Clemson outclassed Pitt in its ugliest loss of the season. The Panthers were beaten 75-48 at Littlejohn Coliseum Saturday night by a Tigers team that looked like it knew the formula to dismantle Pitt from the opening tipoff.
The Tigers knew the biggest key to Pitt was neutralizing its paint presence, and specifically John Hugley IV. Hugley led Pitt with 15 points, but also had four turnovers and couldn't help the Panthers' offense establish anything with zero assists on the night. Each time Pitt wanted to work its offense, Clemson had its own star sophomore forward P.J. Hall getting physical with Hugley and getting the help of aggressive double teams in the paint.
Outside of a few possessions to start each half, Hugley was forced to play outside of the paint most of the night and settle for more mid-range jump shots and three pointers. Hugley went 0-3 from beyond the arc, matching his season high in three-point attempts in a game. The only other time he's done that this season was in Pitt's opening day loss to The Citadel.
"They were very physical," Capel said of how Clemson played Hugley. "They pinched the floor, they didn't guard some guys and had a lot of help slide to pressure the basketball. He's got to do a better job of valuing the basketball. Teams are extremely physical with him and he has to adjust to that."
Teams have been very physical with Hugley before, but rarely have they been so physical that Hugley's been pushed out of the paint as much as he was Saturday. Hugley shot 2 of 3 on layups while shooting 2 of 9 on jump shots. That means Clemson forced Hugley to shoot outside the paint three times more than he did in the paint.
In addition to bullying Hugley, the Tigers also bullied the rest of the Panthers by winning the turnover battle 20-9 and being the far more efficient offense with 19 assists to Pitt's 7.
"Clemson's defense was very intense," Capel said. "They forced us into 20 turnovers, and that was the problem. We didn't do a great job of valuing the basketball, or even a good job."
Jamarius Burton and Femi Odukale tried to keep Pitt in the game by scoring ten points each, but Burton fouled out with 7:26 to go in the second half and left Pitt without its veteran leader who has kept the Panthers more composed in their toughest moments. Pitt's biggest losses this season were 16-point defeats at the hands of Vanderbilt and Syracuse, but in each of those there was at least moments where Pitt seemed like it had a chance to rally and make the game relevant.
That wasn't the case Saturday, as Pitt couldn't execute the basic fundamentals of their game that had won their seven games this season or kept them in most of their contests. That Pitt was so out of this game and dismantled from putting together any structured success on either end of the court is what's truly troubling for the young team trying to find an identity. The glue that had held Pitt together was its defense and its ability to feed off Hugley, but both were neutralized by Clemson. Capel made it clear after the game that it was going to need be a full team effort by the Panthers to bounce back Tuesday at the Petersen Events Center when Pitt plays Syracuse in a rematch.
"Everyone on our team has to step up," Capel said. "It's not about John, Jamarius, or anyone in particular. Everyone on our team has to step up and play better. We have to play better, period. Everyone has to step up and do their job at a high level. We didn't do that this evening. We'll get back to work."
In addition to the struggles on offense, Pitt put up its second consecutive poor defensive showing as Clemson shot 48 percent both on all their field goals and their three-pointers. The Tigers kept finding the open man against Pitt regardless of the Panthers being in zone or man defense. Al-Amir Dawes led Clemson with 19 points shooting 5 of 8 on three-pointers, and three other Tigers joined him scoring ten or more points as Hall scored 16, Chase Hunter scored 13 and David Collins scored 10. While Capel credited Clemson for playing a great game, he wasn't shy about how poorly Pitt's defense has played of late.
"It's been bad," Capel said of Pitt's zone defense. "It hasn't been good. We haven't gotten to the shooters, we haven't moved, we haven't kept it out of the high post. We have to get back at work to become better at it."
What's worse for Capel is that for his team to function this season it has to do the basics of defense consistently. There was a stretch of games in December going into early January that it looked like his players were figuring out that message and progressing, but in the last two games that's gone away. Pitt failures to lower opponent field goal percentage have played the biggest role in most of their losses.
For example, Pitt is 0-10 when teams shoot 42 percent or better in a game, but 7-2 when holding them under that mark. The problem with that number is that Pitt is the only team in the ACC with a season-long field goal percentage lower than 42 (41.3). That pushes Pitt to play attentive, energetic and detailed defense if it hopes to pull off any of its wins this season. On the season, Pitt's opponents are making 42.1 percent of their shots. That's led to Pitt having the third-lowest average of points allowed in the ACC at 65.5 per game, but with still several major ACC opponents on the schedule like Notre Dame, Duke, Florida State, North Carolina, Wake Forest and first place Miami, that number will be tested soon.
This year was always going to be about Capel developing his younger players like Hugley, Odukale, William Jeffress. Nate Santos and Noah Collier, but part of that is learning how to deal with the rougher games in a season and finding a way to bounce back regardless of an opponent. So losses like this, while embarrassing, can make for major proving grounds in the following game to see how Pitt's players respond to further adversity. The Panthers have dealt with plenty adversity already this season, but Capel needs to find players who show their grit in responding to the harder moments.
"We'll see Tuesday," Capel said when asked how he thinks his players will respond to the loss. "We have to move on and move forward. Sometimes you have a night like this and you have to move on. It's the same thing as when we beat Louisville. We have to move on to the next play. Learn from it, flush it, then move on. That's what we've got to do. We don't have to stew in it too long because we play Tuesday. We're preparing for how we have to play Syracuse better than we did ten days ago."
At 7-12, 2-6 in the conference, Pitt is already positioning itself to have a real shot to finish last in the ACC. But the biggest achievement for this season for Capel won't be the final record. Instead, it will be about if he finds players who establish their identities and strengths to lean on in the 2022-2023 Panthers. That will be what determines if something positive could be pulled from this season and help be the basement of that Capel establishes as the foundation for Pitt's return to relevance.
