Perhaps Jeff Capel’s team has a Southeastern Conference problem. After losing its first contest of the season last week to Florida on a neutral court in Brooklyn, N.Y., Pitt returned home Tuesday where it lost once again, this time to Missouri by a final score of 71-64 in the ACC-SEC Challenge.
“I thought [Missouri] played hard throughout,” Capel said after the loss. “We knew coming in their style is a bit chaotic, it’s different. I thought they did a great job of executing.”
For the first time of the season, the Panthers (5-2) failed to start the game hot, making just one of their first five shots from the field. That, along with poor protection of the basketball and lackluster defense on the perimeter, allowed the Tigers (6-2) to hang around until ultimately taking a 38-35 lead into the break.
“We have to be able to concentrate and focus the entire time we’re out there,” Capel said. “We’ve had a tendency where we’ve had leads, and I don’t think it’s a conscious thought of guys thinking they can take a break, I just think it’s human nature and learning to be tougher in those situations.”
Pitt looked to be on its way of taking control early in the second half, when it went on a 7-0 run before the first media break. Missouri, however, didn’t blink, responding with an 8-0 run of its own.
The Tigers were solid throughout the entire night from the outside, finishing their victory with eight made 3-pointers on 22 attempts. Sean East II led the way for Missouri, knocking down three triples and finishing with 21 points. Dennis Gates’ team was even more successful in the paint, where it outscored Pitt, 30-12.
“I felt like we could’ve done a lot of things better today,” Capel said. “[Defending the rim] is one of them. I thought we allowed our inability to make a shot, I thought we allowed that to affect our defense for the first time all year.”
In the game’s closing minutes, Pitt did what it could to go down with a fight. Back-to-back triples from Blake Hinson cut an eight-point Missouri lead to just a single score with 2:15 remaining. The first of those two triples was perhaps extra meaningful, as it was Pitt’s first made shot from the field in more than eight minutes. But when it counted most, the Panthers weren’t able to get the stops needed to complete their comeback.
Hinson led Pitt in scoring in its loss, tallying 22 points and five rebounds. Bub Carrington (13 points, seven rebounds, four assists) and Ishmael Leggett (10 points, seven rebounds, three assists) both finished with double figures in scoring as well. However, both of the Pitt guards delivered poor shooting efforts from the outside, finishing a combined 1-for-12 from 3-point range.
“We should be down about it,” Capel said when asked how he feels his team should handle the pair of losses in three games. “We should be down. I want us to be down, but that can’t last. When we get back together, we move on; we flush it, win or lose, the next day.”
Key stats: Pitt entered Tuesday’s game No. 3 in the country in rebounding margin (plus-17.5). However, the Tigers became the first team this season to outperform the Panthers on the glass, snagging 36 rebounds to their 33.
“I knew that they were going to play really hard,” Capel said. “I knew that they were going to fight, but I thought [rebounding] was where we could have an advantage, but we didn’t.”
Missouri especially made Pitt play on the offensive end, grabbing 11 offensive rebounds that led to 11 second-chance points. Another major area of struggle for Pitt was ball movement, as the Panthers finished with just eight assists, compared to their 11 turnovers.
Quotable: Once again, Pitt’s backcourt struggled when it faced pressure from the opposition. When asked how he feels his freshmen guard teammates will adapt to facing more Power Five competition, Hinson, the team’s top veteran, put things into perspective.
“They’re not struggling, they’re learning,” Hinson said. “They’re better than me at handling the ball, let me tell you that. They’re gonna be fine. They’re just gonna get these learning lessons and they’re going to become some of the better freshmen in the conference.”
Up next: The Panthers will be back in action Sunday as they host Clemson at 2 p.m. in their first ACC contest of the season, which will be televised on the ACC Network. The Tigers defeated Pitt in their lone contest last season by a final score of 75-74 on Jan. 23.
Noah Hiles: nhiles@post-gazette.com and Twitter @_NoahHiles
First Published: November 29, 2023, 2:47 a.m.
Updated: November 29, 2023, 2:53 a.m.
