Pitt Responds to Challenge from Jeff Capel

The Pitt Panthers responded to Jeff Capel's challenge to be tougher.

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers head coach Jeff Capel said following a 12-point victory over Florida Gulf Coast that he was really pleased with the win but at ensuing practices and film sessions, he took a different tone. He thought his team could have been tougher against the Eagles and, with another physical team set to come to down four days later, he challenged them to turn up the intensity. 

The Panthers did just that against Jacksonville, beating the Dolphins at their own game and walking away with a 107-56 victory that left Capel satisfied with the mental and physical toughness his team showed after a strong week of practice. 

"How do you show up every day? And that was the thing that I was not pleased with after Florida Gulf Coast," Capel said. "They tested us and I think it was a four or five-point game with about three and a half to four minutes left. There’s a level of toughness with what we did to end that game, but then how we came back after that." 

After a day off, Capel came to practice with a challenge for his team, particularly the big men, to be better against another opponent that had size and strength. His team responded with good work in practice that then translated to a wire-to-wire victory on gameday. 

Against a Jacksonville team that ranked second nationally in steals and sixth in rebounding entering the game, Pitt won rebounding 51-29, offensive rebounding 19-3 and second-chance points 17-2. The Panthers out-stole Jacksonville 7-4 and outscored them 16-9 on fastbreaks. 

"We maybe didn't play as well in the post [against FGCU]," Capel said. "But I thought our post guys dominated the game today with defense and rebounding. [Guillermo Diaz Graham] was able to score. Fede [Federiko] puts a different type of pressure with rim-running, dunker spot, lobs and things like that."

The Panthers came ready for this challenge but the road gets more difficult from here, with five straight games against high-major competition on deck. That said, after another rout, Pitt is confident they can do it again against anyone. 

"We knew they were going to come for us," Diaz Graham said. "So it was just a tough thing. Don't get pushed and you push and I feel like we did a really good job preparing for the game and we showed that."

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