Pilots vs. USF Thursday @ 7pm - TV on CSNNW

Another tough test for the Pilots coming up against USF on Thursday evening, but it’s a test that will likely help determine which team plays in the Wednesday “play-in” game in Las Vegas in March.

USF is now 8-11 overall and 1-5 in WCC, just a half game behind the 8-12/1-4 Pilots.

USF earned its first WCC victory last Saturday in San Francisco by clamping down on Loyola Marymount to earn the 62-53 margin, halting a five-game losing streak in the process.

USF's aggressive play on the defense limited the Lions to 28.3 percent shooting for the game, including 2-of-20 from three-point range.

Junior Cole Dickerson, 6’7”/230 from Federal Way, paced all USF scorers with 18 points while freshmen Avry Holmes, from Salem, and Mark Tollefesen came off the bench to add 11 and eight points, respectively as the Dons picked up their first conference win of the season.

Considering UP’s lack of offense, this could be another ugly game as USF shot 33.3% from the field in their win after shooting a season-low 32% Thursday against Santa Clara in their previous game.

Pomeroy has the Pilots ranked #249 and the Dons #150, and picks the Dons to beat UP 62-59 with a 64% probability.

RealTimeRPI calls it a toss-up, but gives the Pilots a 1 point advantage as the home team.

WCC site lists this game as being on TV on CSN Northwest and CSN Plus.

CSN NW games are unavailable to me...but does anyone know what CSN Plus is? Google isn't telling me.

DeanM: go to firstrowsports.eu to watch it.

Yeah, that's always an option....but with illegal DirecTV available to me, I'd prefer to watch it on the big screen!

Edit: Looks like DirecTV will have it after all on CSN Bay Area's alternate channel (697). Awesome.

A different random observation - checking USF's schedule, I've never seen a non-conference game scheduled AFTER the WCC tournament - they've got Northern Kentucky at home on March 14 which promises to be a pretty anticlimactic way to end the season!

Different random observation #2 - while investigating Dons Central, it appears that they also have a State of the Team thread going.....except their thread was started by none other than head coach Rex Walters. Go figure.

From Pilots Athletics:

Portland Pilots (8-12, 1-4) vs. San Francisco Dons (8-11, 1-5)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013
Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. (PST)
Location: Portland, Ore.
Arena: Chiles Center (4,852)
Television: CSN-NW, CSN Plus
Radio: 800 AM
Overall Series: 25-50
At UP: 17-18
At USF: 7-29
At Neutral: 1-3
Last: USF 72, POR 71 (Jan. 21, 2012 at Portland)

GAME INFORMATION
• Portland continues its four-game West Coast Conference homestand against San Francisco at 7 PM on Thursday and then welcomes BYU on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
• Thursday’s game will be carried live on Comcast SportsNet Northwest with Scott Lynn, Michael Holton and Jill Montgomery on the call.

ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO
• The Dons (8-11, 1-5 WCC) picked up their first league win with a 62-53 victory over Loyola Marymount on Saturday in San Francisco.
• The win snapped a five game losing streak for the Dons.
• USF posted non-conference wins against St. John’s (81-65) and Montana (78-68).
• Junior F Cole Dickerson is averaging a double-double with 14.9 points and 10.4 rebounds.
• Junior PG Cody Doolin averages 12.5 points and is fourth in the WCC at 5.7 assists per game.
• UCLA transfer De’End Parker adds 12.1 points per game.
• Head coach Rex Walters is in his fifth season with the Dons and is coming off of a 20-14 overall record and 8-8 mark in the WCC a year ago.

• Thursday’s game will be carried live on Comcast SportsNet Northwest with Scott Lynn, Michael Holton and Jill Montgomery on the call.

Well, Ernie Kent was on the call of the Duck game tonight.

A different random observation - checking USF's schedule, I've never seen a non-conference game scheduled AFTER the WCC tournament - they've got Northern Kentucky at home on March 14 which promises to be a pretty anticlimactic way to end the season!

It's actually not as uncommon as you'd think. I'm pretty sure that Saint Mary's did it a few years ago last minute after losing in the WCC championship by a lot. It's just another opportunity to show the committee what you have. Also, I think Gonzaga has scheduled DII opponets at that time to keep the team in game shape as well as a swan song for the seniors, especially those walk ons that don't get a ton of playing time

Interesting. I've seen games scheduled after the end of the conference schedule and BEFORE the tournament, but never after it.

Learn something every day, I guess.

http://www.smcgaels.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=101615&SPID=12536&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=21400&ATCLID=205114272

Thats the specific Saint Mary's game I was talking about

Awesome posts this season, DTL, especially in the “Current State of the Program” thread....you’re not doing this during office hours, are you?

Saw Derrick today; he'll probably see limited minutes tonight due to a tender hamstring....he didn't practice yesterday.

Best guest: PG by committee if DR can't play and David struggles.....Cody Doolin can light it up if we're not pressuring him.

