Re: Pilots vs. North Florida (Wednesday Dec. 19, 7 p.m.)

by DoubleDipper Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:56 pm

PurpleGeezer wrote:I like this from the PortlandPilots summary:

The Pilots never trailed in the game despite an off shooting night by leading scorer Ryan Nicholas who finished 0-for-8 from the field (0-for-8 ).

had to say it twice. It's like they didn't believe it.

I hafta admit, we've just come to expect Ryan to score from various positions on the court....and I for one, still expected it of him tonight even as we got deep into the game. But as tough as it was for him, and as closely as he was guarded, he was still contributing, and it was recognized and greatly appreciated by the fans and his teammates.

by Guest Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:37 pm

And don't look now....but the Pilots are just one victory away from matching their win total from the entire 2011-12 season.

On the upswing.

by ShipstadPilot11 Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:39 pm

PurpleGeezer wrote:I like this from the PortlandPilots summary:

The Pilots never trailed in the game despite an off shooting night by leading scorer Ryan Nicholas who finished 0-for-8 from the field (0-for-8 ).

had to say it twice. It's like they didn't believe it.

He damn near put up a double-double on an off night while not hitting a shot from the field. If that is the floor of his ability, we should count ourselves lucky.

by **PilotNut** Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:51 pm

It was good to get the win tonight, but it wasn't pretty. Had the Ospreys hit a few more 3's (4-21, 19%), this could have been a very different game...

Riley Barker & Kevin Bailey were the highlights, and we found a way to win without Nicholas hitting shots, though he did hit some clutch FTs. Good to see the Pilots hold the lead the entire game, and quickly fend off the UNF run in the 2nd half. Can we please finish at the hoop consistently, though?! Yowza.

by **PilotNut** Thu Dec 20, 2012 12:02 am

Links:
Video highlights
Box Score
UP Summary (also below)
UNF Summary

Bailey, Barker Set Career Marks as Pilots Dispatch North Florida

PORTLAND, Ore. --- Sophomores Kevin Bailey and Riley Barker each recorded career highs as the Portland Pilots defeated the North Florida Ospreys 74-64 Wednesday night at the Chiles Center. Bailey finished with 27 points and seven rebounds, while Barker came off the bench for 16 points and seven rebounds to pace the Pilots.

Portland won both of its preliminary games of the Continental Tires Las Vegas Classic hosted at the Chiles Center, also knocking of CSU Bakersfield on Monday. The Pilots (6-6) will continue to the bracketed tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas this weekend.

The Pilots never trailed in the game despite an off shooting night by leading scorer Ryan Nicholas who finished 0-for-8 from the field (0-for-. Nicholas found other ways to contribute and still finished with nine points, eight rebounds and four assists. Bailey was 9-of-13 from the field, including 3-for-4 from three-point range and 6-for-10 at the foul line. His seven rebounds were also a career-high.

Barker was 4-for-7 from the field and 8-for-9 at the free throw line. He scored 12 second half points and grabbed five offensive rebounds in the game.

Portland jumped out to a 13-3 lead sparked by a pair of Bailey three-pointers and would lead by as much as 11 early in the half. The Ospreys (3-8 ) would cut the deficit to 33-27 at the break.

Portland once again pushed the margin to 11 as Bailey opened the second half with a three-point play and Thomas van der Mars added a layup, but UNF would not let the game out of reach. A 15-5 run capped by Travis Wallace’s layup made it a 43-42 game, but Bailey answered yet again with his third three-pointer of the night.

UNF’s Parker Smith buried a three to make it 50-47 with 10:39 remaining, but Barker made four straight free throws and Bailey picked up a steal and layup to push the margin back to nine. Another Smith trey cut the deficit to 60-56 with 6:13 left, but Tanner Riley responded with a Pilot three-pointer and the Ospreys would get no closer than six down the stretch.

The Pilots continued their run of quality defensive efforts by holding UNF to 41 percent shooting from the field and 4-for-21 from three-point range. The Pilots were able to convert 27-of-37 free throws on the night and outrebounded the visitors by a 38-29 margin.

Wallace matched Bailey with a game-high 27 points, but no other Osprey player finished with more than eight points.

