ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 8, 2022

Jeff Capel

John Hugley

Barclays Center

Pittsburgh Panthers

Postgame Press Conference

Boston College - 66, Pittsburgh - 46

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Pitt head coach Jeff Capel and John Hugley. Coach, if you'll start us off.

JEFF CAPEL: Congrats to BC. They were outstanding today. They really dominated the game, especially once John went out with his second foul in the first half.

Earl has done a really great job of coming in and trying to establish a culture right away with the program in his first year. He has really done a great job with some of the pieces that were left, with both Langfords, with Karnik, and it really starts with those guys, and then added some really good pieces. They've been tough all year. They've been a really tough basketball team, and they've gotten better all year.

This was certainly not the outcome that we wanted or anticipated, but I'm proud of my guys. This has been a really long year. It's been a hard year. We have had a lot of adversity right from the beginning, right after the first exhibition game or during the first exhibition game. It was when it all started.

It hasn't looked like it over the last two weeks, but our team got better from the beginning of the year until where we are now. And the thing that I'm grateful for and what I told these guys in the locker room is that we were able to get better because we continued to show up and we continued to work and try to get better.

It would have been very easy for us in the middle of November, the end of November, to fold, to kind of give up and give in. With the things that we went through, the close losses, the heartbreaking losses and things like that, but we continued to show up. We continued to fight, and because of that we got better.

We showed glimpses at times this year of what we could possibly be. We just were never able to be consistent with it.

But I'm proud of our guys. I'm proud of the fight we had all year. I'm proud that we stayed together and continued to fight. Just today and really the last couple of weeks since we beat North Carolina, we've come up very, very short.

Q. Jeff, you had some tough stretches down the second half of each of the last two seasons as well. You said these guys are together and they're fighting. How does it feel different than maybe just the on court results, but the feeling around the team as you end this season compared to the last couple?

JEFF CAPEL: Well, I'm trying to remember the last couple. I'm so in the moment right now. Certainly last year we didn't finish with a whole roster, the roster that we started with. So we were able to do that this year. It's hard for me right now just to look in the rearview mirror just because I was so into this moment and trying to be prepared for this. I can probably talk about that a little bit more in better detail as I assess it. Right now I'm just not in the moment of assessing anything. It's still so fresh that it's over right now.

Again, I just think these guys have fought. We fought. We continued. Again, after both of those games at Virginia Tech -- against Virginia Tech, especially the game at Virginia Tech, again that was another time where we could have folded. We could have thrown in the towel. Maybe the previous years we've done that, where the losing streaks really extended. But after that, we went to Florida State, and we won. Came home and won, and then we went and played a very good North Carolina team, and we won.

Since then, we have not played well on both sides of the basketball. Part of that, I think, is I think these guys and the guys that played a lot, I think they were tired. I think they were mentally and physically fried. Again, it's no excuse, but we just didn't play well the last 2 1/2 weeks of the season. So we just didn't play well.

Q. You had talked about seeing glimpses from your team that gave you some hope, gave you some promise. Why do you think that those glimpses, I guess, didn't translate into something more consistent for this group?

JEFF CAPEL: I think we -- you know, the very first thing is I think it's really hard to win. I think, when you don't have a reference point of winning and older guys in your program that have won, I think that's the most difficult thing to understand the discipline daily that it takes in order to become consistent. We have not had that since I've been here. Hopefully that's something we can have as we move forward in the ever-changing landscape of college athletics, especially college basketball.

But it takes discipline. It takes commitment. It takes sacrifice. It takes all of these things. Also, we have to get better players. I mean, that's the reality of it. It's nothing against -- it's not anything personal. We have to continue to add better players. We have to recruit better. All those things we have to do better. We have to continue to develop guys. We have to continue to help them reach their potential as players. Those are things that we have to continue to do.

Q. Good afternoon, Jeff. I wanted to get your thoughts on just Mo and what he's meant to you guys as a program. He's only been here a year, but it seemed like he meant a lot to your team, and he seemed to grow throughout the season.

JEFF CAPEL: I love the kid. I wish we had him longer because you saw how much he's gotten better. He's an amazing kid to be around. He's a worker. Keeps his head down, comes into work every day. He's eager to learn, a really good listener. Takes constructive criticism, takes feedback, seeks it out. And he got better and better as the season went along.

I think, as he gained confidence at this level and understood the different things, the speed, the physicality and things like that, I think he just got better and better, and I think he has a very bright future in the game.

