PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It had been since Jamie Dixon was coach that Pitt basketball won three straight ACC games. Wednesday night Jeff Capel's Panthers won at 18-win North Carolina 76-67.
That last three-game conference winning streak finished with a victory at Notre Dame on January 9, 2016. Barack Obama was still President.
"We are just trying to get better," Capel said. "Our guys have done an amazing job of showing up every day. Even when things were dire and not good, we tried not to listen to the outside noise and focus on us. We tried to take it day-by-day and game-by-game, not get to down or up and to concentrate and focus every day."
"We've done a good job of that, because we have done that, our guys have gotten better. Hopefully we can continue to get better. Hopefully we can continue to build on and have even more believe in what we are doing. How we need to play in order to be good."
"We've come together in these past few games, locking in and understanding that in order for us to win, we have to be together," said senior guard Jamarius Burton. "This is the perfect time down the stretch to be together and give ourselves a great chance to win."
They held a North Carolina team coming off 94 points to 11 points under their average. Before that on Saturday, a tough win down the stretch to beat North Carolina State and it started with a surprising win at Florida State, holding the Seminoles to 51 points.
You think of what might have been in blown leads with seconds to play against Minnesota, at home and away against Virginia, home to Notre Dame.
"The season taught us a lot," Burton said. "We had leads and blew them. We came back and right there on the verge of winning. I think all of those experiences have helped us down the stretch now. When we get those type of moments, we are staying together and staying composed."
They were tested in that regard against North Carolina, a double-digit lead cut to six with 1:50 to play and a buzzing crowd. They were also playing with four starters holding four fouls.
"They believed," Capel said. "We started to do a good job of breaking the press and we did a good job of making free throws. Those last four minutes we did it without having a time out. Our guys did a heck of a job of not turning the basketball over in those moments and making sure we got plays."
"I think our group is pretty tight at this point regardless if we are up 20, up six or we are down," Burton said. "We've experienced it. We are staying composed and staying together."
It's no coincidence the better play has come with the return of their best shooter, guard Ithiel Horton. The last three games the junior has 61 points on 13 of 23 from three and has played all but four minutes. It's allowed Capel to get back to the blueprint instituted in the offseason before Horton's suspension and guard Nike Sibande's season-ending knee injury.
"We were down two really, really talented guys, two guys in the backcourt that we thought would be two of our better players," Capel said. "We continued to battle. We got experience and stayed together which is really huge. We've gotten better because we've shown up, worked and put in the time."
Burton has come in and been exactly what Capel expected, if not more. The senior transfer has scored in double-figures in every conference game but one. He also averages 35 minutes a game, has drawn some huge charging calls and also made some big shots.
A defensive star at Stony Brook, wiry 6'10" graduate-student transfer Mouhamadou Gueye has taken to the ACC like a five-star freshman. He had a 19-point game against Syracuse, an eight-block game at Florida State and has made two or more threes in five of the last six games.
Playing only seven games his freshman season, sophomore center John Hugley has been the team's leading rebounder and for most of the season, the leading scorer. He brings an old-school, Big East toughness and presence around the basket and is gaining knowledge about the college game.
"We've gotten a lot of experience this year," Capel said. "We've had to play a lot of guys where this is their first time. Whether it's their first time at this level, first time this time of year, first time at some different environments."
"You grow from those even when you fail. Sometimes failure can be the best teacher. The thing that I'm proud of is we've continued to show up. For the most part, we've had really good attitudes and tried to get better every game."
"We play with heart," Hugley said. "When we play together as a unit, we can be really good."
Say what you want about the depth of the conference or how good NC State is, Pitt has improved. They showed it without wins earlier in the season, now after a rough stretch, Jeff Capel's team is starting to play better basketball.
Next up Saturday at home against Georgia Tech going for a fourth straight win.
