Pilots @ BYU 2/21; @ GU 2/28; vs. BYU 3/2

The Pilots really have no business winning any of their remaining games during the regular season and will have to wait until Las Vegas if they are to notch another victory. Not that upsets don’t happen, but the young Pilots have not shown near enough scoring consistency or an ability to cut down their turnover numbers as the season has progressed.

The hope now is to have the teams below the Pilots in the standings cooperate and allow the Pilots to wait until Thursday before playing their first game in Las Vegas. The recent home loss to USF (the second loss to USF this season) was a great disappointment, but was consistent with the inconsistency the Pilots have shown all year.

Standings through February 18 (tie breakers considered)…..

1. GU 12-1
2. SMC 9-3
3. BYU 9-3
4. USD 9-4
5. SCU 5-7
6. UP 5-8
7. LMU 3-9
8. USF 3-10
9. PU 1-10

The Pilots game at BYU Thursday evening will be broadcast "nationally" on BYUtv at 6 pm (PST).

Five of the 10 players for UP scored in double figures this evening, but the Pilots had no answer for BYU’s 6’7” center and their 7th year guard (yep, she’s done her mission and been on the roster 7 years due to injuries), who each scored 23 points in BYU’s 79-64 win.

I was impressed with how the Pilots regained their composure in the second half and did not let the game get away as it could have. Five of the Pilots were playing for the first time in the near 22.000 seat Marriott Center…and for Jazmyn Johnson from Kingwood, Texas, it was the first time she’d ever seen snow.

Gonzaga and BYU (again) coming up, then off to Las Vegas……

A very even game is Spokane tonight….but the Bulldogs pulled it out 59-56. If there was a difference, it was the number of free throws taken and made by GU, (UP was 11 of 17 and GU was 19-for-32) and GU was +11 on the boards.

GU is the best team and the WCC, and UP stayed with them on the road in front of close to 6,000 fans on Senior Night….it may not have been a win, but it was definitely a confidence booster.

Very proud of this young Pilots team that has learned to scrap and dive and play with some abandon; something we haven’t seen for number of years.

BYU in the Chiles Center on Saturday at 2pm is next....it's Senior Day, but as there are no seniors on the Pilots, I bet Coach Sollars will show a touch of class and have some flowers ready for the BYU seniors.....their 7th year guard is almost as old as he is.

Today's loss to BYU 73-63 was not unexpected, but the Pilots gave the older (they are Cougars), bigger and taller team a good battle.

The final score was probably a good indicator of how the game went, but UP was actually up by a couple at the 15 minute mark, and were only down by 3 with about 90 seconds left before BYU free throws sealed the deal.

Highlight of the day for many of us was the return of a number of Womens Basketball alums...man, they all looked great, had wonderful husbands, and all seemed to have a minimum of two or three kids in tow.