Pitt keeps getting hit in the face with lessons on how to build a championship basketball program.

The one that evolved Wednesday night – in the midst of a 66-61 loss to Virginia (11-7, 5-3 ACC) at Petersen Events Center — hurt like they all do. But this one prevented Pitt (7-11, 2-5) from winning two in a row for only the second time this season.

Coach Jeff Capel excused the offense from most of the blame. There were problems, of course. Mouhamadou Gueye and Femi Odukale missed layups in the final seconds that could have made a difference, and the team tried only six 3-point shots – and made one – over 40 minutes.

But Pitt actually shot 50% from the field for the game, its second-best percentage of the season.

Capel said the defense failed — first in the final three minutes of the first half and, then, for most of the second.

In the game’s final 23 minutes, Virginia shot 64.5% (20 of 31) after walking into the Pete with a 45.1 percentage this season that was only ninth in the ACC. The Cavaliers were stuck on 17 points with three minutes left in the first half before recovering.

“I thought our defense wasn’t to the level that it needs to be to beat a championship program like (Virginia),” Capel said, referencing the Cavaliers finishing first in the ACC regular season last year after winning the national title in 2019.

“It’s a program that’s a championship program. That’s what we aspire to become again. It’s going to take a lot of work. Today was a lesson in that.”

Pitt played good defense to defeat Louisville last Saturday, 65-53, but sustaining a solid effort has been the problem. Pitt hasn’t won two games in a row this season since mid-November.

“They made us pay. They got into a great rhythm, offensively. It didn’t matter what we did, man, zone. We tried both. It wasn’t effective.

“We’ve been good in spurts. We were really good on Saturday and we weren’t good (Wednesday).”

Capel said two important aspects of the game that he demands were lacking — attention to detail and talk among the five players on the court.

“Talk connects you. It unites you. When we do that – and the attention to detail – then, we’re pretty good. When we don’t, we’re like we were tonight.”

Pitt received another solid performance from John Hugley, who scored 23 points. But Virginia defended Hugley with 7-foot-1 Francisco Caffaro and 6-foot-11 Kadin Shedrick. Both fouled out, but Hugley tried only five shots in the second half. He made two. For the game, he scored eight of his points from the foul line.

Overall, there wasn’t enough balance on offense. The Panthers got 45 of their 61 points from three players — Hugley, Jamarius Burton (12) and Odukale (10).

Virginia coach Tony Bennett said his hope was to match Hugley’s physicality. The result was plenty of whistles from the officials and a total of 36 fouls by both teams. Most important, Pitt had trouble getting the ball in Hugley’s hands in the second half.

“We’re in a blue-collar town where people are tough,” Bennett said. “My dad is from McKees Rocks and he said Pittsburgh people are tough. Our guy, Francisco, is physical, too. We came at (Hugley) and trapped him when we could. We just tried to take away any quality looks that he’d get. Our guys fought to keep it out of his hands.”

Pitt’s efforts also were curtailed by Gueye’s foul trouble in the second half when he played only 11 minutes. That might have helped Virginia end up with 11 offensive rebounds.

When Capel was asked what a coach can do to achieve more consistency, he said, “Nothing. I’m not on the court. You can sub, but no one did it (played good defense).

“We just have to keep working, keep demanding, keep holding them accountable and keep getting better. Hopefully, we can have some consistency.

“We lost this game because we didn’t defend well enough. (Allowing) 60% (shooting) in the second half. You’re not going to win many games like that.

“It doesn’t matter what you do offensively unless you’re hitting a ton of 3s, which that’s not who we are.”

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