Josh Pastner and Kyle Sturdivant spoke to the media today. Deivon Smith and Ja'von Franklin are doubtful for tomorrow both are sick, Franklin has been really sick the last 48 hours and Smith just got sick. Pastner hopes to have them back and if they feel okay they will play, but it will be a game day decision. Jalon Moore will be back however after his thigh contusion.
Kyle Sturdivant quotes:
On the importance of this game,
Very important almost like a championship game because a lot is at stake and I feel like every game in the ACC is one we can win so it is very important to win.
On why they can’t consistently shoot 3s as a unit and just one or two guys are hot,
Sometimes the ball just rolls like that, but sometimes it is how it goes. We can control what we can control and that is defense.
On Pitt,
Tough team and they play fast and they score a lot. We have to control them in transition and impose our will on them.
Josh Pastner quotes:
Tough loss, I’m still feeling the effects of it. I didn’t sleep Tuesday night and didn’t sleep well Wednesday or Thursday, but you have to move on and turn the page. We are locked in on Pitt. They are a very good basketball team and coach Capel to his credit has them playing at a high level. They were 1-3 to start, a week ago they were competing for 1st place in the ACC. They’ve got really good players, we will have to play really well. They lost two tough ones with Clemson and Duke, but they have some great wins they beat Virginia and UNC and won at NC State and Syracuse and they blistered Northwestern who are playing well. Coach Capel and coach Brownell would be the leaders for ACC COY if the award was today.
On Pitt being a veteran team,
Due to NIL and the additional COVID year a lot of these guys shouldn’t still be playing CBB, the age difference is really incredible, you have to get the job done regardless though even if you are playing 6-year seniors. That has been part of the change of the college landscape. That has been a change all at once. We’ve had chances, we’ve won close games and then lost other ones like ND and Utah and beat UGA and a few others. Iowa we lost the O-reb part, Clemson and Florida State we didn’t play well. We’ve got to perform, winning is fun and losing stinks. This is an old team in Pittsburgh.
I’m hoping Ja’von and Deivon will be able to play. Jalon Moore will be ready, it is more of how those two feel tomorrow morning, I’m hoping it is a 24-hour bug, both are still feeling the effects, a lot will be determined at shootaround tomorrow.
On Plays out of Timeouts,
If you look at our success rate, we’ve been successful coming out of timeouts, in ND we were not. Coming out of ATO players (after timeouts) we’ve been good base out of bounds or side out of bounds. We had some miscues and a lack of execution and we have to be better about that and I take full responsibility, were my words clear enough, did everyone one understand? Did I not repeat myself enough? That is something we didn’t do a good job of last game, that falls on me. Prior to that we’ve been very successful in our time here. There are numbers on that this year and our whole time here that were good. That cost me a lot of sleep. We take great pride in producing on ATOs. ND we didn’t do a good job.
On 3 point shooting,
We tried to establish the points in the paint early at ND, we had a couple of open great looks from three and didn’t stick them. I thought we would be a better shooting team to this point and this has cost us a couple of games. We are due to get hot. I hope that we are able to. It is a make or miss game and two of our best shooters Deebo and Lance were 0-10 from three and had a chance to still win the game, we had some great looks, we’ve just got to make them. Tristan has had some great looks, even Miles had good looks that he missed that were open too, we’ve got to make them. We need to make those shots when we have that type of openness.
On Rebounding being important for Pitt,
In ACC play Deivon is our leading rebounder, we have to do a great job on the glass. The one game we didn’t rebound other than UNC in ACC play, we focused on transition defense in that game, I wish I would’ve thrown that out and focused on rebounds.
Kyle Sturdivant quotes:
On the importance of this game,
Very important almost like a championship game because a lot is at stake and I feel like every game in the ACC is one we can win so it is very important to win.
On why they can’t consistently shoot 3s as a unit and just one or two guys are hot,
Sometimes the ball just rolls like that, but sometimes it is how it goes. We can control what we can control and that is defense.
On Pitt,
Tough team and they play fast and they score a lot. We have to control them in transition and impose our will on them.
Josh Pastner quotes:
Tough loss, I’m still feeling the effects of it. I didn’t sleep Tuesday night and didn’t sleep well Wednesday or Thursday, but you have to move on and turn the page. We are locked in on Pitt. They are a very good basketball team and coach Capel to his credit has them playing at a high level. They were 1-3 to start, a week ago they were competing for 1st place in the ACC. They’ve got really good players, we will have to play really well. They lost two tough ones with Clemson and Duke, but they have some great wins they beat Virginia and UNC and won at NC State and Syracuse and they blistered Northwestern who are playing well. Coach Capel and coach Brownell would be the leaders for ACC COY if the award was today.
On Pitt being a veteran team,
Due to NIL and the additional COVID year a lot of these guys shouldn’t still be playing CBB, the age difference is really incredible, you have to get the job done regardless though even if you are playing 6-year seniors. That has been part of the change of the college landscape. That has been a change all at once. We’ve had chances, we’ve won close games and then lost other ones like ND and Utah and beat UGA and a few others. Iowa we lost the O-reb part, Clemson and Florida State we didn’t play well. We’ve got to perform, winning is fun and losing stinks. This is an old team in Pittsburgh.
I’m hoping Ja’von and Deivon will be able to play. Jalon Moore will be ready, it is more of how those two feel tomorrow morning, I’m hoping it is a 24-hour bug, both are still feeling the effects, a lot will be determined at shootaround tomorrow.
On Plays out of Timeouts,
If you look at our success rate, we’ve been successful coming out of timeouts, in ND we were not. Coming out of ATO players (after timeouts) we’ve been good base out of bounds or side out of bounds. We had some miscues and a lack of execution and we have to be better about that and I take full responsibility, were my words clear enough, did everyone one understand? Did I not repeat myself enough? That is something we didn’t do a good job of last game, that falls on me. Prior to that we’ve been very successful in our time here. There are numbers on that this year and our whole time here that were good. That cost me a lot of sleep. We take great pride in producing on ATOs. ND we didn’t do a good job.
On 3 point shooting,
We tried to establish the points in the paint early at ND, we had a couple of open great looks from three and didn’t stick them. I thought we would be a better shooting team to this point and this has cost us a couple of games. We are due to get hot. I hope that we are able to. It is a make or miss game and two of our best shooters Deebo and Lance were 0-10 from three and had a chance to still win the game, we had some great looks, we’ve just got to make them. Tristan has had some great looks, even Miles had good looks that he missed that were open too, we’ve got to make them. We need to make those shots when we have that type of openness.
On Rebounding being important for Pitt,
In ACC play Deivon is our leading rebounder, we have to do a great job on the glass. The one game we didn’t rebound other than UNC in ACC play, we focused on transition defense in that game, I wish I would’ve thrown that out and focused on rebounds.
