Similar struggles continue to hinder the Panthers.
Pitt suffered its fifth loss in its last six games when it dropped a road game against Georgia Tech 71-65 on Sunday. The game featured familiar problems from Pitt's other losses, along with the Yellow Jackets' physicality that pushed the Panthers both literally and figurativeIy.
"We fought and did some good things," Jeff Capel said. "But you can't turn the ball over 18 times and you have to do a better job from the foul line. Those two things were a big part of the game and a big reason why we didn't get the win."
Pitt's 18 turnovers were the team's second-most of the season, only behind the 23 giveaways in the season opener against Saint Francis. The Panthers entered play averaging 12.5 turnovers per game, seventh-lowest in the ACC.
"We talked about we need to be stronger with the ball," Capel said. "They lead the league in steals, averaging around nine steals a game and forcing 15 turnovers. We weren't strong with the basketball, some of the decision making wasn't good and that's what happened. That's what they do, they're a good defense and they steal the basketball."
N.C. State, which faces Pitt on Wednesday, is the best in the conference at forcing turnovers.
"Coach has reiterated how we have to be strong with the ball, step through our passes and fight for our position to get open," Ithiel Horton said. "(Georgia Tech is) a very physical team. You saw their hands were all over the ball and all over us. We worked on our V cuts in practice and getting open but we didn't do what we needed to do."
Between Georgia Tech's pressure on defense and forward Moses Wright, who scored 24 points, the Yellow Jackets were a lot to handle.
"He's a really good player," Capel said about Wright. "He gives a lot of people in this league problems. He's patient and a high-percentage shooter. He gets offensive rebounds and they run a lot of things through him. He had a heck of a game this afternoon."
Wright consistently exposed the Panthers' lack of depth in the front-court. Whenever Justin Champagnie and Karim Abdoul Coulibaly would work to defend other players, Wright would have a field day against the rest of the Panthers. Watch how as soon as he caught the ball away from Coulibaly and Champagnie working a trap, he made quick work in the paint:
It was a recipe for success all game.
Pitt looked like it had its recipe early in the game when it built a 13-8 lead with 14 minutes to go in the first half. But then the Yellow Jackets had runs of seven, five and four points to end the second half. The Panthers went ice cold, only scoring four points in the final 8:34 of the first half.
"We have to make shots," Capel said about how Pitt needs to stop. "That's what we have to do. We have to execute better, but it would help if we made some shots. We did in the second half when we shot 60 percent, but we have to be able to play through contact. There was a lot of contact out there today and we have to be able to play through that and finish through that."
The player who stepped up and helped shake Pitt out of its funk was Horton, who led the team with 18 points that included hitting 4 of 8 of his 3-pointers.
"He played well. Made some shots and got us into a good rhythm," Capel said. "Ithiel's a good player, we just need him to believe all the time that he's a good player."
Horton has become a better scorer for the Panthers with Sunday being the third straight game he scored in the double digits, and fourth time in his last five games.
"He's sat out a whole year and switched levels going from a mid-major to a high-major," Capel said of Horton. "Everything is different for him. I don't think people fully appreciate the impact it has when you're not in competition for a whole year. As the season goes along, I think you see him start to feel a little more comfortable and confident out there."
Watch how Horton shook off Jose Alvarado to create his own shot:
Horton had been a shooter who relied on others to set up his shot most of this season, but that has started to change.
Other Pitt starters scoring in the double digits were Xavier Johnson (13 points), Au'Diese Toney (15 points) and Champagnie (13 points). The Panthers' problems on offense came from not finishing on key possessions when Georgia Tech stepped up its physicality.
"When you're playing against a team that's going after the ball and swiping after the ball, trying to get steals, you have to be mentally and physically tough to finish," Capel said. "You have to be able to finish through contact and hopeful that if there's a lot of contact maybe you get a foul call. When there was 13-15 seconds left they had four team fouls. We're a team that prides ourselves on driving the basketball, so we have to do a better job of playing through contact. We have to be stronger."
