Pitt Players Call Out Own Desire
PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers lost their fourth ACC game in as many tries this week, when No. 11 Duke rolled into the Petersen Events Center and ran to a 75-53 win that wasn't even as close as that final score would indicate.
After a comprehensive beatdown, The Panthers couldn't identify one facet of the game that failed them and forward Zack Austin said it really came down to desire. Pitt was punched in the mouth early and was unable to recover.
“It wasn’t just one thing that beat us tonight. They just wanted it more tonight," Austin said. "We lost the game because we just didn’t want it enough.”
Diaz Graham added that, especially when it came to rebounding, it seemed like the Blue Devils simply wanted it more. Duke head coach Jon Scheyer agreed, saying the Blue Devils were able to win battles on the glass primarily through "hunger." Pitt was beaten on the boards 42-26 despite rebounding being one of their strengths for most of this season.
Austin didn't think the Panthers came into this game unprepared, but once they hit the floor and were faced with Duke's overwhelming combination of size, talent and speed, they weren't able to push back.
“Honestly, I thought the practices we’ve had before weren’t bad practices," Austin said. "They were good practices. It’s just coming out. We’ve got to come out in the game with more energy.”
Following the game, head coach Jeff Capel had a laundry list of issues the Panthers need to fix over the next week before they return to action against Syracuse - the most glaring among them is their weakness with the ball.
"We have to learn. We have to play harder, we have to be more physical, we can’t just let guys take the ball from us, we have to move more, we have to be able to adapt to when teams do something different.”
Pitt knows that if it wants to bounce back and salvage a lowly start to ACC play, it'll need to be tougher mentally and physically.
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