FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Pitt found its three-point stroke late in the game and captured the Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament championship Wednesday night by beating Northwestern, 72-59.
While Pitt had struggled from three-point range in the early goings of the season, things had gotten much worse in their trip down to Fort Myers. They had to overcome a 1-16 shooting performance from 3-point range in game one against Kansas State Monday, and they opened even worse against Northwestern: 1-17.
Going into halftime, Pitt had not made a 3-point basket, but Jeff Capel wanted them to keep taking shots from 3.
"If it's not a good shot, I'll let them know, and they know that," Capel said. "But as long as we're taking good shots, I don't take guys out for missing shots. I'll take them out if they're not playing hard or if they're forcing some things."
Going into the second half, the coaches and players were on the same page, to just "keep shooting them."
Freshman Justin Champagnie was struggling from deep perhaps more than anyone. He had eight shots behind the arc, but each failed to go through the hoop. The Wildcats, despite being outplayed, were able to stick around because of those missed 3s.
But with just over six minutes remaining and Pitt up 50-43, he would get another chance. Ryan Murphy gave him a good feed and Champagnie had an open look. As he wound up to to take the shot, Xavier Johnson could be heard yelling, "Knock it down!"
Champagnie did knock it down. As it went through the net, the words his coach and teammates had been telling him rang in his head: "Keep shooting them."
Forty-four seconds after his first 3-pointer, Champagnie got another look from the corner and knocked down another three. Then with 1:46 remaining, he delivered the dagger with his third consecutive 3.
Pitt finished by making six of their final eight 3-point shots.
"Those are big moments," Capel said, referring to Champagnie's first 3 and Johnson's encouragement. "It's moments where you grow together, being young, just saying how much you need each other."
Champagnie was scoring points all night inside the perimeter, but as the game progressed, Northwestern's defense kept giving him and the other Panthers more and more room deep, daring them to take 3-point shots.
"I felt disrespected," Champagnie said of the Wildcats' defense. "I couldn't really make them, so when they were backing off, coach is like, 'just shoot them.' It's going to go in eventually and they're going to have to respect you sooner or later. So I kept doing it."
Capel said Pitt knows they are a streaky shooting team, and they were in a particularly cold spell. He also knows Champagnie is a good shooter, so he did not want his freshman to get down on himself, which is why he, the coaches and the players kept building him up.
"Like a lot of freshman, he can get down on himself very, very quickly," Capel said. "I have confidence in my guys if we're playing the right way, and it was just to reinforce that to him."
Another way to reinforce that is by being awarded the tournament MVP and taking a trophy home to Pittsburgh. Champagnie earned the honor by scoring 21 points and grabbing 6 rebounds in the deciding game.
Fort Myers Tip-Off• Pitt controlled the tempo of the game early, getting points in the paint and controlling the boards. Northwestern was able to get back in it and take a brief lead after holding the Panthers scoreless for over six minutes of game time, using a zone to block them out from inside the key.
But Johnson and Trey McGowens delivered layups in the closing seconds to end the drought and give Pitt a 25-23 lead at the half.
"For us to have a two point lead at halftime, shooting the way that we did, is a testament to how well we defended," Capel said.
Pitt held Northwestern to 19 field goals on 52 attempts from the field, a shooting percentage of .365.
Pitt never surrendered the lead again, and with the 3-pointers at the end, they finally pulled away.
• Four Panthers finished with double-digit points. Champagnie had 21, McGowens 15, Johnson 11 and Eric Hamilton 10.
• This is Pitt's first multi-win tournament title in six years. Their last one was the 2013 Legends Classic.
• Capel and his old Duke teammate, former fellow assist coach and "brother" Chris Collins faced off Wednesday. Collins is Northwestern's head coach.
The two were once Duke's starting backcourt and have remained close ever since, talking every day. Their kids call the other adult "uncle."
This was the first time the two coached against each other.
"Once you get out there between the lines, it's competition," Capel said. "But it was weird looking down there."
Collins and Capel have been by each other's side as they both began their programs, so they each had a fairly intimate knowledge of the other's team.
"We've talked about each other's teams a lot, and to coach against him, it was a little bit weird," Capel said.
After the game, Capel told Collins good luck, that he loved him and he would talk to him tomorrow.
"As a head coach, to have someone like him that I can call, that I can be vulnerable with, that I can share my struggles, my frustrations, my goods... He's always been a great friend for me in that regard, so hopefully I've been that for him," Collins said.
• Pitt controlled the glass again, out-rebounding the Wildcats 44-29. A dozen of those rebounds came from Hamilton, who has picked up the pace lately. In his last three games, he has grabbed 32 rebounds, a noticeable improvement over his first five games.
Hamilton and Capel had a conversation after that fifth game. Capel said he told Hamilton's rebounding game had been "atrocious" and then challenged him to do better. Hamilton said after Monday's game that he wanted to go back to what he was doing when he came to Pitt.
Capel has seen that change over these last three games.
"You see the impact it has on our team," Capel said. "Everyone has an important role. It may not be a sexy role, but as far as winning, it's incredibly sexy."
Wednesday was Hamilton's second consecutive double-double.
• After committing 21 turnovers Monday, Pitt cut that total to just 10 Wednesday.
"That's something hopefully, as we go forward, we continue to trim down," Capel said.
• So that was back-to-back wins over Power 5 conference teams. While Johnson agreed that momentum is important as ACC play draws near, the tournament title is not going to distract them.
"This is one step to getting Pitt back on track," Johnson said.
"We're going to take this day by day, game, by game," he added later.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE STARTING LINEUPS
For Capel's Panthers:
Xavier Johnson, guard
Trey McGowens, guard
Ryan Murphy, guard
Justin Champagnie, forward
Eric Hamilton, forward
And for Collin's Wildcats:
Pat Spencer, guard
Anthony Gaines, guard
Ryan Young, center
Pete Nance, forward
Miller Kopp, forward
THE SCHEDULE
The Panthers will return to action Dec. 3 for a home date with Rutgers. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:01 p.m.. Hunter Homistek will be back to cover it.
THE COVERAGE
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