Missouri pulls away from Pitt in 2nd half to claim victory in ACC/SEC Challenge
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During video review of Pitt’s 71-64 loss to Missouri on Tuesday night in the ACC/SEC Challenge, coach Jeff Capel may look at two stretches of time and want to close his eyes and pretend they didn’t happen.
But he’ll resist that temptation because these games are tough, but necessary, lessons for his team that has lost twice to SEC teams – Missouri and Florida – with two more power conference opponents to play in the next week.
“I have to do a better job of making sure we’re prepared,” he said.
The first instance Tuesday at Petersen Events Center emerged in the last 7 minutes, 41 seconds of the first half after Pitt (5-2) had taken its largest lead, 23-17.
Missouri (6-2) scored 21 points to close the half, owned a plus-7 advantage on the boards in that time and went into intermission with a 38-35 lead.
“I thought that’s where the game changed,” Capel said.
It was similar to the Florida game last Wednesday when — midway through the first half — Pitt built a 19-10 lead that turned into a 39-34 halftime deficit that became an 86-71 loss.
“We have to be able to concentrate and focus the entire time we’re out there,” Capel said. “We’ve had a tendency when we have leads, I don’t think it’s a conscious thought of guys thinking, `We can take a break.’ I just think it’s human nature and learning to be tougher in those situations.”
In the second half, there was a period that lasted five seconds short of nine minutes – from 11:54 to 2:59 to play — when Pitt didn’t make a shot from the field. For the entire second half, the Panthers made only 6 of 24 shots (25%).
“I thought in the second half, we had some wide-open shots that we normally make,” Capel said. “We missed them and it affected us. It really affected how we locked in defensively. We have to learn from it. We have to do a better job teaching it.”
Still, Pitt recovered briefly to give the crowd of 7,390 some hope.
Down 64-54 with 5:21 to play, Pitt rallied to within four points, 68-64, on Blake Hinson’s consecutive 3-pointers within 29 seconds of each other. But Ishmael Leggett missed a 3-point attempt from the corner that would have trimmed the Missouri lead to one with 44 seconds left. Ten seconds later, he committed a turnover that ended the rally.
Pitt was 25 of 31 from the foul line for the game, but Federiko Federiko missed the front end of two one-on-one situations in the second half and Hinson was 2 for 4 from the line in the final 1:43.
“We have to be better in those situations,” Capel said.
Hinson led the Panthers with 22 points, followed by freshman point guard Bub Carrington with 13 and Leggett with 10. Carrington and Leggett combined to miss 17 of 22 shots against Missouri’s aggressive, harassing style of defense.
Leggett, who’s been a consistent force on both ends of the court this season, was 1 for 8 from the field and committed six of Pitt’s 11 turnovers.
Asked how Carrington is handling his on-the-job training while competing against difficult opponents, Capel didn’t appear concerned.
“He’s handling it well,” he said. “He’s learning. We knew this would be a learning experience for him.”
As a team leader and an older veteran, Hinson said he doesn’t allow his younger teammates to dwell on a bad play.
“(I) tell them `Next play,’ ” he said. “Because I already know that every time something goes wrong for them, that’s going to make them better the next play.”
Next up for the Panthers will be their first ACC game Sunday against Clemson at the Pete. Three days later, they have a date with West Virginia in Morgantown.
Capel is confident his team will be fine.
“I want us to be down, but that can’t last,” he said. “When we get back together, we moved on. We flush it, win or lose, the next day.
“We’ll get better. What’s the alternative?”