Pitt's Jeff Capel Promises Improvements After Syracuse Loss
PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers are reeling. Losers of four of their last five games and seven of 10 contests against Power 5 competition, they are searching desperately for answers before heading into a rematch with No. 7 Duke on the road, a team that decimated them, 75-53 just nine days ago at the Petersen Events Center.
Pitt head coach Jeff Capel has experimented a bit this season with different lineup combinations but with his team routinely struggling to make shots, he's done some introspection on his own performance.
"It’s something I’m trying - I’m trying to figure out the buttons to push. Obviously, what I’ve done has not worked," Capel said following a 69-58 loss to Syracuse at home. "I’m going to continue to try. We’re going to continue to believe in them, to try to encourage them, to tell the truth."
There are layers to Pitt's current struggles. They need to make more shots, yes but Capel, for the most part, believes that the team is generating good looks at the basket which simply aren't falling. He believes the Panthers are letting offensive struggles affect every part of their game. One missed shot has snowballed into lagging effort, execution and focus and that can't happen.
"We have to collectively as a team - coaches, players - we have to be tougher. We have to be mentally tougher and we have to be physically tougher," Capel said. "I thought in the first half, there were about five opportunities for us to dive and get a loose ball, and we didn’t do it. That has to become second nature to us."
Capel emphasized that he's happy with his team and believes this rut they're stuck in right now isn't necessarily indicative of who they can be. But to reach their potential, the Panthers have to be mature above all else - a tall order for a team that, as of right now, has just one senior playing consistent minutes.
His job has become significantly harder, with Pitt struggling and no easy answer. What Capel's team is struggling with right now is intangible and there's no silver bullet, scheme adjustment or lineup change that can fix that. Everyone on the roster and coaching staff has to do some soul-searching as they face a schedule that doesn't get any easier in the short term and features dwindling chances to salvage a season heading south quickly.
"I love my team. I think we’re pressing. I think we’re putting pressure on ourselves," Capel said. "We have to continue to be tougher, to be together and to fight through it. And to figure out a way to cross that bridge and to become the team that we want to be and that we think that we can be."
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