ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 25, 2023

Jeff Capel

Blake Hinson

Ishmael Leggett

Pittsburgh Panthers

Men's Press Conference

Q. Ish, you had an opportunity to play with your new team for the first time against an American team, I guess, in Georgetown. How was that for you? How do you feel you did gelling with your new teammates, and how do you feel the team did?

ISHMAEL LEGGETT: Man, that was a great feeling just getting out there, seeing people that aren't my teammates, because practice sometimes can get repetitive, but it was great scrimmaging against somebody else who weren't my teammates.

I thought I did a great job. I was very vocal, and we meshed well. We looked pretty good, and I'm excited for this season to start.

Q. Ish, what is it about this team and the makeup of the roster this season that makes you believe that Pitt can do something special and obviously progress forward in your opinion? What are some of those things that have come together that we haven't seen behind the scenes that you think are going to come and help the team as you go forward?

ISHMAEL LEGGETT: We've got a lot of guys who love winning. We've got a lot of gritty guys who would do anything to win. I think that first and foremost is something that every team needs, just a bunch of dogs. That's how I'd described them, dogs.

Something else is defensively I think we're very versatile, and we'll be able to switch up our match-ups, switch 1 through 4 sometimes even 1 through 5 because our lineups are so versatile.

I think those two things combined with our offensive skill set will be a force in the ACC.

Q. A big part of last year's success with this team was culture. Everyone was really bought in. How did they explain that culture to you when you were in the portal and being recruited by Pitt?

ISHMAEL LEGGETT: So on my official visit that's what stood out to me the most, their culture. It was a winning culture and I love to win. The guys on and off the court I could just tell they had a good vibe to them and I felt we would mesh well, and I was correct.

Looking back on it, I'm glad I made the decision to come to Pitt.

Q. You were obviously at Rhode Island; now you're at Pitt. Is there something about the northeast and that style of basketball that keeps you in that part of the world?

ISHMAEL LEGGETT: Like I said, dogs. It's northeast, wherever I am. I feel like dogs attract dogs, and that's how they got me to come to Pitt.

Q. You're a strong catch-and-shoot type of player. Is your timing on the catching and shooting where you want it to be? Can you be quicker? What is it about that style of play that attracts you to well?

ISHMAEL LEGGETT: I mean, I could always be quicker, but I feel like just getting reps up is something that's big with me. Game-like repetition at full speed is something that I really tried to focus on this summer, not just getting on the gun, shooting catch-and-shoots, but game-like repetition.

Q. What were your takeaways from the scrimmage against Georgetown and how did this group look in its first time playing together?

BLAKE HINSON: New group played good. Can't be mad with a win. Definitely room for improvement, but that's what the scrimmage is for.

Q. Blake, obviously you're a great three-point shooter. What part of your game do you hope to most improve on this season?

BLAKE HINSON: I really want to dunk on people. I know that's funny, but I'm so serious. I really want to finish at the rim a lot better. Maybe it's not always dunks, but I do want to finish at the rim a lot better.

Q. How much of your off-season conditioning is going to lead to more dunking?

BLAKE HINSON: Yeah, that was the whole point. That's the motivation. Sometimes it gets really grueling running and the conditioning. But getting a highlight dunk seems worth it.

Q. To ask more about that training that went into getting in better shape, you told us a couple weeks ago it was as simple as eating less and working out more. Can you give a little bit more detail about those workouts? What are you specifically working on to get in shape so you can dunk on people more?

BLAKE HINSON: Man, I'm telling you, I'm not joking. Eat a little bit less and running more. I promise you, that's it.

Q. Do you have to win a championship in order to call it a successful season?

BLAKE HINSON: Yes, that's how I look at it. Honestly, that's how I look at it. That's how I go into every season. I don't go to practice every day to not try to bring home the trophy.

It's not a failure, but the goal is to win the championship. That's all I can say.

Q. How much do the three big men push you, Federiko, Graham and Graham?

BLAKE HINSON: All the time. All the time. It's all different types of games. Federiko is strong and quick. Then you've got G who can really shoot and is really smart. Then you've got Jorge, who's quicker and a little bit more savvy with the ball and you've got to guard all of them every day, so they always push me in all types of ways.

Q. Other than the numbers on their jerseys, how do you tell Guillermo and Jorge apart?

BLAKE HINSON: G is a little bit more slower paced in all areas. He's just a calmer person. He walks a little slower. Jorge kind of has a bounce about him all the time. You can just kind of tell.

