Yahoo! Sports Team Update

Portland Team Report

GETTING INSIDE

Portland was only 1-2 in the West Coast Conference after its Jan. 16 loss to St. Mary’s, and that loss might have ended the Pilots’ hopes of winning the regular-season conference title.

Portland coach Eric Reveno has to be pleased with his team’s play in losses to Gonzaga and St. Mary’s, especially in terms of its grit by making late runs to get back into games that seemed lost.

But the Pilots were looking for more than that this season.

The Pilots were picked to finish second in the WCC by the coaches and even got two first-place votes.

With all five starters back from last season’s third-place team and Gonzaga and St. Mary’s both losing considerable talent, the door seemed to be open for the Pilots to win the conference.

It does not seem as if it will happen now, and the Pilots’ chances of earning an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament are all but gone, too, with seven losses (including some bad ones) already in the books.

But the Pilots showed in their losses to the WCC’s best teams that they have the talent and long-range shooting skills to win the WCC tournament if they get a break here and there.

Portland should be favored in every remaining WCC game except for the one at Gonzaga, and that includes a home game against St. Mary’s.

The Pilots will begin to rebuild their resume with home games against Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine on Jan. 21 and 23, and the Pilots have enough veteran players to bounce back from the early disappointments.

Last season, the Pilots jumped out to a 6-0 start in the WCC, thanks in large part to a soft early schedule, but finished 9-5 as the schedule got tougher and the momentum faded for a team that was unaccustomed to success.

This season, the Pilots seem to have the pieces to reverse that result, having already faced two of their toughest games and having the experience to see the long-term picture.

This team already has shown that it has the capacity to rally from adversity.

Against Gonzaga on Jan. 9, the Pilots trailed by 13 points with 5:26 left but put on a furious comeback that gave the Pilots a chance to tie on Jared Stohl’s three-point shots at the buzzer, which missed.

In the Jan. 16 road loss to St. Mary’s, the Pilots were behind by 12 points with 4:08 to play, but they got the margin down to two, and Ethan Niedermeyer took a 17-foot shot to tie it with 33 seconds left.

That also missed, and the Gaels held on from the foul line.

It suggests the Pilots can finish second in the conference, but unseating Gonzaga will be a longshot now.

“Frustrating is a good way to characterize it,” Reveno told the Oregonian after the loss to St. Mary’s.

NOTES, QUOTES

• The Pilots bottled up St. Mary’s C Omar Samhan in the first half of their Jan. 16 game, limiting him to four points on 3-for-10 shooting. That helped the Pilots take a one-point halftime lead. But Samhan erupted for 24 points in the second half when the Gaels took control.

• F Robin Smeulders scored 20 points or more for the fifth time this season when he had a career-high 29 against St. Mary’s, but the Pilots have lost four of those five games.

• Portland’s victory over San Diego on Jan. 14 was the Pilots’ first road victory over the Toreros in six years.

• Portland’s four turnovers in its Jan. 9 loss to Gonzaga was the school’s lowest total in recorded history.

On The Spot: Portland has had trouble starting the second half of important games. Against Gonzaga, Portland trailed by six at halftime, but the Bulldogs pushed the margin to 11 in the first four minutes of the second half and forced the Pilots to play catch-up the rest of the way. Against San Diego, Portland briefly let a one-point halftime lead slip away by scoring only five points in the first 5 1/2 minutes of the second half before coming on strong. And against St. Mary’s, the Pilots led by a point at halftime, but were outscored, 12-5, to start the second half, and Portland was never able to recover.

Quote To Note: “They are such a good offensive team that your margin for error is real slim. For every defensive breakdown that we had, I can think of two or three plays that we made, but they make you pay for those breakdowns.”—Portland coach Eric Reveno, to the Oregonian, after the Jan. 16 loss to St. Mary’s.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Season Recap: The Pilots, as of Jan. 18, are 5-7 since their 5-0 start, but they have played pretty well lately. They had not played well on the road before facing San Diego and St. Mary’s away from home on Jan. 14 and 16. They earned a split of the two games and came close to upsetting St. Mary’s. The December slump, when Portland lost five of seven games, seems to be forgotten, and the Pilots are a factor in the WCC again. Only Gonzaga seems to be noticeably better. At 10-7 as of Jan. 18, the Pilots are not in position for the NCAA Tournament berth they were seeking unless they win the WCC tournament. The schedule gets easier for Portland now, and it has a chance to build some momentum.

Player Rotation: Usual Starters—G T.J. Campbell, G Nik Raivio, F Robin Smeulders, F Ethan Niedermeyer, C Kramer Knutson. Key Subs—G Jared Stohl, F Luke Sikma.

Game Review:

Gonzaga 81, Portland 78

Portland 63, San Diego 54

St. Mary’s 77, Portland 72

Game Preview:

vs. Loyola Marymount, Thursday, Jan. 21

vs. Pepperdine, Saturday, Jan. 23

at San Francisco, Thursday, Jan. 28

at Santa Clara, Saturday, Jan. 30

at Gonzaga, Thursday, Feb. 4

In Focus: Portland plays home games against Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine on Jan. 21 and 23, and unless the Pilots lose their focus or shoot poorly, they should win both. If the Pilots can prevent Vernon Teel from having a monster game, they should be able to handle Loyola Marymount at the Childs Center. Portland beat the Lions in both their meetings last season, when the teams had personnel similar to what they feature now.

Roster Report:

• Robin Smeulders had a career-high 29 points in the Jan. 16 loss to St. Mary’s and is averaging 24.0 points in his three WCC games as of Jan. 18.

• Kramer Knutson entered the Jan. 16 game against St. Mary’s ranked fifth in career field-goal percentage at Portland at 54.3 percent. He stayed right there because he did not take a shot against the Gaels.

• Nik Ravio matched a season low with his six points in the victory over San Diego on Jan. 14. As of Jan. 18, he was 0-for-5 on three-pointers in WCC play.

Last season, the Pilots jumped out to a 6-0 start in the WCC, thanks in large part to a soft early schedule, but finished 9-5 as the schedule got tougher and the momentum faded for a team that was unaccustomed to success.