Pitt holds off late N.C. State rally, earns double bye in ACC Tournament

Before he left the Petersen Events Center on Saturday night — stepping through piles of confetti to reach the Pitt locker room and, finally, home — Jeff Capel stopped to talk about something more important to him than a single victory.

Perhaps more important than even Pitt earning the double bye in this week’s ACC Tournament for the first time. It’s what he believes led the Panthers (21-10, 12-8) to an 81-73 victory against N.C. State, their 11th in the past 14 games, in front of a crowd of 10,700. Pitt advances directly to the quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. against either No. 5 seed Wake Forest, No. 12 Notre Dame or No. 13 Georgia Tech.

Capel was talking about the concept of team that he believes has helped Pitt win 45 games since the start of the 2022-23 season and landed his players in fourth place in the ACC after a 1-5 start to the conference schedule.

“Team is sacred to me. It always has been,” Capel said.

Pitt’s six-year coach believes this year’s team — and its predecessor that won 24 games last year — embodies what he was taught through high school, college and growing up the son of a coach.

“We have a great spirit in our locker room,” Capel said. “The guys get along. They cheer for each other. There is no jealousy, which is huge. All of those things have helped guys accept roles.”

Blake Hinson, who played his last ACC game at the Pete, said he likes the “vibe” of the team entering the postseason.

“Vibe is cool. We’re a vibe-y team, good vibes.”

Freshman Bub Carrington led Pitt with 23 points and hit four more 3-pointers Saturday to give him a nearly 50% success rate from beyond the arc in the past five games. Overall, Pitt has shot at least 50% in four of the past five games. Carrington believes he knows one reason shots are dropping into the cords more frequently.

“Everyone is just happy for each other. Everyone wants to see each other succeed,” said Carrington, who was part of a sharing effort that resulted in 16 assists on 32 made baskets. “When you have a team and teammates thinking like that, the ball’s going to go in, for sure.”

Added Capel, referencing names from Pitt’s successful past to make his point:

“You want people who appreciate being here. For as long as I’m the coach here, I’m going to fight to have that, to get guys who appreciate.

“No one’s bigger than the program, whether it’s me, whether it’s whoever the best player is, whether it’s Charles Smith, DeJuan Blair, Jamie (Dixon), no one’s bigger than the program.”

Hinson, who scored 21 points, is a good example of the kind of player Pitt tries to recruit, Capel said.

“He has been so grateful and appreciative to the city, the (Oakland) Zoo, the fans, us as a staff, the university, everybody,” Capel said. “It’s been really, really awesome to be around every day.”

Capel started off his postgame monologue by pointing out the resiliency of his players.

“I’m proud of these guys,” he said. “When we were 1-5, I’m sure there were a lot questions and a lot of things that people thought or said about us and about our program and about this team specifically. Everyone to a man in our program put our heads down, kept working, kept believing in each other.”

The turning point might have been an 80-76 upset of then-No. 7 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 20.

“It took us going on the road to figure out how hard we have to play, the level of attention to detail that we need to have,” he said. “As crazy as it sounds, I thought the best thing was having to play Duke, as good as they are, because it required us to go to another level. When we saw we could do that, I’m even more proud that we responded after that when going to Georgia Tech (a 72-64 victory). It took us going away to learn how to win (at the Pete), and we haven’t lost here since.”

Pitt trailed through much of the first half Saturday, built a 39-29 lead at halftime and was ahead 52-35 with 16 minutes, 33 seconds left in the game. But players looked up with 2:26 remaining, clinging to a 70-67 lead after a 23-8 run by N.C. State (17-14, 9-11).

“The ball just stopped going in, and they were making everything,” Capel said. “The first 3 ½ minutes (of the second half), I thought we really played well. Then, I thought we let up. They cut it to nine and we got it back to 16 and then I thought we let up again.”

Finally, Federiko Federiko made the biggest basket of the night, a put-back after a miss by Jaland Lowe. Carrington hit a 3-pointer and Guillermo Diaz Graham scored on an alley-oop dunk, was fouled and finished off the three-point play to give Pitt a 78-70 lead with 51 seconds to play.

The key to halting the N.C. State rally was the Panthers keeping their poise. They committed only five turnovers in 40 minutes — none in the second half.

“We had some game pressure and guys stepped up and made some plays,” Capel said.

What’s the difference between that slow start and this strong finish?

“Guys have more confidence,” said Capel, noting the team has recorded 56 assists in the past three games. “We have more understanding of who we are, what our strengths are, of the offense, what we’re trying to do. The main thing is we are sharing the basketball.”

And that, pretty much, is the definition of team.