USD @ UP, Thursday 8pm

DaTruRochin wrote:Sounds like they need another Big 12 reject to transfer in and save the day... again... I kid, I kid, but not really...

San Diego Team Report
Feb 9, 4:05 am EST


GETTING INSIDE

Bill Grier faces the biggest challenge of his brief career as a college head coach.

Grier must somehow lift the Toreros’ spirits after the most dispiriting week of the season and get his team to believe that not all is lost, even though the toughest trip of the conference season is approaching.

San Diego looked like the worst team in the conference as of Feb. 8, and with the Toreros being without one of their best players for road games against Portland on Feb. 11 and Gonzaga on Feb. 13, the immediate future does not look promising.

Grier must simply try to get his team through the week with its self-confidence somewhat intact.

The Feb. 4 game against San Francisco is the one that might have shattered the season.

With 5:56 left in that game, De’Jon Jackson, the team’s No. 2 scorer and in many ways the rock of the team, suffered a knee injury.

Jackson did not play the rest of the game, and the next day it was discovered that he would be lost for the season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

San Diego at least seemed to be in position to win that game, leading by four points when Matt Dorr hit two free throws with 28 seconds left in overtime. But USF’s Michael Williams scored seven points in eight seconds, including a four-point play with four seconds left, to give the Toreros a crushing home defeat.

Two days later, playing without Jackson, the Toreros were dominated at home by last-place Santa Clara, 59-43. It was the Toreros’ worst game of the season.

“Flat-out, we were just awful,” Grier told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I’m embarrassed about the way we played. We didn’t even compete in the second half. We were right there at halftime … but too many guys worried about their own deal and not enough about the team.”

That’s the sign of team that’s giving up on the season, something Grier must try to rectify to put a happy face on the season. Getting swept at home by two teams San Diego expected to beat had to take some of the life out of the Toreros, who will have trouble avoiding blowout losses to Portland and Gonzaga.


NOTES, QUOTES

—Not only did San Diego play without De’Jon Jackson against Santa Clara, but the Toreros’ other prime scorer, Brandon Jackson, was slowed by stomach flu.


• The game against San Francisco ended in frustrating fashion for San Diego. After De’Jon Johnson made one of two free throws with 11.7 seconds left in overtime to give the Toreros a two-point lead, San Diego planned to foul USF twice on the Dons’ ensuing possession, because the Toreros had three fouls to give before the Dons were in a one-and-one situation. But attempts to commit the foul went unnoticed by officials, giving Michael Williams of USF a chance to hit a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds to go. Then a foul was called on the shot, and Williams made the free throw as well.

• San Diego was 0-4 in conference home games as of Feb. 8.

On The Spot: San Diego did not have much offensive firepower even before De’Jon Jackson was injured and lost for the season, and now the Toreros’ offense is really limited. Brandon Jackson is the team’s only offensive threat now, and he has been inconsistent to say the least. The Toreros’ 43 points in the Feb. 6 game at home against the last-place team showed how much trouble the Toreros have offensively with Jackson sidelined. Devin Ginty was the team’s high scorer with seven points.

Quote To Note: “This one really hurts. For our confidence, we needed it.”—San Diego F Chris Lewis, to the San Diego Union-Tribune, after the 72-70 overtime loss to San Francisco on Feb. 4.


STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Season Recap: The Toreros are a different team in February than they were at the beginning of the season, when they beat Stanford and Oklahoma while starting out 4-1. They had lost seven of their last eight games as of Feb. 8, and on Feb. 6, they were dominated at home by a Santa Clara team that San Diego beat by nine points on the road in its conference opener. Since the 4-1 start, the Toreros are 5-15, and they are tied for last place with some difficult games ahead.

Player Rotation: Usual Starters—G Brandon Johnson, G Cameron Miles, F Chris Lewis, F Chris Manresa, G Matt Dorr. Key Subs—F Roberto Mafra, G Patrick McCollum, G Devin Ginty.

Game Review:

San Diego 66, Pepperdine 44

San Francisco 72, San Diego 70

Santa Clara 59, San Diego 43


Game Preview:

at Portland, Thursday, Feb. 11

at Gonzaga, Saturday, Feb. 13

vs. St. Mary’s, Thursday, Feb. 18

vs. Loyola Marymount, Thursday, Feb. 25

vs. Pepperdine, Saturday, Feb. 27

In Focus: San Diego’s game at Portland on Feb. 11 will be a good indication of whether the Toreros still have some fight left in them. The Toreros were very much in the game against Portland before losing by nine points the first time the teams met, and the Toreros have actually played better on the road than at home. San Diego would need Portland to have a horrible shooting night to pull out a victory, but this game is more about San Diego’s toughness, to see how hard they are working and whether they play as a team following the recent disappointments.


