No one needs to tell Jeff Capel that Wake Forest is having trouble making shots.

In preparation for his game against the Demon Deacons on Tuesday in Winston-Salem, N.C., Pitt’s coach watched video of his opponent’s two most recent losses: 64-37 at Clemson on Sunday and 82-54 to Louisville four days earlier.

In those games, Wake Forest (8-13, 1-8) missed nearly three-fourths of its attempts (95 of 127), and Clemson blocked 10 shots.

Wake Forest has lost eight of its past nine, which is no comfort to Capel, who remembers how Clemson was struggling before playing Pitt on Jan. 29. The Tigers hit 14 3-pointers in an 82-69 victory, one of the five consecutive games Pitt (12-10, 2-7) has lost since beating Florida State on Jan. 14.

The unfortunate scenario amounts to a couple of desperate teams, one trying to escape last place in the ACC and other hoping not to fall into the cellar.

“Should be two teams that are hungry and are trying to get a win,” Capel said.

He assumed Wake Forest, which hasn’t won since defeating then-No. 17 N.C. State on Jan. 15 at home, will be desperate. If Pitt’s not in a similar state of mind, he will be surprised and disappointed.

“We should be (desperate),” he said. “We need to win.”

The growing pains Pitt is experiencing in Capel’s first season, with five new players of the eight playing most of the minutes, isn’t unexpected. But that doesn’t make it acceptable, either.

He referenced the game at then-No. 14 Iowa on Nov. 27 when Pitt lost by one point on a hostile court.

“We missed two shots as the buzzer went off,” he said. “Around here, because we had chance (to win), it was almost like it was OK, and it’s not OK.”

Pitt’s young lineup is learning tough lessons, none tougher than what freshman guard Trey McGowens is enduring.

He looked like one of the ACC’s best guards while scoring 63 points in Pitt’s two conference victories against Louisville and Florida State, both on the friendly hardwood at Petersen Events Center.

In the seven losses, however, he’s managed just 60, including descending totals of seven, five and three in the past three games.

“He hasn’t played as he played earlier in the year,” Capel said. “We think he will. We believe in him. We have his back.”

It’s not like when Capel was a freshman at Duke and he could lean on Grant Hill, who had two national championships in his background. Pitt’s freshmen don’t have that luxury.

“For us, we have some returning guys, but they don’t know how to do it,” he said. “It wasn’t something — and this is no knock on anyone – but it was not anything that was done last year where they were able to push through and figure out how to win.”

The little early success Pitt’s young team experienced might have masked the reality that only a year ago, the Panthers lost all 19 games against conference opponents.

“They tried, but they weren’t successful with it,” Capel said. “We don’t have an older guy on our team that can help our younger guys.”

Still, he said the team practiced with spirit after the loss to Syracuse on Saturday.

“We’re excited to play. I don’t think we are down,” he said.

Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jerry at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.

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