Portland will travel to Las Vegas tomorrow and then face Colorado State (9-2) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The early game features Virginia Tech against Bradley and the winners will meet for the tournament championship on Sunday. The two losing teams will play a consolation final on Sunday and both games will be televised live on CBS Sports Network. The consolation tips at 6 p.m. while the championship is set for 8:30 p.m.

by Geezaldinho Thu Dec 20, 2012 12:49 am

PilotNut wrote:It was good to get the win tonight, but it wasn't pretty. Had the Ospreys hit a few more 3's (4-21, 19%), this could have been a very different game...

Riley Barker & Kevin Bailey were the highlights, and we found a way to win without Nicholas hitting shots, though he did hit some clutch FTs. Good to see the Pilots hold the lead the entire game, and quickly fend off the UNF run in the 2nd half. Can we please finish at the hoop consistently, though?! Yowza.

It would have been a very different night if Nicolas hits his average, too.

You worry too much, but keep it up. We keep winning this way.

by oldtimer Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:17 am

A sign of a balanced team is when different players can step up and support those that may be experiencing an off night. This is a good sign for a Pilot team that has struggled to find those supporting players over the last year and a half.
Nicholas is a big boy (240#) and having played what, 74 minutes over the last three nights, I would expect he is a bit tired.
Shipstad is on point, if 9 pts, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and a timely charge taken is his floor, then the Pilots have no worries. Most conference players would love to have that stat line every night.

Good job by Barker and Bailey, it was nice to see Riley get some offensive production. As a team, the Pilots still need to work on their interior defense. The Osprey "post" got way too many buckets from sealing our much taller centers. Riley too is a "big boy" and needs to be stronger inside.

Good luck in Vegas, Colorado State will be a good test on Saturday. Didnt they beat North Florida by 28 or something like that? I predict a much closer contest and have a feeling that the Pilots may surprise some people in this one.

by DoubleDipper Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:29 am

DeanMurdoch wrote:And don't look now....but the Pilots are just one victory away from matching their win total from the entire 2011-12 season.

On the upswing.

On the downside, our friends Ken Pomeroy and RealTimeRPI predict the Pilots will win only four more times this season, all at the Chiles Center:

1) Texas-Pan American
2) LMU
3) Pepperdine
4) San Diego

by DoubleDipper Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:37 am

Best, but mostly unseen move of the night:

Tanner had turned it over then missed a three, and KB came off the bench to replace him and was sitting below the scorer’s table. Just then Tanner raced down the court and hit his second three of the night…..and immediately yelled over to KB and motioned for him to get his butt back on the bench. I loved it, and Tanner did stay in for a couple more minutes.

The Pilots three point shooting was very satisfactory last night, 5-12, I think; KB hitting three and Tanner hitting two.

As mentioned by others, one of the bigger positives from tonight’s game was the lack of Rhino in his regular scoring roll, but others there to take up the slack. Ryan was still very effective with his rebounding, assists, leadership, and even assists. He’s still the lieutenant, but his soldiers have his back.....at this rate, Rhino will be a captain or major by the beginning of WCC play. pirat

by DoubleDipper Thu Dec 20, 2012 8:48 am

oldtimer wrote:.....Good luck in Vegas, Colorado State will be a good test on Saturday. Didnt they beat North Florida by 28 or something like that? I predict a much closer contest and have a feeling that the Pilots may surprise some people in this one.

CSU beat CSUB by 20 last night in Ft. Collins....

by DoubleDipper Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:05 am

A few video highlights; Bill Johnson with the call:

by ShipstadPilot11 Thu Dec 20, 2012 9:13 am

DoubleDipper wrote:Ryan was still very effective with his rebounding, assists, leadership, and even assists.

But what about his assists?

by Guest Thu Dec 20, 2012 10:46 am

DoubleDipper wrote:On the downside, our friends Ken Pomeroy and RealTimeRPI predict the Pilots will win only four more times this season, all at the Chiles Center.

And at the same time, the Pilots just need to squeeze out a win this weekend in Vegas and hold court against UTPA and they'll go into conference play over the .500 mark. I think we can agree that after last season, going into the WCC schedule with eight wins wouldn't be that bad.

Besides...after the Aztecs bomb USF on Saturday, that'll change Pomeroy's prediction to a Pilots win over the Dons. They're a little schizophrenic like that.

by NoPoNeighbor Thu Dec 20, 2012 11:30 am

KB is starting to reach the potential that everyone has seen the past couple of years. He is a lot of fun to watch. And Riley Barker's performance was inspiring.

