Pitt comes alive in 2nd half to beat No. 11 Virginia for 5th straight win

After Pitt’s second Top 25 victory in five days (and what preceded it over the previous four seasons), perhaps Jeff Capel wanted to jump up and touch the rim, high-five the Oakland Zoo and run triumphantly from the court.

If that’s what he was thinking after Pitt’s fifth victory in a row and 10th in the past 11 games, he sure won’t let anyone know.

The 68-65 victory against No. 11 Virginia on Tuesday night — when the Panthers (11-4, 4-0 ACC) rallied from 13- and 12-point deficits — was worth the price of admission for most of the 6,464 at Petersen Events Center.

Capel was pleased and proud, but subdued.

Standing ovation for Damar Hamlin at The Pete pic.twitter.com/t7UKBnl64g

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) January 4, 2023

“I stay in the moment. I’ve learned that over my career,” he said. “We’ll enjoy this (Tuesday night). We’ll be off (Wednesday). We’ll get together on Thursday and we’ll start our preparation for the next game.”

But he also knows Pitt beating Virginia doesn’t happen every season. The Panthers had lost eight in row to the Cavaliers.

“We have so much respect for that program,” Capel said. “You can say they have been maybe the standard bearer in this league for the past eight to 10 years. In order to beat them, you have to beat them because they don’t beat themselves.”

He may not be ready to celebrate an early January victory, but he likes how his team is trending.

“I’m grateful of where we are, mainly how this team has come together,” he said. “It’s been really cool to watch it and to watch their belief in each other, to watch them be selfless with each other and to give to each other. It’s been a really cool thing to see, but we have to keep going with it.”

When he watches the video of how his team scored 45 points after intermission – that makes 10 times in 12 games Pitt has scored 40 or more in the second half – he’ll notice at least one indisputable fact.

“Guys just made plays, man. Guys made big-time plays for us,” he said.

After falling behind 44-32 with 16 minutes to play, Pitt scored 14 unanswered points, with points from five players. Actually, it was part of a 19-3 run that shoved Pitt into a 51-47 lead.

Virginia fought back and created ties at 53, 55 and 60, but each time someone different stepped up with clutch points.

First, Greg Elliott hit two foul shots. Then, Blake Hinson hit one of his three 3-pointers before center Federiko Federiko slipped behind the Virginia defense and laid a two-pointer into the cords.

Nelly Cummings, Jamarius Burton and Nike Sibande nailed down the victory with six foul shots (two each), part of a 15-of-17 effort from the free-throw line.

Hinson and Sibande, who didn’t start, led Pitt with 16 points each while Burton added 15 and Federiko eight and 11 rebounds.

What made all that shot-making possible? Zero turnovers in the second half might explain it.

Virginia (10-3, 2-2) has built its reputation on strong defense, but Pitt was accurate from the field (51.7%, 15 of 29) and with its passes when it mattered most.

Since he’s been in the league, Capel said he couldn’t remember another time when a team committed no turnovers in an entire half against Virginia.

“Our guys did a really, really good job in the second half, being strong with the basketball, getting off of it and making good plays,” he said.

He said his players had a better feel for their opponents after falling behind 33-23 at intermission.

“It’s hard to simulate how hard they play, how big they are, how physical they are,” he said. “We had a better feel of what they were going to do. We talked about we have to be strong, have spacing, get off the ball quickly and then make decisions and I thought we did a better job of that in the second half.”

The defense also was strong, holding Virginia to 21 points in the final 16 minutes.

“We’ve defended well (this season),” Capel said. “The thing we have to do is be connected. In the second half, we were just way more connected on both sides of the floor.”

The best example of that was Virginia guard Kihei Clark’s five turnovers. In the past four games, he committed a total of only seven.

“We were able to do some things, change some coverages up a little bit, how we wanted to defend them,” Pitt’s coach said. “Our guys just executed it very well.”

With the victory, Pitt reached another milestone, starting 4-0 in the ACC for the first time since its first season (2013-2014) in the conference.

In the end, Capel also got some love from Virginia coach Tony Bennett, who has his own problems, losing for the third time in the past five games.

“I’m happy for Jeff. He’s a good man, a good coach,” Bennett said. “He coaches the right way. For his sake, I hope he keeps it up, but we have to keep looking in the mirror.”