Pitt can't keep up with Mississippi State, suffers blowout loss in SEC/ACC Challenge

In the wake of Pitt’s 90-57 loss to Mississippi State on Tuesday night in Starkville, Miss., Jeff Capel couldn’t help thinking what his father, Felton Capel II, a longtime coach himself, might say.

“When I was younger when he was coaching, (he said), ‘Sometimes, you’re the bug. Sometimes, you’re the windshield.’ We were the bug tonight. We got crushed,” Capel said on the 93.7 The Fan postgame show.

“Then, he would say, ‘You have to clean it off and you have to move on.’ That’s what we have to do.”

The loss by the No. 18 Panthers (7-2) represented the largest margin of victory by the Bulldogs (7-1) against a ranked team in school history. Pitt’s margin of defeat matches the largest under Capel (91-58 against Wake Forest on Feb. 20, 2024). Pitt recovered from that loss last season to win five of its final seven games.

Pitt doesn’t have time to feel sorry for itself. The team will travel directly to Blacksburg, Va., where the Panthers will open its ACC schedule Saturday against Virginia Tech, loser of five in a row after winning its first three. Pitt has lost six in row in the Hokies’ Cassell Coliseum and has not won there since 2003.

The loss to Mississippi State was part of a forgettable performance by the ACC in the 16-game SEC/ACC Challenge on Tuesday and Wednesday. The SEC dominated, winning 14 games.

In the midst of a five-game stretch of road games against power conference teams, Pitt was consistently a step or more behind the quicker Bulldogs for open shots, rebounds and loose balls.

Four statistical areas underscored Mississippi State’s dominance in strength around the basket, defensive stops and shooting.

• The Bulldogs outrebounded the Panthers, 49-27. Their three big men stationed around the basket — Cameron Matthews, Michael Nwoko and KeShawn Murphy — grabbed a total of 31 rebounds. Pitt’s big men — Guillermo Diaz Graham, Cameron Corhen and Papa Kante — had three. “You’re not going to win a game that way,” Capel said.

• Mississippi State also had large advantages in second-chance points (24-12), points in the paint (52-14) and shooting. The Bulldogs hit 57.8% (37 of 64). Pitt had the same number of attempts, but with only 20 made baskets for a percentage of 31.3.

“They boat-raced us right from the beginning,” Capel said. “They were ready to go. I thought we were ready to go, but we just ran into a buzzsaw.

“We couldn’t get into anything offensively. We couldn’t rebound the basketball. Those were points of emphasis coming in. In the first half, they had 32 points in the paint. It seemed like they made everything. If they didn’t, they offensive rebounded.

“We knew the level of physicality they played with. We talked about that. We knew what they do defensively. They switched things. They’re big. They’re athletic. We didn’t execute our game plan and the things we wanted to do and they did it at a very, very high level.”

Mississippi State’s Murphy (6-foot-10, 230 pounds) was too much for Pitt to handle, finishing with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Nwoko (6-10, 245) added 18 and 11 rebounds and star guard Josh Hubbard (5-foot-11) added 12 points. Matthews had a near double-double with 13 rebounds and nine points.

Jaland Lowe led Pitt with 19 points and four 3-pointers, beating his per-game average of 16.6 points per game before Wednesday. Ishmael Leggett was leading the team with an 18.4 average, but he finished with only six, hitting 3 of 14 shots. Freshman Brandin Cummings scored 12 points and Zack Austin added eight, all in the first half.

Pitt played its second consecutive game without senior guard Damian Dunn, who is out until January with a hand injury.

Capel shouldered much of the blame for loss.

“That’s on me. I have to do a better job of having my team prepared,” he said. “We didn’t play like we played all year and like we’re capable of playing. We have to be better, from across the board, from me to every guy on our team.”