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I owe Jeff Capel an apology. I am not the only one, but I’m going to use this space to make my personal apology to Pitt Panther head coach Jeff Capel. Specifically, on January 24th, my sister’s birthday in fact, I called for Capel’s job.
I am typically level-headed.
I don’t call for a man’s job after each loss like most Steeler fans do
for Tomlin or Panther fans with Capel. I
also don’t get overly worked up over a win streak and deem my teams early season
champs if they come out of the gate hot.
However, I was unfair to Jeff Capel.
I was downplaying the true trials and tribulations that this
team has gone through all season, in part through no fault of Capel. I use the word trials literally as last night’s
game highlighted the return of Ithiel Horton.
It was not Horton’s first game back, but it showed what this Panther
offense could have been had he been playing all season.
Last night, the Pitt Panthers blew the roof off of Dean E.
Smith Center and dominated the North Carolina Tar Heels. The final score was just a 9-point margin,
however, that does not tell the whole story.
At halftime Pitt was up 40-23. At
one point the Pitt lead got as high as 21 points, and the Tar Heels never
brought it to within less than six points in the 2nd half. At one point, Pitt was on the right side of a
21-2 run. That just hasn’t happened
since Pitt joined the ACC.
There were some white-knuckle moments where Pitt fans were
gripping the edge of their seat, but from an objective standpoint, the Panthers
blew the Tar Heels out. Especially with Pitt
being a 14-point underdog at tip off, on the road in one of the hardest places
to play. It was a great performance all
around. It was also the first time Pitt has won three games in a row in conference play since their first season in the ACC back in 2013-14.
The, aforementioned, Horton led the team with 19
points. This was aided by him being a perfect
5-5 from 3-point range and 4-4 from the free throw line. Big man John Hugley added 18 points and
senior Jamarius Burton took a ton of offensive fouls to end Tar Heel
possessions and create some foul trouble for North Carolina. Mouhamadou Gueye and Femi Odukale also added
from 3-point range, beating any attempt for the Tar Heels to play a zone
defense. Every starter showed up and
balled out for the Panthers. It was as
if I was watching a different team.
However, it also really showed what this team could have
been. As most know, Horton was suspended
much of this season due to legal trouble.
He settled, and is finally back full-time with the Panthers.
Horton’s ability to shoot the ball from three not only adds
to the scoreboard for Pitt, but it opens up possibilities for everyone around
him. Without Horton on the floor, opposing
defenses knew they could double team Hugley underneath without worry, and Pitt
was depending on lesser shooters like Gueye and Odukale for points. Gueye and Odukale can have their good games
from beyond the arc, but nothing near the rate of Horton. Now the Panthers have a legitimate deep
threat that totally restructures the opponent’s defensive game plan.
Additionally, with both Horton and Odukale playing 40
minutes last night, and Burton playing for 38 of 40, it reminds of the little
depth the Panthers have. This is due in
large part to the season-ending injury that Nike Sibande suffered before the
regular season even started. If the
Panthers had their senior guard, even for just the close losses sustained by
Pitt early in their ACC schedule, the story of this season could be completely different.
So last night humbled me.
It reminded me that Jeff Capel did not have a team at full strength for
this entire season. However, even just
adding one good shooter from behind the arc showed how much better this team
could have been. I am sorry Jeff
Capel. I should have respected the
handcuffs that were on this team from the beginning. However, last night does not absolve all the
troubles this team has had for four years.
I still need to see continued improvement and a better team next season.