Q. I actually wanted to ask you about Mo as well and what having him as a teammate meant to you and what you learned from him in his year here.

JOHN HUGLEY: It meant a lot having a teammate like Mo. His leadership, being much older than all the guys in the locker room, he was like a big brother to us, picking us up when we're down.

Court-wise, having his shot out there, he could alter shots. He could defend one through five. I love playing with Mo.

Q. With Mo running out of eligibility, like you said, and some other players having the opportunity to move on after this year, what areas of your roster do you feel -- I know you said you guys need to recruit better players. What areas of your roster do you feel need improvement the most this off-season?

JEFF CAPEL: I think every area. I think every area. We have to get better in every area of the game -- shooting, ball handling, decision-making, depth, all of those things. We have to develop the guys in our program, then we have to go out and get players. I mean, that's the life blood of every program. So it's not just us. Like you have to continue to add. You have to continue to develop in all those things. That's what we'll look forward to doing.

Q. Talking to BC's coaches and players, they identified the last five minutes of the first half when you guys didn't score and also Femi's technical in the second half as points where they felt like the game was really starting to get firmly in their hands. Did you guys notice a moment throughout the game where it felt like it was slipping away from you?

JEFF CAPEL: Is that for me?

Q. For either, yeah.

JEFF CAPEL: When John picked up his second foul, I thought that's when the game changed. We didn't have a guy we could go to inside that we felt could draw a double-team and get other guys shots, and we were in incredible foul trouble. Femi was out. J.B. had two, picked up his third. So we had some lineups out there that we really have not played with or practiced with.

So I think the last five minutes, I think it coincided with John picking up his second foul and coming out of the game. Then certainly that sequence where there was a flagrant and a technical foul, they get four free throws right there. We'd actually done a pretty decent job the first couple of possessions of the second half. We'd gotten stops, but we weren't able to convert it. We made one free throw during that stretch. We were 1 for 2 from the line. We had a turnover. Those are the plays right there that we have to be able to convert.

Then certainly the technical foul and the flagrant and then them having possession right after certainly changed. Also, it was Femi's fourth foul -- third and fourth foul, where he had to sit.

Q. You mentioned about recruiting, the importance of getting players. I was curious, this is the first year that name, image, likeness where players can make money on their own. Pittsburgh is a great sports town. They don't have an NBA team. I was wondering if that's an advantage when it comes to getting players, that they're going to probably be the best-known basketball players in that market. I know in St. Johns and York, although it's a big market, they don't do well in the name, image, likeness game.

JEFF CAPEL: It could be, but you also have competing factors with the Steelers, the Pirates, and the Penguins right there as well, but it's something that could be. It's something that's going to be important with every program as you move forward, especially the programs on the Power Five level, the name, image, and likeness.

Last year after last season, you had two just huge things that happened in college athletics with the one-time transfer and the name, image, and likeness. You add that where they both happen during a global pandemic. It totally changed the landscape of college athletics when the landscape of the world was very different with the pandemic.

So there's been an adjustment period for everyone. I thought -- you know, a couple of the guys that we got from the transfer portal were very good for us, with J.B., with Jamarius, and with Mo. Teams can drastically change if you are able to get the right guys. In some cases you get lucky. In our league you look at Wake Forest and you look at the huge jump that they made just from the portal and the development of a couple of their returning guys with Mucius and Williamson. Miami did a good job in the portal.

So you can change -- again, you have to be able to develop. You have to be able to get the right pieces. The name, image, and likeness can really, really assist you with that.

Q. This question is for John. John, what are the lessons you take from this year, and what do you want to improve on heading into next season?

JOHN HUGLEY: Lessons I took from this year is just like staying together and like when things are going down, just staying up. Everything is not always going to be a good thing. You've got to stay up at all times. Never give up, that's one thing I always learned. Never give up and show up.

Things I'm looking forward to for next season, keep getting better as a player and a person. Just keep getting better. That's the only thing I can do now is keep getting better.

Q. John, on that same topic, how do you feel like this season has poised you to continue to grow? If you compare where you were now from last year, big difference. How do you feel like this getting a full season of experience and really getting like a full year now has set you up for future success?

JOHN HUGLEY: I think it set me up for great -- you know, like I said, just coming here ready to play and compete with the best players in this conference. Next year I've got to do the same thing, just ready to work and compete.

THE MODERATOR: That's a great one to end on. Thanks guys.