Pitt breaks away from Virginia Tech for 79-64 victory

For 48 hours this week, Jeff Capel kept a secret.

He knew something about his team that maybe some others didn’t think was possible after Pitt’s sorry performance Tuesday in a loss at Wake Forest.

When his players reported to practice Thursday, the past was nothing more than a bad memory that no one wanted to talk about, and the present was what mattered most.

As a result, the Panthers (18-9, 9-7 ACC) performed well in an empty gym that day for their coaches and then won for the eighth time in the past 10 games Saturday, defeating Virginia Tech, 79-64, in front of the largest crowd at Petersen Events Center this season (12,094).

It was an important victory, not only because it knocked the Hokies (15-12, 7-9) off the pedestal they had climbed earlier this week after a 75-41 victory against Virginia. But it was crafted with defense (seven blocks, five by Zack Austin), rebounding (42-28, with Austin grabbing 14) and pinpoint accuracy on offense (29 of 57, 50.9%).

Pitt continues to cling to its slim NCAA Tournament hopes that would receive an even bigger boost if the Panthers can find a way to win at Clemson on Tuesday.

“When we showed back up Thursday to practice, I knew we were ready,” Capel said. “I felt like we had learned a lesson. I didn’t say anything to them. We didn’t watch any film. I knew they already had, maybe, talked by themselves.

“Their antennas were up, and they knew what we needed to do. I thought we responded to this past Tuesday in a really mature fashion.”

Blake Hinson, who never came off the floor, led the Panthers with 22 points, and Jaland Lowe had a complete stat line with 18 points, six assists, four rebounds, two steals and only two turnovers in nearly 37 minutes on the court. Ishmael Leggett scored 13 off the bench.

Asked how he and his teammates were able to set aside the 33-point loss at Wake Forest, Lowe all but shrugged.

“Next play type thing,” he said. “We knew it wasn’t pretty. We knew we didn’t play our style of basketball or how we wanted to play. It’s a sign of maturity. Gotta move on.”

Asked to explain his personal performance, he deflected credit to others. Hundreds of others, actually.

“We have some really good players on our team,” he said, “but I’m going to give credit to the Oakland Zoo. We feed off their energy.”

Capel made a point to credit the fans with his initial remarks in the postgame news conference.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the atmosphere that was in the building,” he said. “When I walked out of the tunnel (before the game) and saw the crowd and felt the energy, it was electric in there.”

Yet the game was up for grabs until a few minutes after halftime.

Pitt pulled away from Virginia Tech in the second half with a 16-0 surge that turned a 42-42 tie three minutes after halftime into a rout in the latter stages of the second half.

Several players contributed to the blitz, but Bub Carrington, who played only five minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, made the biggest splash.

His coast-to-coast layup while Pitt was clinging to a four-point lead got the crowd excited. At the end of the play, Carrington fell hard to ground, injuring his ankle slightly and coming out of the game.

Not for long, though.

Soon after returning, he hit a 3-pointer that lifted the lead to double digits, 53-42, and Virginia Tech never got close after that. Carrington attempted only four shots, hit three and finished with seven points.

Capel was pleased with how his players shot the ball, moved it to the open man and kept responding with baskets in tense situations. There were nine lead changes before Pitt found its rhythm in the second half.

But what was especially pleasing was the superior defense and rebounding that kept the Hokies chasing the lead for most of the game. Virginia Tech, which was averaging 8.5 3-pointers per game, shot 3 of 20 from beyond the arc.

“This team we played can early score the basketball,” Capel said. “For us to hold them to 3 3s for the game speaks to our attention to detail Thursday and Friday in practice and earlier (Saturday) in shootaround and how we execute that. To be able to defend like that against this team, they are as efficient of an offensive team as we have in this league.”

He was most proud of his players’ resiliency.

“We got beat pretty bad early this year — here against Duke, here against Syracuse — and we went to Duke and won,” he said.

He pointed out that an earlier loss to Miami was followed by a victory at home against Wake Forest. Saturday, Pitt was able to recover seamlessly from its worst loss of the season only four days earlier.

“This team is learning. We’re growing. We’re getting better,” Capel said.