Abilene Christian and Alcorn St. Sunday and Tuesday @ 7PM

After competing against faster and bigger UC-Davis and Colorado, the Pilots should finally get to pick on someone their own size against Abilene Christian and Alcorn St. before heading off to Corpus Christi for Thanksgiving.  

KenPom.com now ranks UP (1-2) at 201 (out of 351) after the Pilots' two losses, but Abilene Christian (2-0) is at 343 and Alcorn St. (0-1 before playing UTEP tonight) is ranked 346.....

Abilene Christian's two wins are over D-3 Howard Payne and NAIA D-1 Southwest College, and Alcorn St. lost to Grand Canyon.

The preliminary line has UP by 15 over both teams.....but all Pilots fans remember games against other teams UP was supposed to beat by 15, like PSU and MSU, just to name two.

Having a lot of noisy fans/students rooting for UP will be a big help getting the Pilots going this season....as will rebounding and a lack of turnovers.  

The "Rule of UTPA" clearly states that the Pilots shall not overlook any opponent, regardless of ranking or perceived ability.

At least UTPA doesn't exist anymore so we don't have to be constantly reminded of it. Ha.

Busy day today; I'll try to get there for tip-off. Save my seat!

up7587 wrote:Busy day today; I'll try to get there for tip-off. Save my seat!

Hope you've got your DVR on "Auto-Extend" for the last NASCAR race of the season....it was delayed by rain and numerous well deserved tributes to Jeff Gordon.

Terry Cahill wrote:The "Rule of UTPA" clearly states that the Pilots shall not overlook any opponent, regardless of ranking or perceived ability.

At least UTPA doesn't exist anymore so we don't have to be constantly reminded of it. Ha.

Yeah, I don't really get that.  As I recall UT-Pan American is still around, but the school/team UP lost to three years ago is now UT-Rio Grande Valley.

I think besides the Portland State and Montana State losses, the loss two years ago to the Mean Green of North Texas was also a real punch in the gut.

DoubleDipper wrote:I think besides the Portland State and Montana State losses, the loss two years ago to the Mean Green of North Texas was also a real punch in the gut.

Well if that North Texas loss was a punch to the gut, then the loss to USF a month later (Dons forced OT on ridiculous contested banked three at regulation buzzer) was a kick delivered right to the groin.

This thread has gone south in a hurry. Gotta turn things around...

That went OK.

( except maybe free throws)

The first half was fun!

Based on the whole game I am worried about our inside game. It seemed like during the beginning of the second half we were trying to go uptempo and inside and couldn't get much going. Once we went back to jump shots we started scoring again. Also two bigs fouled out against a smaller team. I am glad this game gave us a chance to work on some of these things somewhere other than practice.

DoubleDipper wrote:

up7587 wrote:Busy day today; I'll try to get there for tip-off. Save my seat!

Hope you've got your DVR on "Auto-Extend" for the last NASCAR race of the season....it was delayed by rain and numerous well deserved tributes to Jeff Gordon.

I don't trust auto-extend yet.  I add 1.5 hours routinely.

Geezaldinho wrote:That went OK.

( except maybe free throws)

Yeah, It'll be interesting to see what Rev has to say about free throws and the Pilots' inside game on his radio show on Monday at 7PM on 910AM.

There were some good moments in tonight's game, especially in the first half, but the big guys have a long way to go compared to other WCC teams I've watched this preseason.  Barreno and Hartwich combined for 10 fouls and six points and six rebounds tonight.....without rebounds it's pretty difficult to get second chance points and begin the fast breaking transition game.  

Free throws....I think the misses have just gotten in their heads during games.   In practice they're shooting closer to 80%, so I'm confident that problem will eventually be taken care of.  I wish I had that confidence with the inside game.

dholcombe wrote: I am glad this game gave us a chance to work on some of these things somewhere other than practice.

Yeah, that's for sure.  

With five games in eight days there is really no time or energy to practice a lot of new things....just the basics and game tape study.  Hopefully this game and the game against Alcorn St. will be "practice" opportunities prior to getting back to serious business against Colorado St. on Friday in Corpus Christi.

DoubleDipper wrote:Barreno and Hartwich combined for 10 fouls and six points and six rebounds tonight.

In a total of 21 minutes played. A little alarming.

This is quite a road trip Alcorn State is on. Grand Canyon on Thursday, UTEP yesterday, Portland tomorrow, Corpus Christi on Friday/Saturday, Indiana on Monday before they finally go back to wherever Alcorn State is.

Terry Cahill wrote:

This is quite a road trip Alcorn State is on. Grand Canyon on Thursday, UTEP yesterday, Portland tomorrow, Corpus Christi on Friday/Saturday, Indiana on Monday before they finally go back to wherever Alcorn State is.

Terry Cahill wrote:...go back to wherever Alcorn State is.

I may be in Lausanne, Switzerland, but let me Google that for you.

You mean Alcorn isn't a State?

This could be an interesting matchup tomorrow night against the Alcorn St. Braves, members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference from Lorman, Mississippi....about half way between Jackson, MS and Alexandria LA.

The majority of Alcorn's scoring comes from their forwards, their team is taller/bigger than the Pilots, and they have done a good job of rebounding in the first couple of games.  They list eight forwards and six guards on their squad, and it would appear their fifth year forward and U of Detroit transfer, Patrick Onwenu, is their best player.

Alcorn is 0-2 after losing to UTEP last evening in El Paso, 88-66, but the Braves scored 40 points in the second half.  

The Pilots over the Braves by 16 is the current line.....

Realtime RPI has the projected score at 84-59.

Did coach give any insight into tonight's game on his show last evening?

Like, is REBOUNDING a PRIORITY???

There are 351 D1 teams. UP is #320 in defensive rebounds and #348 in free-throw shooting percentage.....

DoubleDipper wrote:Did coach give any insight into tonight's game on his show last evening?

Like, is REBOUNDING a PRIORITY???

There are 351 D1 teams.  UP is #320 in defensive rebounds and #348 in free-throw shooting percentage.....

I'm actually a little surprised there are 3 teams worse than us at the line. Maybe Bill Schonely can give the pregame speech tonight!

Because the inside game has been weak to this point, the Pilots are #299 in 2-point shooing (40.3%).....but UP is a solid #55 in 3-pointers (40%).

I think most are in agreement that it's good to work the ball inside out or outside in depending upon where the defenders are going.....but if there is no inside shooting, UP's outside will eventually suffer, IMO.

Remember, Alcorn State appears to be an inside oriented team, but their big guys are able to step back and shoot too.  

Tasks for tonight: defend the inside shooting, grab the rebounds, stay out of foul trouble, get to the foul line and imagine you're in your driveway at home....

DoubleDipper wrote:Like, is REBOUNDING a PRIORITY???

I believe rebounding was mentioned! Area of improvement, or something like that.

Tough to rebound when you are shooting 63%.

When was the last game we put up 58 in a half?

Rams require 2OT to beat Abiline Christian at home. Maybe Pilots can catch them sleeping too this Friday.

pilotram wrote:Rams require 2OT to beat Abiline Christian at home. Maybe Pilots can catch them sleeping too this Friday.

A Pilots win over CSU! That would make you...uhhh... happy?

Um...yea?