As with PilotNut, I'm still frustrated with all of the missed shots from within 8 feet, including layups. Part of what made Nicloas' shooting look even worse than 0-8 last night is that the majority of those 8 attempts came from the paint.

As others have said, it is great to see the team pull out a win on a night when two of our biggest offensive weapons (Nicolas and VDM) are having off nights. Imagine what is possible for this team if we are ever able to fire on all cylinders on the same night!

The other big up-side from last night's game is that that Pilots never trailed. UNF came within 1 point in the second half, but we never buckled, despite some truly awful shooting for a couple of stretches. That 3-pointer that T. Riley made came at a pivotal moment.

by Guest Thu Dec 20, 2012 11:47 am

NoPoNeighbor wrote:That 3-pointer that T. Riley made came at a pivotal moment.

And, I believe, came the possession following him missing a three. Nice to see him being willing to shoot immediately after a miss....although as I recall he was so wide open in the corner he had little choice! Very Happy

by NoPoNeighbor Thu Dec 20, 2012 1:09 pm

Two guys sitting next to me were clearly attending their first game of the season. They kept remarking to each other that Nicholas would be a good player if he were able to make some shots. "He makes good moves to get open, but he can't shoot the ball the save his life."

As good as Nicholas has been this season, you can't deny that he has been extremely streaky as a shooter. It's feast of famine with this guy. First two games of the season has was 7-14 and 10-17 from the field. Then the next three games were 2-9, 3-11, 2-10. Then he bounced back with six straight games shooting .417 or better. And then last night 0-8!

Amazingly, his season low for points is 8, when he went 2-10 from the field at New Mexico. The point of my comments here is NOT that Nicholas doesn't contribute on his off-nights shooting (clearly he finds ways to make important contribution even when his shots aren't falling), but rather that greater shooting consistency on his part would be a big boost for this young team. He is so good when he is on... it feels like we are leaving lots of easy points on the floor when he has one of these terrible shooting performances.

by **PilotNut** Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:11 pm

DeanMurdoch wrote:And, I believe, came the possession following him missing a three. Nice to see him being willing to shoot immediately after a miss....although as I recall he was so wide open in the corner he had little choice!

I will admit to cringing heavily when he put up the 2nd shot.... thank goodness it was nothing but net. Not scoring on that possession could have been costly.

Against CSU, if Tanner and Ryan are hitting shots, and we can maintain the defensive intensity, we stand a darn good chance! Basketball

by NoPoNeighbor Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:42 pm

PilotNut wrote:Against CSU, if Tanner and Ryan are hitting shots, and we can maintain the defensive intensity, we stand a darn good chance!

So far this season we've seen career-best nights from Nicholas, K. Bailey, VDM, T. Riley, Barker, and Thieleke. Imagine if all those guys could hit their stride in the same game!

by Guest Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:51 pm

NoPoNeighbor wrote:So far this season we've seen career-best nights from Nicholas, K. Bailey, VDM, T. Riley, Barker, and Thieleke. Imagine if all those guys could hit their stride in the same game!

Well, considering the terrible production last year, and that two years ago these guys were either deep down the bench or not here yet, I hope we will see several more career-best nights from all of them. Nowhere to go but up! sunny

by DoubleDipper Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:13 pm

Apparently North Florida's #1, Travis Wallace, is still camped-out in the key and still making those back door moves. Today in UNF’s 80-70 victory over CSUB in Las Vegas, he shot 7-8 from the field, 8-9 from the stripe, and had 9 rebounds.

by Guest Sun Dec 23, 2012 12:52 am

DeanMurdoch wrote:Besides...after the Aztecs bomb USF on Saturday, that'll change Pomeroy's prediction to a Pilots win over the Dons.

*cough*

by DoubleDipper Sun Dec 23, 2012 1:02 am

DeanMurdoch wrote:
DeanMurdoch wrote:Besides...after the Aztecs bomb USF on Saturday, that'll change Pomeroy's prediction to a Pilots win over the Dons.

*cough*

Well, not a bad prediction. The Dons play in the Chiles Center on January 24, and Pomeroy is currently calling it a toss-up; it's 50/50 either way, but he's favoring the Pilots by a point because he's gotta favor someone. Laughing