Pitt falls at Boston College in twice-delayed game

The message directed toward Pitt’s team Sunday afternoon was clear:

No excuses. Play for each other. There’s no time to feel sorry for yourself.

But when a storm that dumped 2 feet of snow on Boston mixes with the relentless effects of the covid-19 pandemic, the situation can be difficult to overcome.

Such was the plight of Pitt’s basketball team in the hours leading up to its 69-56 loss at Boston College on Sunday.

Originally scheduled for Saturday, the game was delayed one day to allow the Panthers’ travel contingent to arrive safely from Pittsburgh.

Then, 15 minutes before players were due to board a bus to the airport, they heard the worst news: Coach Jeff Capel and his assistant and brother Jason Capel couldn’t make the trip from Pittsburgh because of covid protocols.

Another delay — this time, minor — forced Pitt’s flight to leave Pittsburgh late and land in Boston two hours before tipoff. Normal routine calls for a team to arrive in its host city at least 24 hours before the start of the game.

Pitt assistant Milan Brown, who served as head coach in Capel’s absence, said there was talk of postponing the game until Feb. 14. But that would have given Pitt six games in 13 days.

“That isn’t any good, either,” Brown said.

In the end, Boston College officials decided to push back the start 30 minutes. But a team that often struggles under the best of circumstances already had been smacked with adversity, and it couldn’t recover.

After taking a 13-5 lead in the game’s first five minutes, Pitt (8-13, 3-7) faded quickly and was outscored 64-43 by a Boston College team that had lost eight of its previous 10 games.

“As we always say and as coach Capel says, no excuses. We all show up when the ball’s thrown up,” Brown said. “When you lose your leader like we did, that has a huge effect. That’s the voice the guys have been responding to the whole time.”

Capel did speak to his players in Pittsburgh before they left for the airport, but the strange situation weighed on the team, Brown said.

“I know that had a direct effect on them. It was more of an AAU situation. You’re late for the game. You hop off the bus, and you go play. Hard to do that at the ACC level and think you’re going to turn out with the win.”

Senior guard Jamarius Burton said the team missed its head coach.

“Just his voice. His encouragement. The adjustments he makes on the fly,” Burton said. “Those type of things we missed. “Coach Brown did a great job stepping up and trying to lead us. We just couldn’t follow his lead for the course of 40 minutes.”

It was the second time in two seasons Capel has missed a game because of covid protocols. He also was out for the Louisville game Dec. 22, 2020. It is unclear if Capel will be with the team this week as it prepares to visit Wake Forest on Wednesday.

“We’re proud of the effort for the most part,” Brown said. “Played in spurts, though, (which) we were hoping to avoid because of the situation.

“Once you start playing, the situation that we were put in — as far as the travel, playing the game and being (in town for) one day — I think that goes out the window. Then, it’s just a matter of trying to stay focused on the plays at hand.

“When it starts to go the other way, it does make it difficult, especially on the road.“

Pitt shot 35.1% (20 of 57) for the game after missing 20 of 28 shots in the first half. Boston College made 44.8% of its shots (26 of 58).

For Brown, it was a matter of differentiating between a reason and an excuse. He didn’t want to absolve his team for poor defense, but he knew the reason why.

“I kept trying to tell them, ‘We’re a half-step off.’ It’s almost as if everyone had to think about what their next rotation may possibly be in order to make the play,” Brown said. “It wasn’t as instinctive. That was probably attributed a little bit to the situation that we were in.“

Femi Odukale led Pitt with 16 points, and Burton added 15. Ithiel Horton, who was playing in only his second game of the season after his suspension was lifted, didn’t start, but he scored 11, with three 3-pointers, in 23 minutes.

The big difference between this game and Pitt’s 69-67 victory against Boston College on Jan. 8 was the Eagles (9-11, 4-6) found a way to neutralize center John Hugley.

He scored 32 in the victory. Sunday, he had nearly as many turnovers (eight) as points (nine).

“(Boston College) sent the doubles a little bit quicker this time,” Brown said. “I think he was trying to get away from the doubles too fast. He was playing too sped up.”

Then, the Eagles rotated to take away the easy kick-out pass, and Hugley didn’t adjust.

“They did a good job of giving him just enough different looks to keep him off balance. It’s something he’s going to have to learn from and continue to deal with,” Brown said. “We’re going to keep throwing it down there.”