Pitt endured 'terrible' practice after beating Duke

When Pitt reported to practice Thursday afternoon after a day off and the big victory against Duke, the session didn’t go especially well.

“Practice, it was terrible. I ain’t going to lie to you,” said junior guard Xavier Johnson, one of the team’s most experienced players. “It was kind of expected, but I don’t expect anything like that.”

He described the team as “basically fried.”

He added, “We just weren’t playing like us.”

Johnson said coach Jeff Capel immediately took steps to try to correct the situation.

“Oh, yeah. He let us know. He let us know. He ran us almost every time.”

Perhaps Capel wasn’t surprised.

Speaking on 93.7 FM Thursday morning, he described what sometimes happens to teams after they defeat Duke.

“One of the things coach (Mike Krzyzewski) always talked about is, ‘Look at the record of teams after they beat Duke, the very next game.’

“A lot of times they lose. It’s such a big deal to beat Duke, and you’re on such a high and, then, afterwards, you tend to let up.”

Pitt is the fourth team to defeat Duke this season. Only Illinois, ranked No. 6 at the time, lost its next game, 81-78, to unranked Missouri. Michigan State responded with three more victories against weak competition, and Virginia Tech beat a struggling Wake Forest team, 64-60.

Johnson said he and his teammates are receiving praise for beating Duke.

“It’s hard not to pay attention to it,” he said. “We all got social media. It comes on TV. We walk around get food, guys praising us.

“It’s something we have to get used to. We have to always remain humble and keep playing.”

Capel pointed out Pitt was 15-9 on Feb. 8 last season before losing seven in a row and finishing 16-17.

“People were saying good stuff about us,” he said. “We had an opportunity where maybe we controlled our own destiny and then we lost seven in a row.

“That’s where we are right now. We have to take the next step where we can continue to be hungry when people have said some good stuff about us and we’ve done some good things. We have to be a team that is always on edge.”

Also last season, Pitt followed up an opening-night victory against Florida State with a loss to Nicholls State. Two years ago, Pitt beat Louisville and Florida State in a span of six days and followed up by losing 13 in a row.

So, how will Pitt (8-2, 4-1 ACC) respond when it travels to Winston-Salem, N.C., on Saturday to play Wake Forest (3-6, 0-6)?

“Back then, it was a young team,” Johnson said. “Everybody wanted to be the spotlight. We thought we were that and we really weren’t.”

Johnson, Au’Diese Toney and Terrell Brown, who have been with the team longer than anyone else, will try to get that message across to their younger teammates.

“We have to let the young guys know, bring it all every game,” Johnson said. “Now we’re the hunted. We’re not the hunters anymore.”

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