Pitt definitely got the short end of the stick from the ACC officials as Pitt continuously played through the physical defense of Georgia Tech to work its way back into the game. The Panthers finished with 19 fouls to the Yellow Jackets' 14.
"It's tough fighting through contact, getting the ball, looking at what you have and then if you look at the defense you miss the play," Horton said. "You have to work at it every day in practice to get your footwork, spin moves, getting your elbow into them and finish the little things like that."
Watch how Toney took the ball in the post and against Alvarado, finishing with the basket before hitting the floor:
That was a common theme as Pitt fought back to tie the game with 4:36 left in the game.
It took a long time to get Pitt's offense going, but once it was it seemed the starters felt how to be aggressive while protecting the ball.
Watch how Johnson worked Alvarado with a spin move, drawing contact and hitting the shot:
Like the other plays with contact, Pitt didn't get the foul call.
But it still didn't change the fact that the Panthers needed to take better care of the ball. Johnson also fouled out with 1:03 left in the game.
"He had six turnovers in the first half," Capel said of Johnson. "He's got to be better there. And we need him in the game. It hurt us when he wasn't in the game. When that call was reversed from a foul on Alvarado to a flagrant foul on Xavier. All of a sudden it's his third and fourth foul and we had to sit him for a while with a lot of minutes left. We need him in the game. He played only 11 minutes in the first half and only nine in the second half."
Johnson is supposed to be a key component of Pitt's big three with him, Toney and Champagnie. Him fouling out, albeit with some questionable calls involved, hurt the Panthers' chances at a comeback. Two technical fouls against Johnson and Horton came at tough moments for Pitt.
"On the two technical fouls, I don't know," Capel said. "You'd have to ask the officials on that. I don't know, I don't understand it."
The first came on a play where Alvarado tied up Johnson and took him to the ground. Initially it was a foul on Alvarado, but after a review the officials reversed the call into a flagrant against Johnson.
Horton's technical foul was even more bizarre. Watch his feed into Champagnie, who drew contact going up against three defenders and hitting a tough shot in the paint. You can see Horton's reaction, as he put his arms out and yelled "AND ONE!" at the official.
That was what drew the technical:
If that's all it takes for a technical, it would be called maybe 10 times a game.
"Yeah, it wasn't even like an aggressive and-one," Horton said about it. "It was like a, 'don't you see? He's draped all over him!' You know, and-one! I don't know what was wrong with him. It's tough because when you fight all week in practice, prepare in the film room and then you have an external factor affect the game in a negative way it hurts. But we have to stay focused and do what we do. Obviously the refs just aren't going to be on our side. Given that we're Pitt, I don't know why. But we don't care. We're going to continue to fight and believe in what we do."
Part of what added to the Panthers' frustrations, on top of the physical play with the fouls, was the trash talking from Georgia Tech, especially Alvarado, who's known for it.
"For talking it's more psychological than physical," Horton said. "But at the same time you have to realize this is what they do and if you let them get in your head then they've won the game before you've even scored points. But that stuff kind of fuels me. I like it when they start talking because that gets me amped."
Amped or not, Pitt's players had to keep their heads in those moments.
"Just tell each other to stay together, stay focused on the purpose and the goal," Horton said when asked how the Panthers need to respond to those challenges. "X got into with (Jordan) Usher in the first half and coach told him, 'you're more important to us than he is to them.' Having our coaching staff behind us and our leaders like Au'Diese and Justin to remind us to share that passion with us and to not make it known externally."
And now, at 9-7, 5-6 in the ACC, Pitt has to turn it around quickly before Wednesday.
"We have to trust the work," Horton said. "I felt out of it in the first half. I don't know what it was, but I tried everything. I switched my shoes, I told myself I had to step up and be a leader. Then coach banged on one of the lockers and told us to get it together and that snapped me out of the funk I was in."