Pitt's Jeff Capel doesn't need national rankings to tell him playing Duke is special

If anyone thinks beating Duke has lost some of its prestige, let Jeff Capel tell you about the 1994-1995 Blue Devils.

“I was on the last (Duke) team that didn’t make the (NCAA) Tournament,” he said. “And even though we were 2-14 — we stunk — people still stormed the court when they beat us.

“It’s still Duke. It doesn’t matter.”

After dropping out of the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday for the first time since 2016 (91 consecutive weeks), Duke (5-3, 3-1 ACC) meets Pitt (7-2, 3-1) at 9 p.m. Tuesday at Petersen Events Center in a national ESPN telecast.

Playing against Duke and legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski is special for Capel and his players.

“It resonates with everyone,” Capel said. “It’s Duke. It’s the gold standard of college basketball. As long as he’s on that sideline, it will be that. I don’t care what their record is.”

“This is one of my dream games,” Pitt freshman guard Femi Odukale said. “I always wanted to play against Duke.”

Junior Au’Diese Toney, who scored 27 points last season at Cameron Indoor Stadium, isn’t in awe of the Blue Devils, who have won five national championships. But he admits, “I feel like we bring more of an edge to the game than usual.”

Capel is 0-2 against Duke, losing by 15 and 12 points the past two seasons.

“It’s not like it was the first time, but it’s still different,” Capel said of coaching against Krzyzewski. “He has impacted my life, just me as a man, besides my father, more than anyone.”

What did Capel learn from Krzyzewski?

“Nothing is given,” said Capel, who has played for and coached with him. “You have to earn it. People forget, that’s what (Duke) is based on, fighting.”

Capel said Krzyzewski sensed that early in his career when his neighbors at North Carolina and N.C. State, Dean Smith and Jim Valvano, won national championships in 1982 and 1983.

“So, that program had to fight,” Capel said. “That’s the thing I’ve tried to take everywhere I’ve been is that you have to fight, you have to earn it and you have to do it every day.”

Krzyzewski will send a younger lineup onto the floor than in previous seasons.

“They haven’t been dominant like some previous Duke teams have been,” Capel said, noting the expectations on the team are immense. “A lot of times you’re not allowed to go slow. You’re judged very different nationally because of the history.”

The game Tuesday will be the first in more than a month for Duke’s Jalen Johnson, a preseason All-ACC selection who has missed the past three games with a foot injury. Johnson is one of the nation’s top freshmen and is projected by Bleacher Report to be drafted No. 8 overall in the 2021 NBA Draft.

The game also will feature the ACC’s top two scorers: Matthew Hurt of Duke (19.6 points per game) and Pitt’s Justin Champagnie (18.7), the conference’s co-player of the week after scoring 24 against Syracuse in his first game in a month.

“Hurt is as good as anyone in our league and playing at a very, very high level,” Capel said.

Krzyzewski shoots right back about Champagnie, who leads the ACC in rebounding (12.9). “He is as good a rebounder as there is, maybe in the whole country.”

He said Pitt’s success this season doesn’t surprise him.

“Jeff is building a program there, not just developing a team,” Krzyzewski said. “They’re a tough out for anybody.

“He’s doing exactly what he was hired to do, build a really good basketball program at a place that has a really good basketball tradition.

“You ask those guys in the Big East how good they were.”

NOTES: The ACC has changed game times for two Pitt games next month. Pitt’s game against N.C. State on Feb. 17 at Petersen Events Center will begin at 4:30 p.m. Tipoff for the game at Virginia on Feb. 24 has been moved to 6:30 p.m. Both games will be televised by the ACC Network.

Get the latest news about Pitt basketball and all things Panthers athletics.