Roster Report:

• G Brandon Johnson scored only six points in the Feb. 6 game against Santa Clara and needed five points to become San Diego’s all-time leading scorer.

• F Clinton Houston has been lost for the season after becoming academically ineligible.

• Freshman Cameron Miles made his first start of the season in the Feb. 6 game against Santa Clara and scored four points in 15 minutes.

San Diego planned to foul USF twice on the Dons’ ensuing possession, because the Toreros had three fouls to give before the Dons were in a one-and-one situation. But attempts to commit the foul went unnoticed by officials, giving Michael Williams of USF a chance to hit a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds to go. Then a foul was called on the shot, and Williams made the free throw as well.

Raivio won't play Thursday or Saturday, but the Pilots are optimistic that he will return at some point.

up7587 wrote:

San Diego planned to foul USF twice on the Dons’ ensuing possession, because the Toreros had three fouls to give before the Dons were in a one-and-one situation. But attempts to commit the foul went unnoticed by officials, giving Michael Williams of USF a chance to hit a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds to go. Then a foul was called on the shot, and Williams made the free throw as well.

The fouls went unnoticed! Ah, WCC officiating. It's a beautiful thing.

if I could catch them, I could foul them and it would be noticed

up7587 wrote:Here's the LINK to the article.

Actually, it sounds even worse.

Raivio won't play Thursday or Saturday, but the Pilots are optimistic that he will return at some point.

That leaves room for 'he might not return'.

Game Day: San Diego at Portland
By Jim Beseda, The Oregonian
February 11, 2010, 8:19AM

When: 8 tonight

Where: Chiles Center (4,852), Portland

Records: San Diego (9-16, 2-7 West Coast Conference); Portland (14-8, 5-3)

On the air: TV on ESPNU (Comcast 411); radio on KCMD (970)

Probable starters: San Diego -- F Chris Lewis 7.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg), F Chris Manresa (5.4 ppg), G Devin Ginty (2.5 ppg), Brandon Johnson (14.6 ppg, 3.3 apg), G Matt Dorr (6.1 ppg); Portland -- F Ethan Niedermeyer (6.9 ppg), F Robin Smeulders (13.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg), C Kramer Knutson (5.2 ppg), G Jared Stohl (10.9 ppg), G T.J. Campbell (12.9 ppg, 5.5 apg).

Briefly: Smeulders had 19 points and nine rebounds, leading the Pilots to a 63-54 victory at San Diego on Jan. 14. The Pilots have won only three of the last 11 games against the Toreros and are in position to sweep the regular-season series for the first time since the 2003-04 season. ... Johnson came off the bench in Saturday's 59-43 loss at Santa Clara and scored six points to move within five of breaking San Diego's career scoring record of 1,725 points held by Gyno Pomare. Johnson had 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting against the Pilots four weeks ago and has scored in double figures in 16 of 23 games this season.

The Toreros have lost two in a row and seven of the last eight games, falling into a tie with Santa Clara for last place in the WCC. They're also playing without senior guard De'Jon Jackson, who suffered a torn left ACL in last week's 72-70 overtime loss to San Francisco. Jackson made his mark in Toreros' history as a sophomore when he hit an 18-foot, step-back jumper with 1.2 seconds remaining in overtime, lifting San Diego to a 70-69 victory over Connecticut in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

Pilots' leading scorer Nik Raivio remains out indefinitely with a strained right Achilles' tendon that has already forced the senior guard to miss five games. "Nik is making progress, but just at a snail's pace," Reveno said. "He's literally been the best rehab patient I've ever seen. If you went to look for him, he's either in class or in the training room right now. He's doing everything he can, and then he's got this giant clock ticking in his head, counting down his senior year."

-- Jim Beseda

Portland basketball: Third-place Pilots need another rebound as WCC play winds down
By Jim Beseda, The Oregonian
February 10, 2010, 3:43PM

The Portland Pilots already have proven their resiliency a few times this season.

Crushed by 20 at Idaho two months ago, they returned home to beat a decent Sun Belt Conference team, Denver, 72-62. Then after getting drubbed at Washington 89-54 in the very next game, UP bounced back by pummeling Idaho by 30.

On Thursday night, the Pilots are back at the Chiles Center to face struggling San Diego (9-16, 2-7) in a nationally televised West Coast Conference game on ESPNU, hoping to put the disappointment of last week's 76-49 loss at Gonzaga behind them. The third-place Pilots (14-8, 5-3) also are looking to regain momentum with only six league games remaining, including a pivotal matchup Saturday against Saint Mary's in another nationally televised game on ESPN2.

"We took it on the chin pretty hard, but we're still a good basketball team that can compete at the top of this conference," Pilots coach Eric Reveno said. "What that means is yet to be seen. How does (tonight's) Saint Mary's-Gonzaga game play out? Can someone else get either of them?

