LONELY SENTINEL
Loss characterized by physical play
Fans returned to PPG Paints Arena this past week, but 2,800 people only go so far in a 20,000-seat arena as this arena usher realized Thursday night.
Peter Diana/ Post-Gazette
As he put on his mask and began to rise up from his chair, with his postgame news conference winding to its conclusion, Jeff Capel had one more thing to say as he leftthe view of the camera.
“I like all of those guys,” the Pitt coach said. “They’re really, really good guys. But this is some [expletive].”
Saturday afternoon was a maddening one for Capel, as the Panthers ended their regular season with a 77-62 loss at Clemson, Pitt’s ninth defeat in its past 11 games and its fifth consecutive sub-.500 regular-season finish.
While those things helped set the backdrop, Capel’s frustration and attention was most fervently directed at “those guys” — that is, the officials.
“There’s a double standard with us,” Capel said. “I’m tired of it.”
The Tigers and Panthers each were whistled for 13 fouls, but there was a physical quality to the game that couldn’t be wholly and accurately reflected in a box score.
Before he spoke for nearly three minutes about officiating, a couple of Capel’s answers veered to how much contact there was in the game. His diatribe was prompted by a query about his team’s balanced scoring effort. It was something that wasclearly weighing on him.
In ACC play, the Panthers have been called for 253 fouls, compared to 264 for their opponents. Their 17.4 fouls per game are the second-most of any ACC team, behind only Florida State. While they get to the line frequently, with a free-throw rate in conference games that ranks them first in the ACC, they also have the same effect on the teams they play, as their opponents’ free-throw rate is the secondhighestin the conference.
Capel’s qualms with officiating were embodied by his mostprominent player.
On an afternoon in which he played 30 minutes, took 13 shots and drew four fouls, Justin Champagnie didn’t attempt a single free throw, a firstthis season. In 13 of the 19 games in which he has appeared this season, the 6-foot6 forward has had at least four free-throw attempts. Champagnie is fourth on his own team in fouls drawn per 40 minutes, with 4.5. That ties him for 14th among ACC players.
For one of the front-runners for the conference’s player of the year award, a physicalforward who creates near the basket and averages a double-double for the season, it’s a figure Capel believes unusually low.
“I don’t like the way he’s officiated, just to be completely honest with you,” Capel said. “I’ve been around this league for a really, really long time as a player and as a coach. When you’re a really good player and one of the best players in the league, you usually don’t go through a game where you play 30 minutes and don’t shoot a free throw when you’re not justa jump-shooter.”
Capel previously has lamented the way Champagnie is handled by officials, making a similar, albeit briefer, observation after a Feb. 6 loss at Virginia, when the Brooklyn native drew four fouls and attempted two freethrows in 36 minutes.
“It is frustrating, but at the same time, you’ve got to play through it,” Champagnie said. “It’s part of the game. The game is physical. Basketball’snot a non-touch sport.”
Then there are the technical fouls. The Panthers have been hit with 13 technicals this season, the most of any ACC team by a healthy margin. The most recent of those came Saturday when sophomoreGerald Drumgoole, after a battle for the ball between
teammate Femi Odukale and Clemson forward PJ Hall, gaveHall a light push after the officialhad blown his whistle.
A sizable share of those 13 fouls have been warranted, brought about by mental lapses in which a player, or Capel himself, argued too vociferously with an official or a player taunted an opponent. It has been a self-perpetuating cycle, too, with Pitt players previously saying they believe their team has developeda reputation.
But when evaluating those missteps, it’s hard for Capel not to think of moments such as when Ithiel Horton was slapped with a technical for saying ‘And one!’ after a teammate made a shot through contact in a Feb. 14 lossat Georgia Tech.
“This is a really emotional game and you’re playing and it’s physical and all of those things like that, but other teams are able to be emotional and emote emotional things,” Capel said. “They [Clemson] had a guy run off the court and things like that andnothing is called.”
Capel said he has contacted the ACC office about his concerns, but that “it doesn’t matter.” (Though it’s safe to assume he’ll be hit with a fine of some sort for his comments). His team and its coaches, he said, have to figureout a way to persevere.
There’s only so much time left for them to fight, at least this season. Saturday’s loss, coupled with Notre Dame’s victory against No. 11 Florida State, dropped Pitt to 12th in the 15-team ACC, one spot above where it was picked to finish in the league’s preseason poll. It will face No. 13 seed Miami in the first round of the ACC tournament at 2 p.m.Tuesday.
For as frustrated as he was Saturday, Capel has been uplifted by much of what has transpired in the past week, after Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney left the program. He and his players have spoken about the cohesiveness that has developed within the team and how the players have been motivated by whatever doubt those departures created. As freshman William Jeffress said after Tuesday’s win against Wake Forest, “We all we got. Weall we need.”
It’s an identity that’s being fostered within the Panthers program, an us-against-theworld mentality that perhaps even applies to officials.
“I’ve been excited since we played N.C. State,” Capel said. “I’ve been excited for the response. I’ve been excited by how we’ve played. I’ve been excited about coming to practice. I’ve been excited about the energy of this group and how we’ve respondedto adversity.”