BLACKSBURG, Va. -- These Pitt Panthers need to pull off the road, guzzle some fuel, rest and recover.
That message was stamped all over the team's 67-57 loss to Virginia Tech on this Saturday night at Cassell Coliseum. Run the timeline, and it all becomes understandable: Pitt played Saturday, Feb. 8, squeaking out a win over Georgia Tech at home, then lost Wednesday night, again at the Pete, this time to Clemson.
That latter contest featured a 9 p.m. tipoff, meaning any work Thursday was out of the question. Friday, the team had to practice and to learn and to grow from their mistakes ... but they also had to take it easy because, you know, there's a game the next day, on the road against Virginia Tech.
"It's tough," Jeff Capel was saying at the podium after this game. "... We try to be smart because we want to try to conserve energy for the games, but again, this is the grind part of the season, and we have to figure it out."
The thing about conserving energy is this: Pitt plays again on Tuesday, this time in Tallahassee, Fla., against No. 8 Florida State. That rest stop is going to have to wait.
"There's not much we can do in terms of practice, physical stuff tomorrow because we play Tuesday at 8," Capel said.
Making matters worse for the away team, Virginia Tech just enjoyed a week off, last playing Saturday, Feb. 8, at home against Boston College. They lost that one, bumping their losing streak to five.
“We played against a team that was rested, that was hungry," Capel said. "They lost five in a row, so you could feel the sense or urgency. There was incredible energy in the building.”
All that added up to this for Virginia Tech: 12 made threes, a 20-3 first-half run, a 19-point lead with 13 minutes to go and a lengthy losing streak snapped. A refreshed squad, if you've forgotten, looks a little something like this:
That's a runout. Nothing fancy there: Just one team deciding to kick it up, push the pace and get a bucket. Or, put another way, a team with some gas to spare.
“It’s really frustrating because we don’t have, like you said, we don’t have that break like most teams have," Au'Diese Toney was saying outside the visitors' locker room. "Like coach said, they’ve been off, they haven’t played since last Saturday. So a lot of teams get a lot of space between games, but you gotta just recover."
Now, understand this: These 2019-20 Pitt Panthers don't go quietly. This isn't about "giving up" or "quitting." When Virginia Tech widened the lead to 19 midway through the second half, Pitt pushed back with a fury, narrowing the deficit to six with three minutes to go.
If that sounds familiar for this team, it should. They've done that time and again this season in wins and losses alike.
"We show we can get up off the mat and fight back," is how Capel put it.
Thing is: Fighting back isn't enough, not when the tank's approaching "E" and miles of asphalt stand between you and the next fill-up. It's one thing to be mentally strong — which this Panthers squad is, to a degree that can't be questioned at this point, after this many comeback bids.
But it's another thing entirely to try to make a play when your legs don't respond. No, literally:
“Yeah, it’s hard, because, like you said, you want to do things but your legs, it’s not good, [not] healthy," Toney said. "[They're] tired. You can’t do too much, but ..."
With that, Toney shrugged, and the interview was a wrap. Toney wasn't even mad. He's a polite, soft-mannered individual off the court — completely opposite that of his fiery, aggressive nature on the court.
This post-game chat, though, felt different. Toney seemed almost relieved that it was all over inside Cassel Coliseum, that the trip back to Pittsburgh was going to give him and his teammates what they need most: A chance to close their eyes and escape.
They better make the most of it. Tuesday will come quickly.
• The NCAA Tournament's out of the question at this point. The team flashed a glimmer of hope there, but this loss virtually seals it. NIT bid, though? Yeah, maybe. But they'll have to find some life down the stretch. If a matchup against a top-10 opponent, off two straight beatdowns, doesn't do it, this team might just limp to another tourney-less conclusion.
• Capel benched Xavier Johnson for five minutes to start the second half. Johnson scored zero points and missed a pair of free throws in the first half, but he bounced back to finish with 11 points on 3 for 7 shooting, including one three on two attempts and a 4-for-4 effort from the line in the final 20 minutes.
Asked what clicked, though, Capel was clearly still frustrated with his point guard.
"He just played better. I don’t know," Capel said. "You have to ask him that. He played better.”
Problem was, Johnson wasn't made available to media after the game. I'll follow up here as soon as possible.
• Coming into the game, Virginia Tech attempted 659 threes (approximately 27 per game), second-most in the ACC. They finished this one with 32 attempts, making 12 of them, a 38-percent clip.
The only team that's attempted more triples in the ACC? Notre Dame, who you may remember hit 10 of 27 against Pitt in a win.
And just below the Hokies? Clemson, who you may remember hit 13 of 22 against Pitt in a win.
A lot of it — the majority of it — was Pitt's lethargy. But it's tough to fight threes with twos, and Pitt is simply not equipped to get into a long-range firefight. Not yet.
