Pitt’s Jeff Capel likes team’s progress, seeks improved on-court communication
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Jeff Capel’s sixth season as Pitt’s head coach is off to a good (not great) start. The 8-3 record is nothing special, and he knows it.
The Panthers have won eight of their first 11 games in three of Capel’s five previous seasons.
“Certainly would not like to have three losses,” he said. “Thought we had an opportunity in those three games to win each basketball game.”
But he carries a feeling about his team that he talks about openly. The athletic ability is there — as it is for most teams in the nation’s power conferences — but Capel said he enjoys just being around his players every day and monitoring their desire to improve.
“I love my team. I really do,” he said Tuesday after practice. “I love being around them. They want to be really good. For the most part, they have great attitudes and the right attitude in practice about trying to get better.”
Of course, no team is without issues. “At times, we’re young and a little bit immature at times,” he said.
Indeed, five of the top 10 players in Capel’s rotation never have played in the ACC. “But we have a great leader in Blake (Hinson), who’s able to help get it back.”
National respect will be difficult for Pitt (8-3, 0-1) to earn before the Panthers begin their conference-only schedule Dec. 30 at Syracuse. Pitt sits at No. 41 in the NCAA Net rankings, but that would be more encouraging in March than in December. Pitt also was not one of the five ACC teams included in Joe Lunardi’s new Bracketology released Tuesday on ESPN.com.
Capel doesn’t pay any attention to the rankings or Lunardi. He is more concerned with how his team can improve over the final 20 games, beginning Wednesday at Petersen Events Center against Purdue Fort Wayne in the final nonconference game.
“For individual guys to be more consistent where we don’t necessarily have to yell at somebody to get them to go, where it just becomes habit,” he said. “That’s where we’re learning.
“We have some guys who are new to this level. It requires a little bit more for that learning curve to speed up a little bit more where we don’t have to repeat the same things over and over.”
He also hopes to see his players do more talking amongst themselves, not just during breaks in the action, but in real time.
”When you start playing, and it’s five on five and you’re out there in real, live action, at times we have a tendency to be quiet. Especially on defense, when you’re not talking, you’re not connected. There’s no way you can be connected.
“Some of the mistakes that we made (in previous games) have come from our lack of communication at times. We need to be really, really good at that all the time.”
He hopes to see the team improve defensively and “to be locked in even more (to game plans and scouting reports).”
“Not that we haven’t been, but to take it to another level,” he said.
On offense, he wants to see his players “be stronger with the basketball (and finish shots), make sure we share it and make sure we really, really execute.”
“I still think we have a high ceiling and we’re going to do everything we can to try and reach it. I like where we are, and I like where we’re hopefully going.”
Purdue Fort Wayne (11-1, 2-0) is a formidable opponent. The Mastodons of the Horizon League — they lost twice to Robert Morris last season — will bring a four-guard offense, a willingness and talent for 3-point shooting and a six-game winning streak into the Pete. Their only loss was to San Francisco on Nov. 22, 76-60.
Purdue Fort Wayne is 19th in the nation in 3-point percentage shooting (39%) and seventh in attempts (305). All four guards — Rasheed Bello (15 points per game), Anthony Roberts (14.9), Jalen Jackson (14.7) and Quinton Morton-Robinson (12.9) — “can dribble, pass and shoot,” Capel said. “They put a lot of pressure on you.”
He said the guards share the basketball amongst their teammates and steal it from opponents (an average of 10 per game).
“It’s going to require a high-level effort on both sides of the basketball, but especially mentally.”
The game will be a good testing ground for the Panthers, who will face similar teams in the ACC.
“Certainly, playing against a team with four guards who average in double figures that play with great freedom, great pace, great speed, great confidence will help us for every team we play in our league,” Capel said.
At least for this game, Capel will stick with his new starting lineup that includes Guillermo Diaz Graham and William Jeffress instead of Federiko Federiko and Zack Austin. The two former starters contributed coming off the bench against South Carolina State, and Capel said they continue to practice well.
After the game, players will get a break to spend the holiday weekend with their families. Capel said they’ll return to campus in time for practice next Tuesday.