No one’s perfect, mistakes happen, minds drift.

Pitt has been guilty on all three counts at different times this season. But the players repeatedly have shown the ability to gather their thoughts, fix problems and, in the end, look like a team that might make the winter months at the Petersen Events Center a little less bleak.

The most recent example surfaced Tuesday night in Pitt’s 71-60 victory against Rutgers in front of a crowd of 7,894. There were two moments in the game that coach Jeff Capel didn’t like. But they were fleeting and Pitt (7-2) recovered to defeat Rutgers, the team that beat the team (Stephen F. Austin) that beat Duke.

The first moment was early in the game when point guard Xavier Johnson didn’t go hard enough to the basket to satisfy Capel.

“We took him out,” Capel said. “He’s going in and he’s not going strong. He’s not going to be this guy that’s some finesse guy. You need to be a little pit bull. I think he did a better job of that.”

Obviously, so.

Johnson was not out of the game long. He played more than 37 minutes and scored a season-high 20 points, with eight assists.

Johnson, who was 8 for 14 from the field, was one of four players who scored 61 of Pitt’s points. Trey McGowens hit six of nine and finished with 16 points and four steals. Ryan Murphy scored 15 and Au’Diese Toney added 10, playing what Capel called “his best game” of the season.

The other teaching moment came at the start of the second half when Pitt allowed Rutgers (6-2) to tie the score at 37 and 39 after trailing, 35-27, at halftime.

“I didn’t think we had pop. I didn’t think we had energy. I saw it when we were warming up,” Capel said.

After a blown layup, a quick, 30-second timeout gave Capel the opportunity to reiterate the point that Rutgers had been a strong second-half team before playing Pitt.

“We talked about getting stops and rebounding the basketball,” Capel said.

His point made, Capel watched his team go on a 13-3 run. Rutgers got no closer than seven points the rest of the game.

Those weren’t the only times Pitt has recovered from adversity this season. After the stunning 75-70 loss to Nicholls State, Pitt went on the road to defeat Robert Morris by 14.

A few days later, Pitt shot 12 percent in the second half of a 68-53 home loss to West Virginia. The Panthers haven’t lost since, never allowing more than 60 points during its current five-game winning streak. When Rutgers wasn’t turning the ball over 20 times, the Scarlet Knights tried to shoot over Pitt’s tight defense and hit only four of 23 3-point attempts.

Pitt’s schedule hasn’t been accommodating. It has played five teams from power conferences and defeated four. The Panthers will confront a sixth Friday at Louisville, the No. 1 team in the nation.

“I think it’s been a challenging schedule for us,” Capel said, “and it forced us to grow up. We have to learn and we have to learn going through the gauntlet.

“It’s a lot of teaching. That’s one of the fun things. It doesn’t look fun all the time. But when you see a guy or a group starting to get it, that’s exciting.

“We haven’t gotten it yet, but I think we’re making positive steps.”

Something is getting through to the players, who are proving they can move without the basketball and set up good shots after shooting 46.6 percent and getting 18 assists on 27 field goals. (In the victory against Kansas State last week, Pitt had only two assists.)

“Coach has stressed a lot since the summer we have to learn how to win,” McGowens said. “It started with pickups. We had tight games in Florida (beating Kansas State and Northwestern) and I think that helped out a lot. We have to dig deep.”

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