who is totaling 13.8 points a night. Edwin is one of several big bodies Hamilton likes to use in his rotation. Additionally, the ‘Noles have 7-foot freshman Alier Maluk, who comes off the bench. Maluk was a high school star for Imani Christian Academy in Pittsburgh not long ago.
Coincidentally enough, one of the players Pitt is counting on to combat that Florida State size tonight is a former Seminole himself. Junior forward Cam Corhen has started every game for Pitt this season, but played the previous two years for Florida State. Corhen’s best game last season for Florida State was actually against Pitt, when he scored 25 points against the Panthers.
Tonight is a homecoming of sorts, but one that Capel says is a secondary part about this game, with his team looking to an end a mini losing streak taking prescience.
“This is not about Cam versus Florida State,” the Pitt coach explained. “This is about Pitt versus Florida State. And they're a good team, they're big, they provide different challenges than some of the teams that we've played.”
Corhen will need to be able to rebound more effectively tonight and for the duration of the season. He finished with only five boards in 36 minutes in the loss against Louisville, and Pitt will need more from its starting center heading into the second half of the season.
One thing Corhen, and the entire Pitt team can lean on right now is having a desire to go get the ball according to Capel. Sometimes there is no trick to rebounding better, other than actually pushing it harder than the opponent, something the Pitt coach is hoping to see this evening.
