Pitt spent 19:41 of the second half against Miami down by 20 or more points in a game they would eventually lose 85-64 at the Petersen Events Center Tuesday night. From the start of the game, Miami's talent gap over Pitt was obvious in how its backcourt was more athletic, explosive, and Pitt's worst nightmare of a matchup.
Miami came into the game running a style of offense different from most with a starting lineup that featured four guards in Isaiah Wong, Jordan Miller, Kameron McGusty and Charlie Moore, along with Sam Waardenburg at forward. Pitt had no answer for either McGusty or Moore off the dribble as both led Miami with 19 points and were constantly abusing Pitt's guards with quick drives to the basket throughout the night.
"They're an outstanding and experienced basketball team," Capel said. "They have elite-level guards. That is the best backcourt we've played against. They're all really good ball handlers, elite shot makers who can create off the bounce and shoot with range. They can do it all."
Most teams that thrash Pitt's defense do so by shooting well on three-pointers, but Miami's 55 percent from the field came primarily from inside the perimeter as the Hurricanes dominated the paint with a 44-30. 16 of Miami's 32 made field goals were either dunks or layups as McGusty, Moore and Miller continued to drive Pitt's guards into the paint and shake them with either spin moves, crossovers or just pure speed.
"We have to have great help," Capel said. "We have to be in the gaps, have a lot of talk and have pride individually. You need to have all of that. When we've done it, we've been really good. But we didn't do it tonight."
Pitt's guards had no answers on either side of the ball. Although the final box score did show Femi Odukale with 10 points and Jamarius Burton with 12, the majority of those points for both players came only when Miami had lead that was 22 points or more. During that span Odukale scored six points while Burton scored ten, and eight of those came in the final five minutes when Miami was resting most of its starters.
But the problem wasn't Pitt's shooting, as Pitt's 48 percent from the field was actually up from the season shooting percentage of 41.4 that ranks dead last in the ACC. It was actually turnovers, where Pitt had 20 to Miami's 12, and Miami's 30-13 advantage in points off turnovers.
"We dug ourselves a hole with the turnovers once again," Capel said. "Coming into the game we talked about how we had to be strong and value the ball. If we did that we would get good looks, and it would just be a matter of knocking them down. When we did that, we got good looks and shot 48 percent from the field. But it's entirely too many turnovers. That's an area that's plagued us all year and it showed up again tonight. That was one of the big differences of the game."
It wasn't a surprise, as any scouting report on the game would make note of how Miami had the ACC's best turnover margin of +4.15 per game an Pitt as the ACC's worst of -3.07. It was the biggest factor to the matchup coming in and if Pitt didn't tighten up its biggest weakness, the blowout was going to be the result.
"Miami played pretty good defense," John Hugley IV said. "They pressured and threw us out of our comfort zone, but that's no excuse."
"That's what they do," Capel said of Miami's pressure on defense. "We talked about it and showed a lot of tape to show the areas of opportunity that were open, but we weren't strong. We were too loose. We told them they were going to reach, gamble and shoot the passing lanes. But if we're strong and we're able to work to get open and make strong decisions, we'll get wide open looks. We didn't do it enough, way not enough."
Not to minimize what Capel's saying, because when Pitt executed its offense it did knock down shots, but Pitt's turnover issue continues to be the biggest liability of the team. Despite Capel's preaching for his players to value the basketball, a phrase he's mentioned in postgame press conferences since November, it hasn't changed. The Panthers have only 3 of 29 games in which they've recorded less than ten turnovers.
Against Miami, Ithiel Horton and Burton each had four turnovers, while Odukale had three and Onyebuchi Ezeakudo had two coming off the bench. Pitt's backcourt registering 12 combined turnovers matched the total from Miami's team.
Pitt's forwards were the only part of the team that looked remotely effective as Hugley finished with 20 points and seven rebounds while Mouhammadou Gueye finished with eleven points and five rebounds in just 20 minutes played. Combined, the two made 11 of 14 field goals for a 78.5 percentage. But the Panthers couldn't feed their bigs enough, and Gueye suffered an injury towards the end of the first half that limited his play.
Gueye went up for a dunk and was called for a charge with 11:53 left in the first half, but landed hard on his right side and had to get looked at by Pitt's trainers for two minutes before jogging to the locker room. He came back out before the end of the half and played in the second half, but eventually Capel made the call for him to sit the rest of the way.
"It was a sprained wrist," Capel said of Gueye's injury. "There was no structural damage from the X-ray we took. He came out to play the second half, but he was in pain, so I took him out and decided to get him some rest to get him ready for next week."
Pitt was only down 18-12 when Gueye's injury happened. The Panthers were able to keep their deficit to just ten points going down to the final 3:30 of the first half, but eventually allowed an 11-1 Miami run that would establish a 47-27 halftime lead that set the tone for the rest of the game.
"Obviously when he picked up his second foul, that was big," Capel said of Gueye's absence. "And then with the injury we didn't know (when he would return). The game was closer then and we're a different team when he's out of the game. He protects the basket on defense and spaces the floor on offense with his ability to shoot. It was a big blow, but they were getting downhill even before that. The big thing was the turnovers. We have to be able to correct that and I know the team we play next week will pressure the heck out of us, so we have to be able to be stronger in those situations."
"It changed a lot," Hugley said of Gueye's absence. "Mo's a big piece of our scoring and rebounding and it's a big drop-off. But that's no excuse. Like coach always says, it's next man up."
The loss dropped Pitt to 11-18 on the season, 6-12 in the ACC while Miami improved to 20-8, 12-5 in the ACC. But it also exposed just how limited the Panthers are with options in their backcourt. Both Burton and Odukale are guards dependent on ball control, playing more half court basketball and working longer possessions while Horton is the team's best sharpshooter. There aren't many options for the team to call upon when facing aggressive guards from opposing teams who can change games on offense and defense.
It's the same weakness that killed Pitt in its loss to Georgia Tech Saturday, as now those back-to-back losses stunted a three-game win streak the Panthers were enjoying in the ACC. That could expose Pitt's biggest need this offseason, which looks like Capel might have to do a lot of heavy lifting in the Transfer Portal to address.
Pitt has a full week to rest before playing Duke at the Petersen Events Center next Tuesday, the first place team in the ACC. That rest will be welcomed, as Capel put it, after the Panthers had a long stretch with few breaks over the past month.
"It's welcomed," Capel said. "For whatever reason it seems like every year our bye is at the end. I'm not making an excuse, but I know we're a tired, banged-up basketball game. We haven't had many off days since we played Syracuse here. To be exact, we've had just two off days. We've had make-up games, games pushed because of weather and it's been a lot. This will be welcomed for us. That gives our guys a chance for their bodies to recover and for them to recover mentally."
"Sure, I'm tired physically, but I have to keep going mentally," Hugley said. "You can't let the physical tiredness outweigh your mental game. You always have to push through it. You may be tired, but so is everybody in the country. We have to keep pushing."
Capel plans to give his players two full days off to recover before reconvening Thursday for practices to get them back to focusing on what they've been doing wrong before the Blue Devils who might have Pitt more overmatched than any team they've faced this season.
"We'll get away from basketball for a couple days," Capel said. "We'll give them Wednesday and Thursday off outside of coming in for treatment. We'll get back together on Friday and work on us for a couple days and then on Sunday start diving into our next opponent."