• Capel acknowledged that his team has a penchant for digging early holes, but they've also developed a knack for firing back when things look most dire. Given the repetition of this, how does his messaging stay fresh? How does he rally the team mid-game when it's a position they've become accustomed to experiencing?
I asked him after the game:
• Karim Abdoul Coulibaly logged 19 minutes with Eric Hamilton injured, and he showed up, scoring 10 on 5-for-10 shooting to go along five rebounds. That's all nice ... but it could've been nicer. And Coulibaly knew it after the game. Was he excited to get a little more time to show what he can do on the court?
“No," he fired back. "Because we lost the game.”
It wasn't just that Pitt lost, though. Coulibaly himself left points on the board, misfiring on a few point-black layup attempts. Capel certainly noticed.
"We have to be able to finish," he was saying. "I would imagine we probably missed seven to eight layups. So we have to be able to finish those plays, and we have to be able to make free throws. And if we can do that, maybe the outcome would’ve been a little bit different or a little bit closer.”
To be fair to Coulibaly, it wasn't just him missing layups. Toney missed a bunny as Pitt was making their second-half run, too, but Coulibaly's case is particularly frustrating to watch because his post moves are smooth and polished — the best of any big on the team. That finishing needs serious work, though, a point he acknowledged earlier in the year when asked what he most needed to improve.
For a freshman learning the game of college basketball and learning how to speak English at the same time, though, you gotta like the ceiling there. He seems to be piecing things together quickly, and that bodes well for his future, especially when you consider the natural talent that's already there.
• Justin Champagnie tallied a quiet 12 points to tie Toney for the team lead. He got loose for a few late dunks, including a massive putback slam to energize his squad, but overall, he looked a step behind and flat in this one. He finished 4 for 14 from the field, including 1 for 9 from three, and just 1 for 4 from the free-throw line.
Now, that's all bad for Pitt fans ... but for Virginia Tech fans, it's amazing, because Champagnie won them all a pound of free bacon. Yes. Free bacon.
So every fan gets a voucher for a free pound of bacon because Champagnie missed two free throws.
"Where do you get it?"
"On the way out."
OK, I might have to move to Blacksburg. hahahah Amazing. #dkps #unleash pic.twitter.com/kW92SaNKIY
— Hunter Alek Homistek (@HunterAHomistek) February 16, 2020
• Ryan Murphy is the best pure shooter on this team — by far — but he struggles to create his own shot. That's killing him as this season stretches on. He didn't get a shot up against Clemson in his return from a concussion that sidelined him for three games, and he went 0 for 2 tonight, missing a jumper in the lane and a three.
From a pure shooting perspective, he's Pitt's best asset ... but it means little if he's not getting shots up. He needs to learn how to create or Capel and company need to dial up some more specific play designs to free him up. He did manage to contribute a block and a steal in his nine minutes to make some impact, but that's not what he's here for.
• Capel mentioned the energy in the building, and it was something I noticed as well from my press-box perch. I tossed that one to Toney after the game to see if he felt it too.
“You can tell they love it, they love this team," Toney said. "The whole city’s behind them, and they feed off of that. When they were making baskets, their momentum was just, keep picking up, keep picking up, rising. And that’s what was different from most schools. You could tell they feed off of that.”
• On the other side, P.J. Horne led the way for the Hokies, scoring 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting, including 4 for 6 from deep. Even more impressive, those points were clutch. Horne drilled back-to-back threes just as Pitt clawed within six with three minutes to go, then he iced the game with a pair of free throws. Coulibaly admitted covering a "five" who can stretch the court with the deep ball is a struggle.
“It’s difficult because you have to go to them, [and] they’re a little bit faster than me and my boy, TB [Terrell Brown], you know?" he said. "That’s why it was not too easy. It was hard.”
• Pitt's now 15-11 and 6-9 in ACC play this year with six games remaining.
• Eric Hamilton and Onyebuchi Ezeakudo sat this one out, each nursing ankle injuries. Hamilton was not wearing a boot in pregame, nor did he have crutches. Capel had no updates on them after the game.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE STARTING LINEUPS
For Capel's Panthers:
Xavier Johnson, guard
Trey McGowens, guard
Au'Diese Toney, guard
Justin Champagnie, forward
Terrell Brown, center
And for Young's Hokies:
Wabissa Bede, guard
Nahiem Alleyne, guard
Tyrece Radford, guard
Landers Nolley, guard/forward
P.J. Horne, forward
THE SCHEDULE
Pitt sticks to the road, traveling to Tallahassee, Fla., to face No. 8 Florida State Tuesday, Feb. 18, for an 8 p.m. tipoff. Can they sweep the Seminoles after defeating them in the season opener at the Pete? I'll be on the coverage in sunny Florida to find out.
THE COVERAGE
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