Jeff Capel remains hopeful in midst of Pitt's 'rebuild of a rebuild'

If you’ve watched Jeff Capel this season, you might notice the passion he puts into his job.

He vigorously defends his players against officials’ calls he perceives as wrong, unfair or both.

He speaks animatedly during timeouts, trying to ensure instructions to his players stick. In times of trouble during games, you can see the disappointment in his body language when the situation turns dire.

His is not an easy job. Speaking on 93.7 FM on Thursday, he called what he is trying to accomplish in his fourth season at Pitt as “a rebuild of a rebuild.”

He inherited a team from Kevin Stallings that was winless in the ACC (0-18) in 2018. Capel’s first three Pitt teams struggled, going 15-39 in conference games. This season, after Pitt lost six of its top seven scorers from a year ago to the NBA, NCAA transfer portal, injury and criminal charges, the Panthers are 1-4 in the ACC (6-10 overall).

Despite a ravaged roster, Pitt found a way to defeat Boston College, 69-67, with six players (seven if you count sophomore Noah Collier’s three minutes on the court).

Fans are restless. Petersen Events Center, which used to vibrate with excitement, is nearly half-empty for most games.

There have been moments this season, including a one-point loss to a Notre Dame team that is currently on a six-game winning streak. Pitt played good defense for more than 33 minutes, holding the Irish under 50 points until the last seven minutes. Defensive lapses, however, led to a 68-67 loss.

“The margin for error for winning is not huge for most teams, anyway,” Capel said. “But for our team, with the limitations we have, our margin for error is really, really small. The things we have to do at a high level, we have to be very, very consistent in doing them.”

Finally, after losing five games by a total of 10 points, a lineup that included three sophomores and a walk-on among the top six players couldn’t solve Syracuse’s zone defense and lost 77-61 on Tuesday night.

“We didn’t get the ball where we wanted to against the zone,” Capel said on his radio interview. “We have to be more mature in that situation. I thought we were past that.”

After opening the season 2-6 with losses to The Citadel, Maryland Baltimore County and Monmouth, Pitt compiled a 4-3 record before the loss in Syracuse’s Carrier Dome.

“One of the things I’m proud of with our team and really admire is the fact they have gotten off the mat every time,” he said. “They’ve shown up. Our guys have had really good attitudes. They’re trying to get better. They’re trying to learn.

“Now, we keep making the same mistakes at times. One of the things that happens with us — and this is the sign of a young team — is we relax (with a lead). I feel our guys feel like you can take a breath. You can take a play off: ‘This defensive possession isn’t as important as the other ones were because we have a lead. You can maybe take this one off.’

“That’s where we have to get better, keeping our concentration level on point.”

The next test of the players’ focus will be Saturday against Louisville at The Pete.

Pitt lost to Louisville, 75-72, on Jan. 5 at the KFC Yum! Center John Hugley, who leads the Panthers in scoring (15.2) and rebounding (8.2), got in early foul trouble and played only 19 minutes.

It’s hard to predict the outcome of the rematch, but Capel does expect the outset to be different.

“Hopefully, we don’t have six team fouls in the first two minutes of the game,” he said. “Hopefully, we don’t have three technical fouls in the first minute and 12 seconds and, hopefully, we don’t have our best player with two fouls in a minute and 12 seconds.

“That game was very weird with the way it started. We played with lineups we never practiced with. We made mistakes defensively, not defending the areas in the zone well, and they made us pay.”