After stopping losing streak, Jeff Capel wants Pitt to 'sustain fight' vs. North Carolina

Winning on the road is never easy — just ask any coach, including those in the ACC (basketball and football), most of whom like to say that winning anywhere, anytime, against anyone is difficult.

Pitt’s Jeff Capel was appropriately pleased Saturday that the Panthers (13-6, 4-4) broke their four-game losing streak with a four-point victory at Syracuse (9-11, 3-6).

Although Syracuse has now lost 11 of its past 17 games, the game provided a window into how Capel wants things done as Pitt approaches the second half of its ACC schedule. A more daunting test looms Tuesday night at Petersen Events Center against North Carolina (13-8, 6-3).

Capel not only liked how his players fought against Syracuse, but how they took the fight to their opponent for “an extended period of time.”

That hadn’t been the case in a time frame that, according to Capel, stretches all the way back to four days before Christmas, a 110-78 home victory against Sam Houston State.

“We didn’t defend at the (necessary) level,” Capel said. “We just made every shot, and we scored a bunch of points.”

Pitt hadn’t allowed a mid-major opponent to score that many points since Nov. 27, 2021, in an 87-77 loss to UMBC.

“My big thing with them is that we have to be able to sustain discipline, toughness and fight for longer periods,” he said. “To be able to beat good teams, you have to be able to sustain (the fight). If we go to the bench, those guys have to come in and know what we’re doing and do it at a high level on both ends of the floor. I thought Syracuse was the first game that we had it for an extended period of time. I thought we fought and fought against Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Duke. It wasn’t lack of fight. We have to be able to sustain the level that we need to play at for longer periods of time.”

Pitt hasn’t held an opponent below 68 points since Dec. 11. Capel always will expect better defense, largely a matter of “being where we’re supposed to be.”

“It all really pertains to guarding the ball,” he said. “The best defenses, they have five guys guarding the ball, not just the one guy who’s on the ball. Our communication and all of those things have to continue to improve.”

Senior Zack Austin is third in the ACC in blocked shot (30), but Capel wants to see him “engaged all the time.”

“He has moments out there still — and it’s much better than last year — but moments still when he kind of floats. The concentration and all of those things aren’t there. That still needs to go up to another level.”

On the other end of the floor, Capel acknowledged there are times when his guards must pass more often.

“There’s a lot of emphasis and a lot of attention to Jalen (Lowe) and to Ish (Leggett),” he said. “Teams are in gaps early. They don’t think those guys are going to pass. They’re trying to show them a big crowd. We have to get off the basketball. We’ve done a better job of that the last three games. Our guys adjusted and made passes (against Syracuse) for guys who were open for 3 or second drives.”

Capel said Lowe — “A smart kid, a student of the game” — continues to improve while keeping up his own scoring (seventh in the ACC at 17.6 points per game).

“He wants to be good. He works. He studies. He’s been able to make adjustments. The thing that we try to emphasize with him is you’re going to have the ball a lot. There’s a responsibility that comes along with that. That’s the way basketball will always be when you’re a really good player. There’s a responsibility that you have to play a certain way, to look a certain way, to compete a certain way, to lead a certain way if you want to be a high-level player, and he wants to do it so he’s learning how to do it with different things that people have thrown at him.”

Meanwhile, Capel said his guards are also responsible for Pitt being ranked tied for 24th in the nation in turnovers (10.1 per game). Pitt did not commit one in the second half against Syracuse (three overall) and has played eight other games where it held the total to eight or nine.

“We have pretty good guards. We make good decisions,” he said. “I thought the second half (against Syracuse), we were in front of our bench so we could kind of joystick it a little bit and make sure we got into stuff.”

But he added, “You can have bad shots that are just like turnovers that are just not marked as a turnover. We had a few of those that we have to eliminate.”

It’s no consolation, but North Carolina coach Hubert Davis also has problems. The Tar Heels were ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press preseason poll, but they have not received a vote for the past four weeks.

Asked about “conversations” with his players during the 102-96 overtime victory against Boston College at home, Davis said they were not conversations.

“It was a monologue by me. It was everything: ball pressure, half-court, out-of-bounds underneath, in transition, guarding one-on-one, guarding in the post, discipline for shot fakes, boxing out, getting through screens, talking and communicating,” he said. “There was a departure of all of that against Boston College. I’m not sure why.”

The game against BC (9-11, 1-8) was one of UNC’s 11 decided by six points or fewer (it is 6-5 in those games). The Tar Heels played an ambitious nonconference schedule, losing to No. 1 Auburn, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Florida, No. 7 Michigan State and No. 11 Kansas. Only Auburn and Alabama won by more than six.

“We’ve seen it all,” Davis said.