Pilots @ BYU, Monday 12/29, 6pm

KenPom's ranks BYU at #45 and UP at #125.  BYU is favored by 11.

Playing in the 22,700 seat Marriott Center in Provo can be a very intimidating experience, even for those who have played there in the past.  Some very good teams, including Stanford this year, have found the noise and motion behind the basket make for a very difficult environment to communicate and shoot in.

I was perusing the GU Board, and they brought up an interesting point for us tonight. Thanks to the opening weekend being Saturday-Monday scheduling, the BYU team will not have practiced on Sunday, meaning their last team meeting would have been Saturday night after the loss to GU. I dont believe the coaches formally work on Sundays, either.... so they may be a bit less prepared to play us than other teams would be. Then again, classes are not in session, so they would have all day today for scouting, etc.

Another interesting quirk: the 4 other sets of travel partners (not UP & GU) have games on Thursday, New Years Day. I am glad we do not for 2 reasons: that would be a quick turnaround from tonight and I think attendance would suffer significantly, when competing with bowl games (imagine if we were playing while the Rose Bowl was on?!).

Go Pilots!!

Word from Reveno on Brian Wheeler's radio show is that Bailey will not be available tonight. Still hopeful for Gonzaga.

We need to attack the glass tonight, because: 1) We are a great free throw shooting team. Especially Pressley. He needs to get to the line; 2) If we get BYU's bigs in foul trouble, they don't have much depth down low.

Last year, Bailey and Thieleke spent a lot of time guarding Haws. Who gets that assignment tonight? Pressley? Todd?

Collinsworth might be even more difficult to guard. Maybe that's where Todd gets assigned, because of his height and rebounding ability.

Whoever gets to guard Collinsworth better plan on boxing out. That kid can flat out get to the ball.

We could really use some of that 3-point shooting about now...

Without Wintering we would be getting blown out right now.

Pet peeve: Getting tired of seeing Pressley miss lay-ups and shoot air balls. Bill Johnson is lamenting the same thing on the radio right now at halftime: "Alec Wintering cannot do it all by himself."

With just under 5 minutes to go, BYU misses a long shot, their one big on the floor gets the OREB, throws it out and they make a 3P. Playing a 4 guard line-up all night, BYU is winning the rebound game.

Pilots go down by 22, then separate runs of 11-4 and 10-2 to get all the way back to within seven late?

Give BYU something to think about. They'll have to play the Pilots at Chiles with - we hope - a badly needed KB back in the lineup.

Now is a good time to ask questions on Twitter--while they are fresh on your mind. Use #AskCoachRev or message me and I will get your questions out there. I am going to ask about rebounds & our bigs...

While it was good to see the team make a comeback, I am baffled at how our bigs didn't dominate. Thank goodness Wintering was on fire (and Sharp in the late going).

Well, the bettors who got +10 are happy. Nice comeback effort, but no margin for error was left.

On to the conference home opener. Who is it, again? Oh yeah.

I can't help but really dislike losing to BYU. I think it's their stronger than GU fan support they get in Chiles. I also can't help but wonder if Alec Wintering is going to be the best player this program has had since the All Mighty Pooh.

No surprises and no real complaints.

The game went about as expected with a much quicker "small" BYU lineup gathering and grabbing rebounds and scoring in the paint against the "big" UP lineup that was slower and less able to react.

One difference maker this evening was Tyson's inability to add a spark and get BYU's defenders to come to him to open up the middle....I don't think he made a 3 all night. I heard Bill Johnson speaking to him before the trip about the intimidation factor of playing in the Marriott Center....thanks Bill.

A good offensive game all around, IMO, but BYU's guards, especially Collingsworth, were just too much to handle inside and out.

D'Marques was 0-5, and I think a couple were air balls. Shake it off.

Waiting for the UP box score showing points in the paint. It was unfavorable at USD, and I expect another poor stat difference.

Points in the paint: 44-22 for BYU.

DeanMurdoch wrote:Points in the paint: 44-22 for BYU.

That's two games in a row the Pilots were doubled up on PIP. And it was not the other bigs getting it done. Penetrators aren't getting stopped, and they are getting finishes at the rim. Every player needs to step up in this area.

Voldy made a big effort tonight, but he collected fouls quickly. I think he was trying to overcompensate to pick up the slack for others.

The bad news.

We lost.
I did not make it to the Lloyd Center BWW as I didn't realize it was a 6 PM tip.

