Pitt basketball is in the midst of a four-game losing streak right now, with losses to Duke, Florida State, Louisville, and Clemson.
The Panthers started the season red-hot, going 12-2 in their first 14 games. However, now at 12-6 and 3-4 in ACC play, Pitt has fallen down the ACC standings and what was once an NCAA Tournament lock is looking like a bubble team, at least in the eyes of bracketologists.
“It’s difficult,” Jeff Capel said about how the team has responded to the losing streak. “But, you understand the season is really long. You go through different types of things during a season. I’ve always felt, that, if used properly, this could be a time where you learn so much about yourself that you become tougher and stronger, at least that’s been our experience the past couple of years, you find out the true character of your team. I think this team has solid character. I think we have good leadership, certainly, it’s tested right now. But they have continued to show up with a good attitude. Certainly, we’re down. But this is something that we have to fix and that we feel is fixable. But we have to do it. We have to understand, we have to recognize the things that we have to do and then we have to be willing to go out and do those things consistently and get better. Obviously, this is hard. It’s tough. The past two weeks have been extremely difficult, but we’re excited about the challenge that we have ahead, of getting this thing fixed.”
Pitt’s 12-6 record includes two Quad 1 wins, over Ohio State and West Virginia. Since those wins, the team has dropped every other Quad 1 contest. So what does Pitt need to fix to get back on track and make a run to the NCAA Tournament?
“Well, first and foremost, we have to defend better for two halves,” Capel said. “We have to be able to get stops down the stretch. We have to get 50/50 balls. We have to do a better job of executing offensively and understanding that when there are guys in the gap, we have to get off the ball.
“It’s those things. They’re fixable things, but we have to be able to see and realize, we can’t get down and have these lulls and then fight back. We’ve fought back in all the games. But we have these stretches where we’re not getting stops and we’re not scoring, and instead of it lasting for a couple of minutes, it lasts for three minutes or four minutes, and all of a sudden, we’re down 16, or we’re down 15. Then, we fight and get it back. But those are the things that we have to do and control and be better. Putting together 40 minutes and having the discipline to do that on both ends, and understand what it is we’re trying to do, and being able to go out and do it.”
Pitt has a full week to work on those “fixable” things, as its next game comes on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. against Syracuse.
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