Collision course: Portland vs. Gonzaga -- Round 1.

Once they got the lead down to 3, Waterford started turning it over, causing a quick 8-0 Zags run. 4 TO's, a bad running shot, and 2 fouls in a 6 minute stretch. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot...

tmac2218 wrote:Once they got the lead down to 3, Waterford started turning it over, causing a quick 8-0 Zags run. 4 TO's, a bad running shot, and 2 fouls in a 6 minute stretch. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot...

Yeah... I felt bad for Eric, because he did such a great job during the comeback. We showed a lot of heart coming back from 18 down at half, and if things would have gone a bit differently during that crucial stretch after we cut it to three, this game probably would have been tight all the way down the stretch.

I was very impressed with Gonzaga's defense - their length is really tough to deal with on the perimeter.

We did a great job on them inside (big ups to Kramer, Luke, and Jasonn - they really contained Harris and Sacre) and we out-rebounded them by five. Sikma was awesome on the boards. And held them to a poor FG%, but we just never really got our offense going, even during the comeback. Too bad we couldn't get Nem more shots - he was feeling it. And Jared... very tough match up for him with Gray draped all over him, but he missed three open looks. We needed those tonight.

Here's a box score: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=310082250

Overall though - looking at the stats, we out-shot them 52%-42%, we made one more field goal than them total (24 to 23), we hit seven threes and shot 58% while they hit nine and shot 36%, and we out-rebounded them 29-24. If you would have told me that before the game, I would have taken that in a heartbeat. In fact, looking at those stats after the game, it's hard to believe.

But the big, big difference - 20 turnovers for us compared to 9 for them, and they went 19-24 from the line while we went 6-8. And I didn't feel like the refs were being homers at all.

So... what's the takeaway from this? Well, I suppose it's that if we can take care of the ball in the Chiles Center, we'll have a chance for sure.

Positive side, there is plenty of room to improve, and GU is not unbeatable. They disrupted the Pilots with their height and athleticism. But if the Pilots can figure out how to avoid wild cross court passes, how to get the ball up court and how to not let GU just knock it from their hands, they have a shot at this team again.

We have so much damn trouble responding to pressure defense. I just don't get it!! We have the tools to combat that pressure and extension of defense, we just don't quite believe it in our heads! When Luke and Eric ran into each other and got gave up the turnover when we had it at 3, Eric just unraveled. He has just got to believe that that $hit is in the past, he has the tools to succeed, and just play the next gosh darn play. Get it out of your head!

Either way, I didn't expect the win tonight, but I just wish we would stop be intimidated by teams that are bigger and more athletic than us. Playing smart, team basketball overcomes physical mismatches everyday of the week. We're already pretty athletic, so just play our game! While all of our losses are to better teams, we don't play our game against them (at least not the whole game).

Purplegeezer wrote:Tough night. I don't think we were intimidated, just outplayed in one of the toughest arenas in the NCAA. I still think we have a real chance at taking one from them this year. Until then, we need to keep improving.

On a bright note, Nem is now the National leader in percentage from the arc with a .562 percentage with his 4-5 night. Northwestern's John Shurna went 1-4 Thursday and dropped to .544.

GEEZ,I agree about the not being intimidated factor for the most part. I enjoyed the play of the big men in the 2nd half....I'm pretty sure Rev got in their face at half time and told them to take it to hoop didn't hurt the cause.It's really great to see JASONNS & Kramers hustle, and Lukes steady, gritty play. I DID notice # 45 for the Pilots had 4 blocks and altered about 3 other shots...not bad for an undersized center from MESA...

Mesapilot1

Jasonn came up huge last night! I don't know what his FG% was but I don't seem to remember him missing a shot - not even the one that didn't count because of the charge! It makes a big difference knowing we can put him in there and still score a couple points inside!

Thursday is going to be the first win of a 6 game winning streak that we'll have going when we play GU at the Chiles Center!

up7587 wrote:Really? Zags used a PA guy to tell the crowd to get up and yell?

No. It wasn't a PA guy.

It was Steven Gray (on video).

The Pilots played very well last night -- particularly in the 2nd half. Here's hoping the 3 way race for the title continues.

Edited to add: Noise isn't generally a problem in the Kennel -- but with the student section 10 percent full (only one corner wedge section) it was much quieter than normal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiJbOCbiQSI

Rev's conclusion:

Did not have the necessary "road toughness" to get win at Gonzaga tonight. Shot it well and defended but turned it over too much to get W.

via Twitter

I read that earlier (You gotta love the candor on Rev's end), and its kind of a cliche thing to say, but its really the best overall explanation for the result of the game. Just pure nerves and a few moments of carelessness swung the course of the game, and you have to credit the Zags for making the Pilots pay for those careless moments. Bah, but on the brighter side, against a lesser opponent we probably end up winning that game. (Not that our goal should be to get away with sloppy play and still win)

if we are looking for positives....the pilots did not play that well but were still within 3 late in the 2nd half. recent UP teams would have lost this game by 30. I really hope we beat them up here....its definitely in the cards.

piloted wrote:if we are looking for positives....the pilots did not play that well but were still within 3 late in the 2nd half. recent UP teams would have lost this game by 30. I really hope we beat them up here....its definitely in the cards.

I think we will beat them at home. I think the signs are pointing in that direction. By that I mean, we're starting to have more close losses to them at home...by missed 3 pointers at the end of the game, etc. We had a lot of games like those ones against UW before we finally pulled through at our place. The turnovers will go down at home, and our streaky shooters will be even hotter... I can see it.

There were many positives to take away from the game. REV seems to have changed the mentality of recent years where the Pilots spot the other team a large lead then just fold the tents and play the game out to its me miserable end......the last two quality opponents and subsequent comebacks seem to be some evidence of that.

Even 77 year old grandpa noticed a key play in the game was when Eric & Luke got their signals crossed, turned it over and started the 7 pt. turnaround in 30 seconds. Eric had been playing a pretty good game to that point, but with the emotional outburst by REV during the T.O. & from then on it appeared Eric felt so bad that our playmaker was shot, thus hurting our offense. It was just a series of blunders toward the end that doomed the Pilots.....turnovers, forced shots, etc
I really take one positive from the game though, with Jareds off shooting night Nem once again picked up the slack ala TJ, Nick, or Ethan from previous years.....I'm drooling for the game when opposing teams concentrate solely on Nem and Jared puts up 30-40 pts because it could happen.....

Mesapilot1