Rested Panthers Ready for Another Shot at Wolfpack
GREENSBORO -- The Pittsburgh basketball team might be playing its second game in as many days when it takes on NC State on Wednesday in the second round of the ACC tournament.
But according to coach Jeff Capel, the Panthers are still a better rested team than when it faced the Wolfpack in a regular season matchup at PNC Arena less than two weeks earlier.
"Our bye, for whatever reason, was at the end of the season, so this being the first year of 20 ACC league games, that's a lot," Capel said after Tuesday's opening round 81-72 win against Wake Forest at Greensboro Coliseum. "This is not an excuse, this is just a fact. We are a very, very young team and from January 4th until last Wednesday, we were playing two games a week, sometimes three games a week.
"I thought we hit a wall there after we won the game against Georgia Tech (on Feb. 8). We couldn't push through."
That victory in Atlanta was the Panthers last until Tuesday, a game that ended a seven-game losing streak that included a 77-73 defeat by the Wolfpack.
With no game scheduled on the final weekend of the regular season, Capel told his players to step completely away from basketball for two days to rest, recharge and refocus.
Both mentally and physically.
It's a strategy that worked wonders in their first game back on the court. Pitt (16-16) shot 62.1% from the floor in the first half and made 34 of its 65 field goal attempts for the game (52.3%) in a game highlighted by a career-high 31-point performance by Justin Champagnie.
The freshman wing, fueled by his omission from the ACC All-Freshman team, made 13 of 19 shots and went 3 of 7 from three-point range. In the first meeting with State, he was held to 10 points on 3 of 10 shooting (1 of 4).
Champagnie had plenty of help against the Deacons, with four other Panthers scoring in double figures.
Despite the obvious drain of playing for a second straight day against a fresh opponent playing its tournament opener, Capel likes where his team is heading into Wednesday's game.
"We worry a little bit about fatigue," the former Duke point guard said. "But hopefully the adrenaline of still being alive and having the opportunity to play will push us through that."
Capel said that it's also an advantage for his team to have scouted and played the Wolfpack so recently, because with the short turnaround between games, there's not much time for preparation.
But that, he said, doesn't make the task against the fifth-seeded Wolfpack any easier, Especially since coach Kevin Keatts' team needs the win to help keep its NCAA tournament hopes alive.
State has won nine straight against Pitt, but five of those have come by six points or fewer.
"It helps because there's some familiarity," Capel said when asked about playing State so recently. "But they're really good and they're going to run a bunch of ball screens, they have multiple guys that can dribble, pass and shoot.
"I think (D.J.) Funderburk has been one of the most improved guys in our league; I think (Markell) Johnson is one of the better guards in our league. (Devon) Daniels has had a heck of a season. C.J. (Bryce) ... they can come at you in so many different levels. Their last game of the regular season, (Braxton) Beverly went nuts, and so they're a really good basketball team."
Because State is teetering so precariously on the NCAA tournament bubble, coach Kevin Keatts said his team isn't as concerned about who it plays Wednesday, but how well it takes care of its own business.
"I can only control how hard our guys play from game to game and that’s what we need to look at," he said. "We expect to play hard. I think everybody understands who we are. We play, we get up and down. We’re starting to get a little bit more healthy. We absolutely haven’t been able to play the way we normally would because we haven’t had the depth. But, we’ve got some of our guys that play really good basketball."
