Pitt coach Jeff Capel questions team's effort after lopsided loss to Syracuse

No one should be surprised when the basketball doesn’t go through the net after a Pitt player attempts a shot.

Many of them are not natural scorers.

And, sometimes, their instincts backfire, and the ball deflects out of bounds or into the hands of an opponent.

It happens to the best of teams.

But what unraveled Wednesday night at Petersen Events Center in Syracuse’s 72-49 victory against the Panthers took their game to a level where it hasn’t fallen all season.

Coach Jeff Capel questioned his team’s effort, energy level and ability to self-motivate in a game that featured more Pitt turnovers (17) than made shots (16).

In the last home game of the season, Pitt (15-14, 6-12) extended its losing streak to five in a row with the third-largest margin of defeat in Capel’s two seasons on the job.

“I don’t think we had the required and necessary energy to start the game and throughout the game,” Capel said.

And, then, he threw in the zinger: “Especially for a team that’s lost four in a row.”

“The thing is, I don’t think Syracuse had it early, either. That’s what makes it especially disappointing for me with the effort that we put in (Wednesday).”

Despite the outcome, it was a night to honor players graduating from the program. Capel inserted little-used Samson George, walkon guard Anthony Starzynski (Baldwin) and backup forward Eric Hamilton into the starting lineup.

They left the game after a little more than a minute, but the regulars never found a way to solve Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense. Pitt players rushed many shots when Orange defenders put a hand in their face. Even shots with open looks bounced off the rim, sometimes barely grazing it.

Pitt made only 16 of 55 shots (29.1%), tied for its effort against West Virginia for worst of the season.

“The zone stands us up and gets us thinking instead of being instinctive,” Capel said.

Syracuse (16-12, 9-8) played like a team trying to make a late push for an NCAA Tournament. The Orange, which has won seven in a row against Pitt, hit 26 of 56 shots (46.4%). Elijah Hughes, the leading scorer in the ACC, scored 25, and Sidibe Bourama recorded a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds).

Starzynski said he noticed a malaise on Pitt’s end of the court in pregame warmups.

“We’ve warmed up a little bit slower than probably we should,” he said. “That’s one of the many things we have to change about what we do.”

Freshman Justin Champagnie scored 13 points with 17 rebounds, five more than any Pitt teammate has grabbed this season. He also had three steals and two assists, but Capel wasn’t impressed.

“Those numbers look great, but there’s more he can do,” the coach said, “just like there’s more everyone can do. We have to do more. Everyone has to do more.”

Capel was careful not to shift all the blame on his players.

“I’m not blaming anyone (by himself),” he said. “It’s we. It’s me. I’m responsible. We have to be better across the board, and we will be.”

But he added, “There has to be self-motivation, too. That has to be a part of it. We, obviously, didn’t see that tonight.

“These seasons are long and as you get into February, that becomes the grind for every team in the country. You have to be mentally tough enough, physically tough enough to push through, and we haven’t.”

The loss was more evidence of how far the program had fallen before Capel arrived after the 2017-2018 season — and how far it must go to fully recover.

The Panthers won 14 games in Capel’s first season a year ago. With only two games left before the ACC Tournament, they have been stuck on 15 for two weeks.

Since former coach Jamie Dixon left for TCU in 2016, Pitt is 13-59 in ACC games under two coaches.

“To say they were rock bottom isn’t even a close approximation of where they were when Jeff came in,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “They were lower than that.”

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