Capel: 'We need a lot of guys to get better'

Jeff Capel talked about disappointment, hustle and not being smart enough after Pitt's loss to The Citadel on Tuesday night.

Here's a full rundown of what he said.

Capel: Well, congrats to The Citadel. They were tremendous. They shot the heck out of the ball. The kid Roche, to be playing his first college basketball game and come in and hit eight three’s is a big-time performance. Brown is an unbelievable competitor and his imprint was on the game from that aspect. And then B, the point guard, really did a good job of running the team. They got off to such a hot start; in the first eight minutes, they had 27 points. And I thought with how hard they ran their stuff and how they moved and cut, I thought it knocked us back. I thought we played the last 12 minutes better of the first half, but we could never really recover throughout the game from that first onslaught of them just really out-hustling us.

We missed a lot of stuff around the basket. We missed 16 free throws. And every time it seemed like we were chipping away, they’d hit a three.

So, disappointing for us. I through our guys fought but we have to be better. We have to be better, we have to be smarter and we have to get back to work. So I’m excited about that aspect of it. Certainly disappointed about tonight. But looking forward to getting back in the gym and getting back to work.

From a preparation standpoint, how much of an adjustment is it to work with these guys for weeks and months and then in seven days, you have to get them ready without two of the guys you were probably going to lean on more this season?
Capel: It’s an adjustment. But again, we have to be better. It is an adjustment. We had some guys playing a lot of minutes in different roles that we really haven’t practiced. But again, we have to be better. We should be better defensively. We should know from the scouting report that - even their coach said, that’s what that kid is; he’s a specialist. He really doesn’t dribble; he’s a specialist. We should know that. By the time in the first three minutes where he hits two three’s, there should be a sense of urgency to know that.

So we have to be a little - we have to be a lot smarter from that aspect of it.

Femi was talking to us about demanding the switches more on defense and communicating more. How much of that was something that you saw that led to it versus something like effort, what you were talking about with the hustle that they showed?
Capel: I don’t think we had lack of effort. I absolutely do not think that. I don’t think that for one second. I think that - and I don’t think they played harder than us. So if it seems like I was coming across as saying that, I don’t mean that. I thought that they were smarter than us. I thought they executed. You know, their first basket came on an offensive rebound that we should have gotten the defensive rebound. We have to go after it. We can’t sit and wait for someone. We have to gang rebound. And that first three came from a rotation where we have to know, we rotated to a guy that’s a non-shooter and left a shooter. That’s what I mean: we have to be smarter.

So it’s not from lack of effort. It’s not from not playing hard. It’s maybe a little bit over-anxious and trying to get - so we have to be better from that aspect of it.

Is some of that rooted in inexperience?
Capel: Some of that is rooted in inexperience, but we have to be better. Bottom line, we have to be better. And we will be better.

How much do you think this can be a stepping stone for John?
Capel: Hopefully it will be. But we need a lot of stepping stones. We need a lot of guys to get better and we need to have success as a group. We can’t have just individual guys. But it was good to see John be able to put the ball in the basket and to play through contact. He’s got to be better in a lot of other areas of the game. His impact can be significant for us, but he’s got to be able to do it for every second that he’s out there, every second he’s in practice.

You haven’t played inside-out a ton since you’ve been here. Is that something that he’s capable of doing and something that you might have to do more?
Capel: Well, right now we certainly have to do that. I do think John is capable of doing that, but as we move on to guys that have a little bit more size, a little bit stronger inside, that will be something that we’ll look to see. But we need everyone to be better. We need to be better all over, every position.

What did you see from Will? He didn’t have a good shooting night, but it looked like he was getting good looks.
Capel: I thought he got some good looks; we just didn’t finish the plays. He had been shooting the ball really, really well in practice the past few days. So I feel for him, because he’s put in a lot of work and to not knock it down. But we have confidence in Will, and as long as it’s a good shot, I’m fine with that. As long as our guys take good shots, then I’m good with that.

What were you not seeing tonight from the guys defensively? It seemed like some of the rotations were a little bit slow.
Capel: We didn’t - some of their three’s early came on offensive rebounds and kicking back out. That’s one of the best times to get three-point shots, because you’re scrambling as a defense. A couple of them early came because we didn’t keep guys in front. We allowed penetration, which caused rotation and we didn’t help the help. So we have to do a better job there. In zone, we have to know where the shooters are. You know, they got one at the top of the key in the second half, we didn’t get out to the shooter, Fitzgibbons. They got one in the corner in front of their bench with Roche that, we didn’t follow him. He threw it, chased it, we kind of stood and he got it up. So again, all of those things - we just have to be better. We have to have more awareness on that end and we can’t allow our inability to not make a shot affect us on the defensive side of the ball.

What did you make of how Nate played tonight?
Capel: I thought he played okay. For him, your freshman year, to be thrust in the starting lineup right away, I thought he did some good things. But like all the guys, we need him to be better.

There was a sequence, I think, early in the second half where they got an offensive rebound and a bucket off it and you called a timeout. It seemed like you were really trying to rally the guys. Femi said the message was something along the lines of, enough was enough. What did you say in those moments and how did you see them respond to it?
Capel: We talked at halftime about the second shots. We talked about that, how we have to rebound the basketball. Really, it was that: we have to rebound the basketball, we can’t give them second shots. We have to wall up on their drives, especially with Brown. And we didn’t do that at the start. We were kind of matching them bucket-for-bucket, and when you’re in a hole like we were, you can’t do that. You have to get stops and you have to score. So I was frustrated with our group at the time, and that’s what the timeout was for.

Offensively, who are the guys that you think can step up and big a third scorer for you going forward?
Capel: Well, we need everyone to. We need everyone to be able to do their role and, if you get shots, be able to knock them down with confidence. Have confidence; play through contact, don’t avoid contact; if you get fouled, be able to step to the free throw line and make some shots. We need everyone to be able to do it.

Your guys tonight went 15-of-31 on free throws; have you seen much improvement in that area and what steps do you take to get guys to improve in that area of the game?
Capel: We’ve been inconsistent shooting free throws. We’re not a great shooting team, and sometimes when you’re not a good shooting team, that means you’re not good at shooting free throws. So we have to be better there. Really, all I know how to do is get in the gym and work. Maybe work with some guys on technique and things like that, but we got there 31 times; we have to be able to convert at a higher percentage.