Pitt basketball hopes to spoil opening of Robert Morris' new $45 million home

When Pitt plays Robert Morris on Tuesday night, serving as the first guest in the Colonials’ new home, Jeff Capel knows what to expect.

“The place will be jumping,” Pitt’s coach said.

And for good reason.

It’s the first basketball game in Robert Morris’ $45 million, 4,000-seat UPMC Events Center, and coach Andy Toole and his players are eager to make a favorable impression for the ESPNU cameras and college basketball at large.

Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke was gracious enough to agree to be the first opponent in what Toole hopes will be a new era of basketball at Robert Morris (0-2). It is Pitt’s first road game against a Northeast Conference opponent in 19 years.

The game is sold out.

But while Capel respects the program Toole has built over the past decade, he has his own culture that still needs attention.

Not only did Pitt (1-1) lose to Nicholls State, 75-70, on Saturday, but the day before he was so frustrated with his players’ focus in practice, he kicked them out early, hoping to send a message.

The players should know they weren’t the first to raise Capel’s ire.

“I’ve done it just about every year I’ve been a head coach that I can remember at different points,” he said.

At practice that day, he saw something he didn’t like.

“I didn’t think the concentration, the level of intensity, the communication was where it needed to be,” he said.

“I knew we were playing a good team. I also knew we were up against human nature coming off of a big win (against Florida State) and for us it was emotional and we expended a lot of energy.

“The natural reaction at times is to think — for young people, not for us adults — ‘this one won’t be as hard.’

“I knew the energy wouldn’t be the same as it was on Wednesday (when Pitt beat FSU). I saw it and we were trying to correct it and that’s what kicking them out of practice was for, trying to get their attention of this is important. This is what we’re up against. Our mindset is not right. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get out of it.”

Capel said the final seconds of the Nicholls game provided a perfect example of what worried him prior to the game.

Pitt was down by three and had a chance to tie but lost control of the basketball (Pitt’s 13th turnover of the second half).

“But (Nicholls players) are the first to the floor. A few nights prior to that, we were the first to the floor every time. Then, they get it and they actually miss a layup, and they tip it in. We only have two guys in the picture. They have four in the picture.”

The games are coming fast for this young Pitt team that will play six games in 16 days through Nov. 21, a span of time in which Capel hopes the Panthers will discover what it will take to compete in the ACC.

Capel started sending the message Thursday, the day after the emotional victory against the Seminoles.

“You have to show up every day at a high level. That means concentration. That means you work. That means your attention to detail. “You have to show up to play every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s Florida State or Florida Atlantic.

“If we can get to the point where the young people in our program understand every game is the most important game because we’re playing, then, we’ll have the chance to have the type of program that we all say we want to have.”

Capel said he believes the team has finally received the message. Practice has been good since the loss to Nicholls, but he cautioned, “We have to be able to do it in real-time game situations.”