Turnovers compound Pitt's problems in blowout loss to Miami

The finger of blame can be pointed in a variety of directions after Pitt’s 18th loss of the season Tuesday night, 85-64, to Miami.

The game was close for only a few moments in the first half, and the 21-point margin of victory was not indicative of how low Pitt’s level of play has fallen.

Two examples:

• Miami led, 80-50, with 4 minutes, 58 seconds left in the game before Pitt scored a string of meaningless points.

• The Panthers committed 20 turnovers for a season total of 403 (last in the ACC).

What’s worse, Capel told his players the Hurricanes (20-8, 12-5) would try to disrupt Pitt’s offensive flow with tenacious defense. But the warning didn’t hit its mark.

“Coming into the game,” Capel said, “we talked about we have to be strong. We have to value the ball. If we do that, we’ll get good looks and it’s just a matter of knocking them down.

“We tried to talk about it, showed them a lot of tape and talked about the areas of opportunity that were open. We just weren’t strong with the basketball. We were too loose.”

Pitt shot 48.1% (25 of 52) from the field, but the turnovers didn’t allow enough opportunities.

“We told them they were going to reach, they were going to gamble, they were going to shoot the passing lanes,” Capel said. “But if we’re strong and we’re able to work to get open and make strong decisions and passes, we’ll get wide-open looks.

“When we did that, we did get wide-open looks. But we didn’t do it enough, way, way, way not enough.”

Sophomore center John Hugley, who led the Panthers with 20 points, was asked what leads to players not heeding their coaches’ warnings.

He said, “Guys just wanting to do their own thing and not listening to what coach is telling us, I guess.”

Asked if that has been a chronic problem this season, Hugley answered, “Not really.”

Is there a disconnect between coaches and players? “I don’t think so,” Capel said, without further comment.

In any event, Pitt (11-18, 6-12 ACC) has lost two in a row after a three-game winning streak mistakenly offered encouragement and optimism.

The loss can be traced to other areas, too.

Chief among them was Mouhamadou Gueye spraining his wrist in the first half while trying to dunk over a Miami defender and crashing to the floor. After scoring eight points in the game’s first nine minutes, he sat out the rest of the half. Capel said x-rays revealed no structural damage, so Gueye played the first 11 minutes of the second half in pain. He ended up playing a total of a little more than 20 minutes and was Pitt’s third-leading scorer with 11 points.

“He was in pain, so I took him out,” Capel said. “We’re a different team when he’s out of the game for us. It was a big blow for us.”

But Capel wasn’t blaming the loss on Gueye’s injury. “(Miami was) getting downhill even before that at times,” he said.

Pitt’s defense struggled throughout the game, allowing Miami to shoot 55.2% (32 of 58). Four Hurricanes scored in double digits, led by guards Charlie Moore and Kameron McGusty (19 points) and Jordan Miller (12) while forward Sam Waardenburg added 12.

“This is the best backcourt we’ve played against,” Capel said.

The game was Pitt’s ninth in the past 24 days, and Capel said his players have had only two off days since defeating Syracuse on Jan. 25.

“I’m not making an excuse,” he said. “I know we are a tired, banged-up basketball team.”

The Panthers are off until next Tuesday when No. 7 Duke comes to town. Capel said there will be no practice Wednesday and Thursday before players get back to work Friday.

He said the break “will be very, very welcome.”

“We can give our guys a chance for their bodies to recover, mentally to recover,” he said, “and to get away from basketball for a couple days.”