Wake Forest rolls over Pitt; road losing streak in ACC reaches 11 games

Pitt coach Jeff Capel is well aware playing good defense is his team’s only hope this season. When he saw Wake Forest ball handlers enjoying open spaces and shooters getting time to gauge their shots, he knew his team was in trouble.

So, it was no wonder Wake Forest rolled to an easy 91-75 victory Wednesday night against Pitt at Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C.

“Defensively is where we have to hang our hat,” he said. “We’re not going to outscore people. That’s not who we are.”

Wake Forest (18-5, 8-4 ACC) is a good offensive team when it confronts a solid defense. The Demon Deacons are difficult to beat when the other team isn’t where it’s supposed to be on the floor.

“I just didn’t think Wake felt us early. Everything was just easy,” Capel said. “There wasn’t any pressure on the ball handler. They’re a really good offensive team, anyway, but I thought it made it easier to see those passes because we weren’t up on the ball handler like we needed to be.”

As a result, Wake Forest hit 15 3-points shots — tops for a Pitt opponent this season — in 29 attempts. The 91 points were the most scored against Pitt in 21 games.

Asked what might cause the defensive lapses, Capel wasn’t interested in discussing reasons with reporters. That’s something he likely will save for Thursday’s practice.

“We just didn’t do it (Wednesday),” he said.

What he did discuss was how Pitt (8-14, 3-8) can reverse its recent losing trend. The Panthers have lost four of their past five games. Worse, the margins of defeat in four of the past five losses have been by at least 13 points.

Earlier this season, Pitt lost with regularity, but many of the games were close. That’s changed in recent weeks, and Capel said the only way to improve is to work inside the gym.

“We have to get back to the grit and to the dirty-work stuff,” Capel said. “That’s when we put ourselves in position to win.”

Pitt dug itself such a deep hole in the first half that not even a 51-point second half — the most productive 20 minutes of the season — could threaten Wake Forest’s lead. Pitt hit 21 of 33 shots (63.6%) in the second half after missing 19 of 27 in the first half.

“They got off to such a hot start shooting the basketball, knocked us back early, really kept us back,” Capel said. “I thought our guys fought a little bit more in the second half. We only had five turnovers. We executed offensively, but we dug a hole so deep that it was really hard to get out of on the road against a team as good as them.

“They are as good an offensive team as we played all season.”

Perhaps a normal work week, with its coach at practice, will help Pitt find some traction. After getting a positive covid test Sunday, Capel didn’t see his team until Wednesday morning.

“It was pretty hard. Usually, we see him every day and his energy brings a lot to the practices,” sophomore guard Femi Odukale said.

Odukale played his best game in more than a month, scoring a 23 points — a season high against an ACC opponent — on 10-of-14 shooting. He said teammates and coaches told him before the game he wasn’t playing like himself.

“People said I was struggling,” he explained. “I said, ‘Today I’m going to play like myself.’ I knew that myself. I was putting on too much pressure.”

He said he had lost his aggression and wasn’t looking for shots. “I think I was in my head too much. Let me calm down.”

After building more determination, he started finding shots and making them.

“I’m not going to let anybody down any more, my players, the fans, my family,” he said. “I felt like I was letting everybody down.

“Once my teammates said that to me, I said ‘It’s time to wake up and show everybody what you can do.’ ”