According to Rev's tweet today, Derrick is probable. Our PG situation will go from bad to worse if Rogers can't go.

A good night for WCC junkies; all four games are on TV.

USF @ UP CSNNW @ 7
BYU @ GU ESPN2 @ 8
USD @ SMC CSNNW @ 9 (delayed)
PU @ LMU ROOT Sports @ 9 (delayed)

37 points at the half! Who are these guys? Just imagine if we hadn't made ten turnovers. Grr. Rev looked quite annoyed after that stretch of three straight unforced turnovers. Quite frustrating to see at this point in the season.

Highlight of the game thus far is Jake making a three pointer! And nice to see us hang tough with K. Bailey on the bench for most of the half with foul trouble.

Well that was quite a punch to the gut.

Onward to BYU.

Lot of good things out of this game, if only it was 39 minutes...all I got right now.

Lot of good things out of this game, if only it was 39 minutes...all I got right now.

I'd say leave out the minute from 8:00 to 7:00 left in the game, and this is a win.

Much as we think he's a (pick your adjective), Rex Walters knew our weakness, ball handing, and did enough with their full court press to win the game. Plus, they have shooters; 9-21 from 3p, 16-17 from FT. They aren't a good team, but they made enough shots to offset our big rebounding advantage. And the stat isn't kept, but there must have been a dozen times the Pilots had a wide open shot from outside, and hesitated or never looked to take it.

up7587 wrote:

Lot of good things out of this game, if only it was 39 minutes...all I got right now.

I'd say leave out the minute from 8:00 to 7:00 left in the game, and this is a win.

Much as we think he's a (pick your adjective), Rex Walters knew our weakness, ball handing, and did enough with their full court press to win the game. Plus, they have shooters; 9-21 from 3p, 16-17 from FT. They aren't a good team, but they made enough shots to offset our big rebounding advantage. And the stat isn't kept, but there must have been a dozen times the Pilots had a wide open shot from outside, and hesitated or never looked to take it.

Absolutely, Pilots left guys open at the arc all night and turned it over a bunch of times again.

Portland is up 11 with 9:20 to go. A stop or two and another basket and they're in really good shape. Instead, USF outscores us 7-1 on the next four possessions, it's a 5 point game with 7:30 to go and USF is right back in it.

I saw a lot of positives out on the court tonight (my glass is half full thinking) but we just kind of squandered the game away. Ughh, I can't help but think that was an opportunity wasted (half empty mode).

I am glad some people saw the glass half full...

I saw a team that is 21 games into the 7th season of the coaching regime, still has no flow or rhythm on offense (other than "pass it around the perimeter and pray") and had way too many unforced turnovers. We are still trying to find offense--21 games in (?!). I knew we were in trouble when Barker took the three from the top of the key--a symptom of our inept & ineffective offense. We have not been able to adjust to the challenges presented to us this season.

This loss tonight probably seals our fate for the Wednesday game in Vegas. Ugh.

Let's face facts here... Rex Walters cleaned house after last season, and has 9 (was it 8 or 9?) new faces on the team this year. They out played us, and out coached us. Rex was able to recruit 9 *brand new* players... and they beat us in our gym. If that isn't more proof about our inability to land talent in relation to our WCC foes, I dont know what is.

I am in the glass half empty group. I am really disappointed by the unfortunate reality check tonight.

Just an awful, slow-motion collapse. Not one of those huge lopsided runs that the Pilots are so fond of giving up, but equally discouraging.

I was actually impressed with our ball movement and ability to get guys into the paint and make some shots. 51% shooting and a huge rebounding margin should be enough to get the job done. Turnovers and three-point defense did us in. So many wasted posetions. Turnovers... Was it Tim Douglas who was turnover-prone, or something systemic? Are we turning the ball over any less this year than last?

There's no getting around the fact that backcourt play during Reveno's tenure - with a couple of exceptions int he first couple of years (TJC/Raivio) has been sub par, probably the worst in the conference IMO. The unforced turnovers have been an ongoing problem for the last few years. The offense is really hard to watch, espcially when playing an average to good defensive team - which USF is definitely not.

Fair question - Can Rev recruit and develop average to above average backcourt talent at the WCC level - particularly out of HS? The answer to this point, is a definite no.

How many of these guys have improved significantly in their time here?

I also found a lot of positives in last night's game.

How I wish the Pilots weren't in a position for us to have to find positives in a home loss to USF.

Honest question re: tactics.

If the game is tied and you have the ball with exactly one minute left, doesn't it generally make sense to try to go for a 2-for-1 in that situation? As in, take a shot early in the shot clock, which would allow for you to get the ball back even if the other team uses a full 35 seconds after you either make the shot or they get the rebound? In my mind, it makes a lot more sense to set yourself up to take the last shot rather than let the other team have that advantage.

Or am I missing something?

My best guess is the play just broke down, because I'm sure that bad shot by Oskars wasn't what was drawn up during the time-out just previous to that possession.