Pilots @ Pacific, Saturday 7pm

by **PilotNut** Fri Feb 20, 2015 9:17 pm

Pilots Look for Road Split at Pacific Saturday

On the Web: http://portlandpilots.com/news/2015/2/20/MBB_0220150110.aspxhttp://portlandpilots.com/news/2015/2/20/MBB_0220150110.aspx

Portland Pilots (16-11, 7-8 ) at Pacific Tigers (10-17, 2-13)

Date: Feb. 21, 2015
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Stockton, Calif.
Venue: Spanos Center
Video: www.TheW.tv
Radio: Sports 910 (KMTT)

POR vs. PAC Series
Overall Series: 10-21
Home/Road: 7-6/2-15
Neutral: 1-0
Last 5/10: 2-3/4-6
Last: POR 72, PAC 69 (1/22/15 at Portland)

THIS WEEK
• Portland snapped its four-game win streak with a 68-51 loss at Saint Mary’s on Thursday.
• The Pilots visit Pacific at 7 p.m. and video will be available at TheW.tv with Zack Bayrouty and Bob Thomason on the call.
• All Portland basketball games will be aired live on Sports 910 (KMTT) with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes prior to tip-off. Bill Johnson will call the play-by-play all season long.
• Pilot watch parties for all WCC road games will be hosted by Buffalo Wild Wings-LLoyd District.

ABOUT PACIFIC
• The Tigers (10-17, 2-13 WCC) is in last place in the WCC standings with an eight-game losing streak that began earlier this season at Portland.
• Pacific gave No. 3 Gonzaga a tough battle on Thursday before falling by an 86-74 margin.
• Guards T.J. Wallace (13.6) and Dulani Robinson (9.3) lead the Tigers.
• Second year head coach Ron Verlin compiled an 18-16 record and 6-12 mark in the program’s return to the WCC last season. Verlin was an assistant under long-time head coach Bob Thomason before taking over.
• The Pilots won a thriller in Portland earlier this season when Alec Wintering drilled a buzzer-beating three-pointer for a 72-69 victory. Last year, the team’s split the season series with the Pilots claiming a 72-64 win in Portland and 68-65 loss to close the regular season in Stockton.

by Guest Fri Feb 20, 2015 9:51 pm

UOP's buzzer beater loss at UP and their performance against GU don't square with their 2-13 conference record. Pilots are going to have to play strong for 40 minutes to come home with a split road trip. No easy wins ever in this league.

Go Pilots!

by Dean Murdoch Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:19 am

Well said. After Pacific's comeback at Chiles and given the importance of a win for the Pilots in the standings, I doubt there's any chance of the Tigers being taken lightly.

Hoping for a convincing road win to head into the BYU game with some confidence!

by **PilotNut** Sat Feb 21, 2015 12:58 pm

Tonight's game is Senior night for 1 Tiger (Aguirre), so there will be a little extra emotion.

I don't see any injuries for UoP, but there are some references to them being a bit banged up after the Zags game.

Kevin Bailey was just coming back from injury last time we played... and the team was still in the early season funk. The team is playing better know, and we are at full strength (minus Barker of course), so I hope we are able to put away Pacific. Lets do like the Pepp game and finish them off and not give away the second half runs & scoring droughts that have plagued us too frequently this season.

Go Pilots!

by Guest Sat Feb 21, 2015 6:54 pm

From Bill Johnson's pre-game show, Coach's keys to the game:
1. ball pressure
2. make catches hard, force them out

Coach sounds like he might getting a bug.

by Guest Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:15 pm

Well, that sucked. UOP all of a sudden couldn't miss in OT. But that game was lost in regulation at the FT line, and by rebounding. UOP got every loose rebound.

Possibly the biggest play was Jason Todd getting a rebound poked away from what would have been a defensive rebound with under two minutes to play and a 7 point lead. Instead, they sink a 3pt, and cut it to 4.

by **PilotNut** Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:22 pm

Yeah, we lost this one at the FT line late in the second half... Mad

by Dean Murdoch Sat Feb 21, 2015 9:28 pm

Up eight with 2:00 to go...so frustrating.

by Guest Sun Feb 22, 2015 11:01 am

Rev's analysis:

@CoachReveno wrote:Tough loss last night. Well played 37 minutes but did not close properly. Credit UOP for making plays taking advantage of our miscues.

Took great care of ball but missed free throws and defensive rebounds left door open for UOP. Lots to learn from as enter last week of WCC.

Up 3 w/ 21 seconds didn't foul because 1) amount of time left 2) with "bigs" foul trouble had not rebound FT's well, 3) had missed own FT's.

Needed to get stop. In hindsight, on-ball coverage was too soft(contested 3, needed to deny 3) execution was ok, needed better coverage call

Thomas' foul trouble was weird. 3 offensive fouls when posting up, at least one when the defender was draped all over him. They did call that both ways, however. And his last foul was when defending 25' from the basket on a switch. Really poor foul.

by DoubleDipper Mon Feb 23, 2015 10:44 am

The game was not lost because of the referees, but it was one of the worst officiated games of the year with regard to calling fouls that just didn't occur....against both teams.

At least two fouls on Thomas and the flagrant on Voldy should have been non-calls.

The official we call "Mr. Bean," who generally does pretty well, had his worst game ever IMO. When the team flew home from Sacramento yesterday morning Mr. Bean was also on the flight.....believe me, there was an icy silence between players/coaches and Mr. Bean.

I honestly don't have anything to add to what has been written about the SMC and UOP games, but witnessing both games live while sitting directly behind the Pilots bench, I can tell it was NOT a lack of coaching or player effort that resulted in the two losses.

I paid particular attention to one critic's complaints about the coaching, and just didn't see any validity to what had been written. Very good game plans and in-game coaching, but a lack of execution at critical junctures resulted in outcomes that could have gone the other way.....outcomes that were extremely frustrating for the players and coaches (and fans), that resulted in a sleepless night Saturday in Sacramento before heading home Sunday morning.

by Dean Murdoch Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:26 am

DoubleDipper wrote:The game was not lost because of the referees, but it was one of the worst officiated games of the year with regard to calling fouls that just didn't occur....against both teams.

I normally don't watch Saturday games due to work commitments, but I did catch this one. I'll agree with you that I'm not convinced refereeing decided this one because there were some head-scratching calls both ways, but man...it sure made for a choppy and frustrating game to watch regardless of outcome.

Let the players play.

by Guest Mon Feb 23, 2015 12:42 pm

I watch some of the replay of Oregon-Utah; man, what a difference in the officiating. That game was very physical and the refs let much of it go.

DD, I did not sleep very well even at home Saturday night after that game. So I sympathize with you completely.

I have gone from feeling hopeful about a quarterfinal win in Las Vegas to worrying about a first round exit.

by Geezaldinho Mon Feb 23, 2015 4:54 pm

That might depend on which night our first round is.

Pilots @ Pacific, Saturday 7pm

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