CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Eric Hamilton emerges from the visitor's locker room in the depths of the Dean Smith Center, headphones on, sweats zipped into a full-body cocoon of heather gray.
His 6-foot-9, 230-pound frame heads for the exit — until Jeff Capel spots him.
Capel grabs Hamilton and pulls him close for a quick word of encouragement, and, yeah, there's some relishing happening here, too. They're just out of earshot, but the body language says it all: Capel's helping him soak in that sweet, sweet victory, and rightly so. Moments earlier, this Panthers squad capped off a comeback upset over the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, 73-65, in front of so many stunned shades of baby blue.
It was Pitt's first ACC road win since Feb. 8, 2017, and the program's first win in Chapel Hill, N.C., since ... ever.
"I'm proud of our guys," Capel began as he took the podium after the final buzzer. "It's been a really emotional, I guess, four days since our last game."
Precisely 18 words into his post-game press conference, Capel said it all. In the past, Capel's mentioned having "no rearview mirror" but glance up from the wheel of this season and take a peek for just a second.
See it?
That's the Wake Forest loss back home at Petersen Events Center on Saturday, hot on the team's trail. That one was ugly. And avoidable. And frustrating. Besides dropping the team to 10-4 and 1-2 in conference play, it did something worse: It lingered.
"To come out here on the road and to face some adversity ..."
Yeah, Coach. Then what happened after those first 20 minutes.
"And to fight our way out of it, and then in the second half, to play defense the way that we did and to execute on the offensive end the way that we did, it's really who our team has been for a good part of the season," Capel finished. "And the thing we just talked about, it's what's required to win in this league and to become a good basketball team and to become a winning program."
You know what else is required to win in the ACC and to "become a good basketball team?" That picture up at the top of this article.
That's Trey McGowens, Pitt's up-and-down star sophomore guard, pouncing all over a loose ball like a — pardon me for this — starving Panther. Only, just as he gains possession, he calmly calls timeout.
And that's it.
Nothing mindblowing. Nothing heroic. There's no highlight to be found of this play. It wasn't a dunk or a game-changing three-pointer — just a calm, smart play by McGowens to allow his team the opportunity to regroup and reset in a crucial moment, up 64-58, with 4:50 to go in the game.
It's exactly what McGowens didn't do against Wake Forest, a point I brought up with him after this one:
“I mean, the biggest thing coach was stressing throughout the game was staying together and staying locked in and just not beating ourselves," McGowens was saying.
Hold on, hold on. There's something important there. But I also want you to hear it from the other half of Pitt's star sophomore duo, Xavier Johnson.
Perhaps nobody was on the hot seat quite like Johnson after that loss against Wake Forest. In Capel's words, his team "panicked" late in the game, forcing up poor shots and failing to recognize the plays needed to secure victory for his squad. Johnson and McGowens combined to go 1 for 5 down the stretch in that one, but Johnson, in particular, forced a brick that had Capel literally flailing in frustration.
Johnson knows it, too:
“That was big," Johnson was telling me of that loss to Wake Forest. "I made a dumb decision at the end of the game. I know I did. That’s one thing that I gotta move on [from]. Because I got more games left.”
That play didn't just happen, though. Again, it lingered. There's losing, then there's getting snuffed out at home by a conference opponent, blowing a 16-point lead and melting the hearts of fans in the process. The latter just stings a little more.
Johnson felt it.
"For the [first] practice back, I beat myself up a lot," Johnson said. "I got a text from Coach afterward. He was, like, ‘Bro, you gotta be yourself.’ He sent me a little clip from The Lion King that says, ‘If you look at the past, you can either run from it or you can learn from it.’ And I told him I’m going to learn from it and move on.”
Johnson did learn from it, going 6 for 11 for 17 points and three assists. His team was plus-20 with him on the court, the largest positive impact by any player in this one by that metric. But run it back to McGowens' comment — "Coach was stressing throughout the game" — and Johnson's fun Lion King anecdote there.
Consider all that against this comment from Capel when I asked him about the intangibles on display for his squad tonight. He preaches playing "smart" and "together." So how was that on display in this road win?
"We saw a togetherness," Capel began. "Saw guys trusting each other and making the correct play, whatever the correct play is. And the game will tell you what it is based on what the defense does. And our guys did that."
Just like McGowens pouncing on that loose ball and calling the timeout, Capel's touching on all those things that didn't happen in Pitt's last game — that ugly, sticky loss to Wake Forest.
Only now, there's a pause for some relishing. Because Pitt executed.
And they did so against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.
“It means a lot," Justin Champagnie was saying after the game. "We just came off a tough loss to Wake Forest. And for us to come here in their home and to take the ‘W’ is a big step forward for us, and it gives us a lot of confidence.”
That's growth. Wanna know why Pitt announced a two-year contract extension for Capel before Wednesday's game?
You just saw it.
• Yeah, yeah, North Carolina is having a down year. I get it. They're banged-up, and they're now 8-7 overall.
But this win still matters.