Q. Coach, this morning the commissioner spoke about the expansion to 18 schools with SMU, Cal and Stanford, and the thought that the ACC Tournament may not have every team advance. What's your take on if we had an ACC Tournament without all 18 schools?

JEFF CAPEL: I wouldn't like that. I think every team deserves a chance to go to the tournament, ACC Tournament, to be a part of the championship. You never know what can happen. The NCAA Tournament tells you that every year. A team can get hot and maybe go on a magical run.

I would hope that that's not something that comes to fruition.

Q. Coach, you obviously played for Duke in college. You were an assistant coach. Maybe just describe what the ACC means to you as well as what are you looking forward to most this season, seeing your team overall improve on?

JEFF CAPEL: Well, I grew up in this league. I grew up here in North Carolina about three hours from here. My father was an assistant coach at Wake Forest when I was sixth through eighth grade. I've dreamt of playing in the ACC when I was a little boy.

I had the opportunity and the privilege and was blessed to be able to do that. My dream was always -- when I got into coaching, I never had a dream job. My dream was to hopefully coach in the ACC one day.

The University of Pittsburgh provided me with that. I'm excited about our season. I'm excited about the young men that I get a chance to work with on a daily basis. I'm excited to watch them grow in all phases of their life as basketball players, but probably more importantly young men.

I'm really excited about the guys that we have returning because they got a chance to see, hear and feel what a good team sounds like, what it feels like, what it looks like every day.

I think with that experience, I've already seen them trying to pour into the new guys to our program, with Ish and Zack, two guys that have played college basketball but are grateful and appreciative to be a part of what we're doing.

And then to our freshmen.

I'm excited about who I think we can become. I'm excited about who we are right now. I look forward to the journey.

Q. You've been in basketball for a long time. I'm curious, have you ever coached a player as entertaining as the guy who was just at the podium?

JEFF CAPEL: I don't think I have. You know, I'm not sure I've coached a guy -- I said this to someone earlier. I'm not sure I've coached anyone -- and I've been around some really, really good players. I don't know if I've coached anyone that brings the joy to playing basketball every day that he does.

He has impacted me. Not just our program, but the impact that he's had on me has been unbelievable, because as a coach, every day that I come in, even if -- look, you drag a little bit or you may be worried or down or whatever, and then I usually hear him first before I see him. I usually hear him, and then I see him, and it's infectious.

I think it's permeated throughout our whole program.

Q. Looking at the roster, you've had a lot of 6'9", 6'10", 7'. Is that the largest, tallest team you've had?

JEFF CAPEL: Probably. As a head coach, probably. I think we can be really good defensively. I thought last year we made a huge jump offensively if you look at our numbers. It was easy to do it from the first four years because we were bad everywhere, but last year we made a significant jump offensively.

I think we can make a huge jump defensively because of our size, our length, our athleticism. It's something we're working on every day. We have to buy into it, which I think they have.

We have guys individually that can defend and collectively as a group with that size, length, athleticism, and intelligence. Look, I think we have guys that understand how to play and are able to follow a game plan and scouting and things like that.

I'm excited about who I think we can become.

Q. Is that part of a larger vision, or is that something that unfolds over the course of a couple of seasons in which you recognize, oh, wait, we can be taller and let's adjust to that?

JEFF CAPEL: It was part of the vision. It took a while for that vision to become a reality, but it was part of the vision. When I first took the job, there were some obstacles throughout the first four years.

I'm grateful that I was given an opportunity for a fifth year, and then I'm incredibly grateful for the guys that we have last year and how they poured into each other and we were able to have that type of success that we had.

That helps with everything. It helps with recruiting. It helps with interest. It helps with season tickets. All of those things. We're hoping to build off of all of that.

Q. The tournament appearance last year was a big deal then. It really helped.

JEFF CAPEL: It was huge. It was huge. Just to get in. But I don't think anyone in our program was satisfied just to get in. Then we went out and we performed. We performed well.

It was interesting because I went into that Sunday, Selection Sunday, confident, but privately I was sweating because you hear all the noise, and when I started hearing the names and the seeds, I started to sweat a little bit more.

Then you find out that you're in, but then it shifts to, wow, we play Tuesday. So it's quick. Then we played Tuesday and we won, and we won in dramatic fashion. Then you don't get out of there until 1:00 in the morning and then you play Friday and then you play Sunday at noon, and then it's over.

It was a big deal. It was a big deal to the university, to the city of Pittsburgh, to certainly our current players, but to the former players, to everyone. It's a big deal, and hopefully it's something we can build off of.