Jeff Capel says schedule interruptions led to boredom among Pitt players

Basketball coaches try to avoid a variety of circumstances that can impact a game in a negative way.

Poor free-throw shooting, failure to gain proper position while rebounding, foul trouble and a lack of hustle come to mind. Those are normal issues that can be fixed, to some extent, with practice and coaching.

But Pitt coach Jeff Capel has discovered a new problem, one that he wouldn’t have expected to tackle in any season but the one he is trying to play in the midst of a global pandemic:

Boredom.

The Panthers, who haven’t played since winning at Syracuse on Jan. 6, are three weeks beyond the holiday break and have played only eight games. Four of the past five scheduled games have been postponed out of concern for the coronavirus. In the past three-plus weeks, Pitt has experienced 14- and nine-day breaks without a game.

When the Panthers meet Syracuse again Saturday in a mostly empty Petersen Events Center — the second time since 1989 Pitt has played a conference opponent in back-to-back games — it will be Pitt’s second game in 25 days.

After the game at Georgia Tech was postponed from its Wednesday date this week, Capel said he was “actively pursuing” a replacement — even a nonconference opponent — but couldn’t find a match.

“You’re trying to find a silver lining,” Capel said, “but it’s difficult. One of the things I really worry about for Saturday is we haven’t had competition since (Jan. 6).

“You can create that in practice, but when you don’t have something in sight, which is a game, it can be difficult at times. One of the things I know about my guys: Usually when there’s competition they are little more engaged. So we tried to create that. You worry this time of year (about) boredom. I remember as a player you get tired of playing the same people every day.”

Added junior Au’Diese Toney, who tries to stay virus-free by confining himself to his apartment or the gym: “It’s very frustrating. You want to play so bad. You’re preparing for a team, and they have to cancel a game. You have to use it as more time to work and get better as a group.”

Capel has designed one-on-one drills and defensive competition where the team breaks into units and tries to be the first with three stops. But it’s not nearly the same.

It’s especially frustrating for Pitt, which has won six of eight games — two of three in the ACC — and appeared to be making progress in rebuilding the program. But who can know for sure after games against Duke and Florida State — two of the ACC’s best teams — plus Notre Dame and Georgia Tech have been postponed? Only Wake Forest (seven) among ACC teams has played fewer games than Pitt.

The good news is Pitt will have a full team, other than Justin Champagnie (knee), for Syracuse.

John Hugley and Nike Sibande missed the first Syracuse game because of contact tracing, and Noah Collier was out with a non-covid illness. All three have been practicing since Saturday and are expected to play.

If the team and its opponents can continue to test negative, there will be a flood of games as Pitt tries to reschedule all four postponements.

Counting Syracuse and the Notre Dame game, which will be made up Jan. 30, Pitt hopes to play five times before the end of the month, with possibly 12 more to follow. Then, there’s the ACC Tournament in March.

That’s the best-case scenario, of course. It is unclear if there is even time for all the makeups and who will be available to play them.

“You’re looking every day, ‘Who do I have?’ ” Capel said. “You’re waiting on a test result to see. That makes it challenging.”