“It means a lot," Capel was saying. "I mean, this is one of the storied programs in the history of college basketball and one of the storied buildings. There’s a lot of history, a lot of tradition here. And then for us, I don’t think our program has won an ACC road game since 2017 … And I don’t think it’s coincidence that it had to have a lot of adversity, a lot of things that we didn’t do in the first half, and to get down and to have to come back. It means a lot for us. It means a lot for us. We have to build off of it though.”
Eloquent as Capel is, I preferred Johnson's take on it, if only because he flexed exactly how big it was in the process of his answer:
“It meant a lot. The guys are happy," Johnson began. " ... I think it’s been since 2017 — February 8 or something like that. That’s a long time. From last year, my experiences, only winning two away games, that was hard for me, because I’m not a loser. And I know we’re not losers either.”
Check him out, nailing the exact date and all. Johnson downplays it, but make no mistake: This team knows exactly what that win means. And it might just carry.
• Twenty-two. Pitt played 22 road games between Feb. 8, 2017 and Monday night in Chapel Hill, N.C. Quite a few.
• Think Capel's old squad was tuned into this game?
Congrats @jeffcapel ?
— Duke Basketball (@DukeMBB) January 9, 2020
Solid.
• Au'Diese Toney missed his second straight game for the Panthers with a left elbow injury. No update was given for his potential return. The team is now 1-1 in his absence. And big as this win was, I can't help but wonder how much easier it'd have been with Toney's presence in the fold.
• Wow, this far into the game report, and just a brief mention of Champagnie?
All the freshman did was put up 22 points — barely trailing McGowens' team-leading 24 — on 7 for 12 shooting and 4 for 7 from deep (with all four of those long-distance makes coming in the second half).
“He’s big time," Johnson was saying of Champagnie. "I see that every day, honestly. He works hard. He gets in the gym late at night and he shoots those same shots. He’s a good kid, and he’s going to get better.”
I should probably write some more about Champagnie. Soon. Promise.
• Pitt is now 3-3 on the year when trailing at the half.
• As frustrating as McGowens was against Wake Forest down the stretch, this is why you accept some of those wild and crazy, trying-too-hard plays:
Oh, and this, too:
The game's not all about dunks, but for a guard to just explode off the court and do that ... twice? It's a big deal. When McGowens makes his next bone-headed decision — and it'll probably happen — don't forget it's only because the upside is telling him to make a play.
That can be frustrating, but that's the current reality for him in his progression.
• In the mood for a little Capel victory speech?
That’s what’s required. #ZooEra pic.twitter.com/oWgN5OXchA
— Pitt Basketball (@Pitt_MBB) January 9, 2020
• Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot combined for 36 points on 15 of 23 shooting (65 percent), leading the Tar Heels all the way. Those two plus Brandon Robinson (13 points on 3 for 8 from three) provided over three-quarters of North Carolina's points in this one.
Even more lopsided?
How about McGowens (24), Champagnie (22) and Johnson (17) combining for 86 percent of Pitt's points?
I'm genuinely not trying to beat this dead horse any further, but the next time you think McGowens and Johnson are "doing too much," remember what they did in this one. Their performance can make a difference. Now, it's down to Capel and company to continue to refine that impact into an every-game positive.
• Pitt's win snapped one heck of a streak from North Carolina. When leading by five or more at halftime, the Tar Heels had won 109 consecutive home games. Until now. North Carolina led, 37-28, at the break in this one, but faltered.
• The Panthers' 45 second-half points were the second most of the year.
• Pitt scored zero bench points in this one, although Terrell Brown still played a vital role with two blocks in the second half.
“I didn’t think his energy was good at all in the first half, and it’s something we talked to him about at halftime," Capel said. "And to be quite frank, we challenged him. Terrell is important for us. And when he’s been good, we’ve been good. But we need him to play with energy and with a sense of urgency.
"I thought he and a lot of our guys — not just him, but a lot of our guys — I thought we were a little bit lethargic in the first half. I don’t know if we were overwhelmed by the moment being at Carolina in the Smith Center and playing North Carolina and the jerseys up in the rafters and things like that, but we just didn’t have the type of energy that’s necessary to be able to win a road game. And I thought in the second half we did, and I thought that his energy was really, really good and he was able to protect our basket, block some shots and do some things for us.”
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE STARTING LINEUPS
For Capel's Panthers:
Xavier Johnson, guard
Trey McGowens, guard
Ryan Murphy, guard
Justin Champagnie, forward
Eric Hamilton, forward
And for Roy Williams' Tar Heels:
Jeremiah Francis, guard
Brandon Robinson, guard
Leaky Black, guard
Garrison Brooks, forward
Armando Bacot, forward
THE SCHEDULE
Pitt looks to build on this win Sunday in Miami, taking on the 9-5 Hurricanes in a 6 p.m. tipoff. I'm flying to the Sunshine State for all the coverage. *applies pre-emptive sunblock layer*
THE COVERAGE
Visit our team page for everything.