The good news.
I made it downstairs on the same block to Rock Bottom.
They put the game on 2 Tv's for me. 1 remained that way the whole game. I saw others watching the game that would not have otherwise been on there.
My beer paid for itself which wouldn't happen at BWW as I don't know anyone there well enough.

up7587 wrote: I think he was trying to overcompensate to pick up the slack for others.

Barker (5/6) shot better than Voldy's 6/10 and got more rebounds. 8v 5

VDM was 4/5 and got one fewer rebound.

What slack from the other bigs, exactly, are you referring to?

The problem wasn't offense or rebounding. We scored 88 points. I would hope to win with 88, but we allowed 97. I wasn't paying close enough attention to be able to point out particular defensive deficits, but we allowed a lot of points during a short period of time between 14 to about 10 minutes in the second half I want to say. Or perhaps we were just not scoring well then and so that is why that time period sticks out.

Looking at the box score defense may not even have been the problem. Points off turnovers. 22 BYU to 6 for Portland.

My perception is that a lot of stats got improved late in the game. When BYU got up 20 in the 2nd half, I felt VDM hadn't done much to that point. The BYU commentators, who I think do a good job, mentioned the same thing. By then Voldy already had 4 fouls. Don't know if I'll re-watch the game to confirm my perception. I'd just like to see every member of the team playing to their ability; if so, I think they'll win a lot of games.

Go Pilots, beat GU.

Yes, a lot of stats were made late in the game but they were the stats that contributed to a trimmed defecit of 22 down to 7. There were a few late buckets in the last minute or so that would aid your perception.

I liked the play of the big 3. They still need to rebound out of their area but their combined stats along with the shooting percentage was solid. Trust me, its hard for a big to really get into the offense when its a guard game like tonight was. It seems all they do is run up and down the court chasing guards on leak outs.

Obviously the Sophomore year is going very well for Alec, his 30 tonight was mans game. The other underclassman that is growing on me is Todd. He is a natural athlete and comes into his freshman year with a solid build. I remember how tough it was for Ryan his first year that with the significant minutes Todd is getting the learning curve comes quick and in a blur. His two 3 attempts at the 5 minute mark (or so) were gutsy but UP needs to know who should be taking those shots. That said his effort is solid, his 4 assists stand out from tonight and he for the most part is playing the role of a solid or rather traditional 3 man who does a lot of the dirty work for the team.

With school out the Mariott Center was neither full nor loud. With a 20k+ arena it is a tough place to play. I thought the team hung in there and regained composure down the stretch. With BYU a 15 point run happens quickly and fairly often. The team absorbed it and will learn from the experience. With Kevin out there are too many situations where UP doesnt have much offense on the court. When he is able to return it will make a difference in the way we can attack, I think the combination of Alec and Kevin will work well. In addition I think Kevin can help slow down some of the opponents transition game. After tonights 95 of 97 were generated by their guards having Kevins speed and length will help.

After last years GU game I didnt think life could get any better, heres hoping for another shocker this weekend!!!

pilotdad1 wrote:I liked the play of the big 3. They still need to rebound out of their area but their combined stats along with the shooting percentage was solid. Trust me, its hard for a big to really get into the offense when its a guard game like tonight was. It seems all they do is run up and down the court chasing guards on leak outs.

Thank you!

That's what I wanted to say in an earlier post, but didn't know how to spell it out.  The Big 3 played their games....it was just that BYU was playing another game....guards running up and down the court making it difficult for the Big 3 to get in defending or rebounding position.  

(It's way too soon to start talking about next year, but more development from UP's current guards, and depending on how UP uses their last 1 or 2 scholarships, UP could very well have the aggressive and physical guards that will match BYU.)

I totally agree with your assessment of Todd....he stepped on the practice court in the summer prepared physically, since then he's worked as hard as anyone at adjusting to the D1 game and learning UP's game.

One obvious area for improvement has to be transition defense. The starting lineup included Thomas, Gerun, and Riley. Unless you are swallowing up offensive rebounds you are going to get beat downcourt. I would have thought that one of the bigs was a designated "get back" guy, offensive rebounds are too small a percentage to designate 3 of your five players to crash when it was apparent that they were getting deep outlets and lanes were being filled. Heck it wouldnt have hurt to send two players only to the offensive boards and three have to get to the halfcourt line.

The other thing to remember DD is that our guards, especially the freshmen are playing against grown men. BYU juniors and seniors are sometimes 6 years older than our frosh. That is such a huge difference, and by huge I mean gargantuan (sp?).

pd1, thanks for your insights.