Pilots @ Santa Clara, Thursday 1/5, 7PM

SCU is 7-8, including 6-3 at home. They are 1-1 in WCC play, losing big at BYU, and then handily beating USF at home. They have some poor losses (UC Davis, San Jose St), and a really good win over Valparaiso. They revolve around Jared Brownridge, who's averaging 18.5 ppg. Four other players average in the 9-12 ppg range, including recently returned G KJ Feagin, who scored 22 against USF. They also have a new coach, Herb Sendek, who has 20+ years of head coach experience, most recently at ASU. He is also a Randy Bennett look-alike.

SCU will be a team we compete with for the 4/5/6 spots, so a road win would be really big.

up7587 wrote:SCU will be a team we compete with for the 4/5/6 spots, so a road win would be really big.

Most of the prognosticators are picking SCU by 2 to 3 points.....so it could be a close one.

At last count there should be around 90 Pilots fans in attendance to help make some noise and keep the refs honest.   One of the leaders of this gathering is none other than Rev's first UP recruit and 2010 grad, Ethan Niedermeyer.  (Ethan played professionally for a little while, but has now graduated from law school and works in the Bay Area.)  

Probably an understatement to stress how important defensive rebounding will be for the Pilots.  If Brownridge or Feagin get a second look, they'll bury it!  They shoot close to 45% from 2-point range and together they average over 80% from the line.

Glad to hear we'll have a good contingent of Pilots at the Leavy Center. Assuming SCU's students are still away, 90 vocal fans could make a big difference!

As up7587 said, this game is a big one. Arguably more important than either the GU or SMC games that will follow. Moving to 3-0 against our fellow second-tier teams (and hanging a loss on SCU) would give us a leg-up toward a top-half finish.

Let's go, Pilots! Get it done.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Glad to hear we'll have a good contingent of Pilots at the Leavy Center. Assuming SCU's students are still away, 90 vocal fans could make a big difference!

They usually give us seats relatively close to the Pilots bench, so at least the players will know they have our support.

With freezing rain/snow forecast for Saturday's GU game in Portland, some of us are thinking of just staying in the 30 degree warmer weather of California and watching that game on the TV....it'll be noisy enough without us, and I totally agree that wins over SCU on the road and LMU at home are the more important games in the long run.

DoubleDipper wrote:

With freezing rain/snow forecast for Saturday's GU game in Portland, some of us are thinking of just staying in the 30 degree warmer weather of California and watching that game on the TV....it'll be noisy enough without us, and I totally agree that wins over SCU on the road and LMU at home are the more important games in the long run.

Those snow games tend to be poorly attended, so it might not be very loud. Still sounds like a good idea to stay in some warmer weather! Freezing rain is never very fun (except for people like me who just can't help but find an excuse to head out driving in it).

Do they ever cancel games because of weather if there visiting team can make it into town? Is it a deal where as long as Gonzaga can get to Portland, they will play?

Yes. The Pilots canceled their trip to Boise State earlier due to weather. Flight couldn't get out of the Portland airport.

I suspect that won't happen this time. I imagine Gonzaga is flying either Thursday or Friday rather than on Saturday and weather is supposed to be cold, but dry on those days. No reason to be in Spokane for Friday classes since its still winter break. Maybe its time for that game thread to start so this discussion can move over.

While I'm talking to myself...

Video for tonights game will be at http://www.wccsports.com/game-center/57aa7413e4b01b313c3ad176/

This is brutal. The Bronco's made 7 3's in their 25-4 run over the final 9+ minutes of the half. Most of them were wide open by the same 2 players.

Our offense is brutal to watch tonight. They are in slow motion or not even moving away from the ball. Alec keeps forcing others to help guard him but no one is moving to the open spots on the floor for him to pass.

Missed a bunch of layups even while we were building our 18-9 lead. Defense was doing OK + Santa Clara was cold when they were open. It was concerning....Then 4 points in 10 minutes and the defense let up as well. Uggh.

Started off well, but had to get the kids down.  What did I miss?



Oh.

These were the type of games I was hoping we'd avoid under coach Porter. It's too easy to key on Wintering and Johnson. We need someone else to step up on the offense.

blacksheep wrote:These were the type of games I was hoping we'd avoid under coach Porter.  It's too easy to key on Wintering and Johnson.  We need someone else to step up on the offense.  

I feared this type of game going into the season when looking at the roster... I guess I should feel okay that this is only the first one. Getting Marshall back will help (any updates?!), but we really need some other consistent scoring threat.... Coach Porter just does not have options to work with now. A lot of help is coming for next season, but we need to get someone else going soon to limit the number of this type of result.

On a positive note, we won the rebounding battle.

Santa Clara outscored UP 54-15 after the Pilots went up 18-9?? I feel pretty fortunate that I missed this one!

PilotNut wrote:A lot of help is coming for next season, but we need to get someone else going soon to limit the number of this type of result.

You're not wrong. But who's that guy gonna be?

The starters got some nice rest at the end of the game! For all the wrong reasons...

After last night's WCC action, we've dropped from 4th in the conference per KenPom to 7th. We're now #186.