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Lucas Zheng | Senior Staff Photographer

Senior guard Onyebuchi Ezeakudo (31) with the ball at Saturday afternoon's game against Louisville.

Pitt earned its second conference win of the season on Saturday afternoon and, in doing so, continued to garner belief that its recent stretch of strong play is more than just smoke and mirrors. Head coach Jeff Capel insisted the progress was real and he now has tangible results to back up that claim.

“The stuff the guys are doing individually … it hasn’t equated to as many wins as we certainly would have liked,” Capel said. “But I know that we’re getting better. That’s the big thing for me.”

[Read: Pitt handily beats Louisville, 65-53, for second conference win]

The Panthers (7-10 overall, 2-4 ACC) didn’t just beat Louisville (10-7 overall, 4-3 ACC) 65-53 for their first double-digit conference win in 11 months — they dominated. Typically, when Pitt has won this season, it was because it dragged its opponent down into a slow and messy game, counting on chaos and miscues from the opposition. But on Saturday, the Panthers won because they were simply the better team — on offense, defense and everything in between.