"We've just got to take care of ourselves and keep trying to get the next one."

The Pilots still have an outside shot at landing one of the top two spots in the WCC standings and an automatic berth into the semifinals of next month's conference tournament in Las Vegas.

But they're going to need some help from other teams after last week's loss at Gonzaga all but eliminated any realistic hope the Pilots have of overtaking the Bulldogs.

"Losing like that hurts," senior forward Robin Smeulders said. "We were ready to play, and then Gonzaga just really outperformed us."

The game was tied 15-15 with 7:30 to play in the first half when the Bulldogs went on a 20-2 run and ended up rolling into halftime with a 41-21 lead.

"Those eight minutes were pretty bad," Smeulders said. "We just lost focus. Offensively, we couldn't really execute. Defensively, they just got lay-up after lay-up, and ... the game was basically over."

The Pilots shot 35.8 percent (19 of 35) from the field and it was only the fourth time in Reveno's four seasons that one of his team has been held to fewer than 50 points by a conference opponent.

"Looking back at the Gonzaga game, it just speaks to how thin our margin of error is," Reveno said. "Winning by a little or losing by a bunch is not far apart for us, because we don't have a ton of bodies. ... When you get a street fight like that, you've got to fight. We fought about 90 percent as well as we can, but it's that other 10 percent that is so important."

The Pilots also were without senior guard Nik Raivio, who missed his fifth consecutive game with a strained right Achilles' tendon.

"We missed him at Gonzaga," Reveno said. "When you start talking about the characteristics that we needed, that's what Nik brings to the table -- that extra fight, that competitive fire. We need that from Nik, plus his ability to create so T.J. (Campbell) doesn't feel the pressure to have to create all the time."

Raivio won't play Thursday or Saturday, but the Pilots are optimistic that he will return at some point.

- Jim Beseda

up7587 wrote:About 5 students standing in the front row. A scattering of others sitting throughout the section.

As a rule, the Portland Pilots don't take many poor shots, so the key for them often boils down to taking care of the ball on offense and playing solid defense.

Take Thursday night's 70-56 West Coast Conference victory over San Diego at the Chiles Center, for example.

The Pilots were a little rough around the edges early on, but cleaned up their act in time to take a 27-23 halftime lead and then broke the game open with a 16-4 run in the first seven minutes of the second half.

T.J. Campbell led all scorers with 18 points, and Robin Smeulders finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, pacing the Pilots (15-8, 6-3 WCC) to their fifth win in six games and first series sweep of San Diego in six seasons.

The Toreros (9-17, 2-, playing without leading scorers Brandon Johnson and De’Jon Jackson because of injuries, suffered their eighth loss in nine games and remained tied with Santa Clara in last place.

With the March 5-8 WCC Tournament in Las Vegas only four weeks away, the challenge for Pilots coach Eric Reveno and his staff has been keeping their players well rested and fresh, while still pushing them to go hard at practice.

"This time of year, it's more art than science," Reveno said before Thursday's game. "The fall is all about fundamentals, putting the pieces together to play good basketball, and doing the drills that build up those skills. This time of year, it's about playing well and doing what you know how to do.

"I told the guys the other day, 'We're in trouble if I'm teaching something new today.' It's a veteran team, it's a senior team. They know it all. Now, it's about them executing what they know."

The Pilots played mistake-free through the first four minutes and jumped in front 8-0, but then got sloppy when reserves Jasonn Hannibal, Taishi Ito, Nemanja Mitrovic and Luke Sikma took the floor a bit earlier than most of them are accustomed to entering the game.

Four Pilots’ turnovers in less than two minutes helped ignite a 14-5 run by the Toreros that turned a six-point deficit into an 18-15 lead with 8:31 remaining in the half.

With most of the starters back on the floor, the Pilots closed the half on a 12-5 run, taking the lead for good, 25-23, on two Luke Sikma free throws with 2:14 remaining before halftime.

The Pilots held San Diego to one field goal in the first six minutes of the second half and pushed their lead to 43-27 when Kramer Knutson dunked off a lob pass from Stohl with 13:30 to play.

Clearly, the Toreros weren’t the same team without Jackson and Johnson, the senior guards who were averaging a combined 26.6 points and 5.9 assists before their injuries.

Jackson was lost for the season when he torn his left ACL in last week’s 72-70 loss to San Francisco, while Johnson, who is on the verge of becoming San Diego’s all-time leading scorer, sat out with a groin injury.

-- Jim Beseda

Purplegeezer wrote:The student section was great - all 8 of them.

Big weekend on
the Bluff starting tonight. 2 nationally televised games (San Diego and
St. Mary's) and 2 recruits on official visit