Pitt stars shine in important win
Panthers jump out to big first-half lead and fight off determined Duke, 79-73
There will never be anything normal for Jeff Capel about coaching against his mentor, Mike Krzyzewski, doing everything he can to defeat the man and the Duke program for which he played for four years and coached under for another seven years.
In 2019, his first season as Pitt’s coach, he was facing his alma mater for the first time as an opponent. The following year, he returned to the arena he once called home, where emotions ran so high that a welcoming chant from Duke’s student section was misconstrued by an irate Krzyzewski as a taunt.
There was no groundbreaking quality to his third meeting in the past three years against the Blue Devils, no sort of first being established merely by the act of playing. It’s simply how things work now.
“I’m used to it now,” Capel said Monday. “It’s not like it was the first time, but it’s still different.”
As it turned out, Tuesday was a little bit different. Capel not only squared off against Krzyzewski and Duke, but beat them.
Lifted by a pair of doubledoubles — Justin Champagnie with 31 points and 14 rebounds and Au’Diese Toney with 22 points and 11 rebounds — Pitt defeated the Blue Devils, 79-73, leading for all but 2:27 of a possible 40 minutes and withstanding a sustained second-half rally to hold on for the victory.
“In order to beat that team, you have to fight for 40 minutes,” Capel said. “We did that. We were able to sustain a lead throughout the game, even when they made runs. We knew they were going to make runs. We were able to extend it every time they made a run.”
Champagnie’s 31 points matched a career high and his double-double, which he reached with about four minutes left in the first half, was his fifth of the season. That it came in a matchup against Duke’s Matthew Hurt — another player considered among the ACC’s best, but who finished the night with 13 points, about seven below his season average — made Tuesday worth savoring that much more.
“Before the game, I kept saying to myself that I don’t think he’s better than me,” Champagnie said. “I went there and I kind of proved it.”
Xavier Johnson just missed out on giving his team a third player with a double-double, as the junior point guard finished with nine points and a careerhigh 11 assists. His playmaking ability on offense was particularly important for the Panthers on a night in which 21 of their 24 made field goals were assisted.
The win was Pitt’s first against the Blue Devils since Feb. 2016, snapping a fivegame losing streak in which it only once fell by fewer than 12 points. With the victory, Capel became the first former Duke player to defeat Krzyzewski as a head coach.
“It’s big for our program and it’s big for our guys,” Capel said. “Obviously as a program, when you’re trying to build and trying to take the next step, any time you can beat one of the bluebloods, that’s big. But you guys should know me by now. None of this stuff is about me, I had my time when I played. This is about these guys and trying to make sure they have an unbelievable experience.”
Trailing by two, 31-29, with 3:50 remaining in the first half after a Hurt 3pointer, Pitt erupted for 14 unanswered points. It was a run capped off by a 3 from Champagnie with 42 seconds remaining that gave him 17 points and 10 rebounds, nearly matching his season averages in a single half and giving his team a nine-point halftime advantage.
It was the kind of momentum that not even a 15minute break in the action could temper. Behind five points in a 90-second stretch from forward Abdoul Karim Coulibaly, who averages just 3.9 points per game, the Panthers (8-2, 4-1 ACC) pushed their lead to 15 and threatened to pull away from Duke for good, even with 16 minutes left to play.
That euphoric feeling was only temporary.
The Blue Devils (5-4, 3-2) gradually worked their way back, riding 18 second-half points from star freshman Jalen Johnson, who was playing his first extended minutes since suffering a foot injury in mid-December. For much of the half, Duke lurked. A 15 -point deficit became an eightpoint one, keeping them within striking distance while not posing a serious threat to change the complexion of the game with a strong possession or two. For a period of about eight minutes, Duke never trailed by more than 10 points, but was never closer than six. Every time it appeared poised to break through, Pitt responded.
Eventually, that stalemate was broken and the tension that had been simmering started to boil.
The Blue Devils made their move, getting within three and staying down by just a single shot for much of the final six minutes. After Johnson fouled out with 2:16 remaining, though, they lost their most talented, athletic and imposing player for the game’s most crucial moments.
It was, ultimately, enough to allow Pitt to hold onto its lead, close the game and secure its biggest win of an increasingly promising season.