Pitt's Jeff Capel: Better players, recruiting needed in wake of ACC tourney loss to Boston College

In the moments after Pitt bowed out of the ACC Tournament and walked away from another miserable season, Jeff Capel didn’t need to be reminded of what is required to shake Pitt basketball out of six years of lethargy.

“It takes discipline. It takes commitment. It takes sacrifice,” he said.

All true.

But the 66-46 loss to Boston College on Tuesday in the first round of the ACC Tournament at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., underscored another important element that needs fortified this offseason.

“We have to get better players,” he said. “That’s the reality of it. It’s not anything personal. We have to continue to add better players. We have to recruit better. We have to continue to develop guys. We have to continue to help them reach their potential as players.”

The season ended with a five-game losing streak that dropped Capel’s four-season record at Pitt in February and March to 10-34. Over its nine seasons in the ACC, Pitt has won only three games in the tournament.

The 12th-seeded Panthers (11-21) allowed No. 13 Boston College (12-19) to dominate for last five minutes of the first half and the 20 minutes after halftime.

The defining example was a stretch of 11 minutes, 4 seconds – spanning the first and second halves – when Pitt didn’t score a field goal. A 22-21 Pitt lead with 4:52 left in the first half became a 46-25 deficit with 13:48 left in the game. John Hugley ended the field-goal drought with a jumper.

The 25-4 BC run was triggered by Hugley going to the bench with 4:27 left in first half with his second foul. Capel was trying to be careful with his leading scorer, but the rest of the team was unable to cope without Hugley.

Asked when he knew his team had gained the upper hand, Boston College’s Demarr Langford said, “They had 22 points and they ended the half with 22 points.

“We played aggressively, and it gave them a little shock.”

During that BC run early in the second half, a minor skirmish occurred between Pitt sophomore guard Femi Odukale and Boston College’s Quinten Post. In a scrum under the BC basket, the players became tangled and tripped over each other. When Odukale made a move toward Post, officials decided after video review that two fouls – one a flagrant technical — were committed and four Boston College free throws were in order. Makai Ashston-Langford and Post made three, and Pitt never threatened the BC lead after that.

Odukale, a Brooklyn native, went to the bench with his fourth foul and ended up playing only 19 minutes without scoring. Hugley led Pitt with 15 points, but the Panthers shot 40% from the field (18 of 45) while Boston College hit 23 of 43 (53.5%).

“This is certainly not the outcome we wanted or anticipated,” Capel said. “But I’m proud of my guys. This has been a really long year. It’s been a hard year. We have had a lot of adversity, right from the beginning (losing Nike Sibande to a season-ending injury and Ithiel Horton to an 18-game suspension).

“We showed glimpses at times this year of what we could possibly be and just were never able to be consistent with it.”

Capel declined to assess the season or compare it to his previous three at Pitt.

“It’s hard for me right now to look in the rear-view mirror just because I was so into this moment and tried to be prepared for this,” he said. “Right now, I’m not in the moment of assessing anything. I just think these guys have fought.”

He did make note that players “could have folded (after losing two games in three days to Virginia Tech).”

But what followed was the team’s longest winning streak of the season (three games).

“Maybe in previous years we’ve done that (folded) where the losing streak really extended,” he said.

Yet, the harsh reality is Pitt lost five in a row to end the season.

“Part of that is these guys and the guys who played a lot, I think they were tired. They were mentally and physically fried,” Capel said. “It’s no excuse, but we just didn’t play well the last 2 ½ weeks of the season.”

The way the season ended can be traced to the failure of coaches Capel and Kevin Stallings and their players to build a winning culture. Pitt has lost 110 games in the past six seasons.

“We have to get better in every area of the game, shooting, ball-handling, decision-making, depth. We have to develop guys in our program and we have to go out and get players,” Capel said.

“I think it’s really hard to win. When you don’t have a reference point of winning and older guys in your program who have won, I think, that’s the most difficult thing to understand — the discipline, daily, that it takes in order to become consistent.

“We have not had that since I’ve been here.”