Pilots @ Pepperdine, Thursday 1/27, 7:30pm, Root Sports

This game is one of the few remaining opportunities for another win. PU is 1-7 in conference, with only a one point win over LMU on the plus side of their table. They've lost 5 in a row. The Pilots are the first team they face for a second time; they have not played USF yet. The Pilots have lost 6 in a row since they beat the Waves at Chiles.

Murray Jr. is still their key guy. He got 29 points on 20 shots against SMC their last game. Reyes and Major are the other two primary players. In the Pilots' 13 point win earlier, Alec had 23 points, and Jackson, Ferguson, and Smoyer did not play. Two of those guys now start.

Two struggling teams, both desperate for a win.

IMO, if the Pilots can keep the fire going they had against GU, they can win the next couple of games.  

Difficult to even think of this Pilots squad without Alec, but the reality is other players now have a chance to step up and show what they can do; a great audition for next year.

Probably too much to ask of Andre to score much, but if he can keep his head up and find the open man while not turning it over....it's really all we can ask.  He's already proven he's a better point guard than UP had just 4 years ago, before Alec's arrival.

Rebounding will be the great equalizer tonight.  Prevent second chance points, limit the turnovers, and find someone with a hot hand.  Sounds simple....we'll see!

A couple of other things I am looking for:

1) Has Tyson finally found his shooting touch and be consistent?

2) Can we get Philipp's energy at the start of the GU game and wanting to score to carry forward? It will be nice to get 20-25 minutes and 10ish points to go with his defense and rebounding.

3) Does Jarrel play tonight? Hopefully he is able, to keep the minutes played down for some others.

I actually think Philip is a big key for us. He can be very disruptive on defense with his length, provides great rebounding, and if he can add 6 or more points to that it just really can open things up.

With Alec out and the rut we were in, I'm kind of looking at these next 2 games as a start of a new season. Let's see how we come out and compete. I'd like to see us focus on energetically and aggressively defending.

Yeah, and the Pilots have got to keep the ball moving side-to-side and not become stagnant and take bad shots....otherwise the ball will just end up in PU's hands.

For Tyson or Johnson or Jackson to score effectively, Ferguson is going to have to find them off balls screens or dribble drives.....

Such a difficult spot to put him in, but in addition to others rebounding, Andre is the key to any success the Pilots will have.

I don't think we should count on Jarrel....he may be ready physically, but I question whether he's mentally tough enough. Prove me wrong, Jarrel!

The Waves finally started missing some shots...too bad we let them get some offensive rebounds at that point.

Glad to be only down 6...Hopefully Gabe can get going in the 2nd half...hurt by getting 2 early fouls.

Only 3 turnovers...let's keep that up!

43-43 and then.....what the...

We are getting killed giving up offensive rebounds.

And Jazz at point are offense is stagnant. There were 3 possessions in a row that Jazz never passed the ball.

61-47..Now 61-51. Put Gabe back in. A bit over 6 minutes to go. The surest way to get as many minutes out of him is to let him get his 5th foul. Wait too long....and you could have played him longer.

dholcombe wrote:61-47..Now 61-51. Put Gabe back in. A bit over 6 minutes to go. The surest way to get as many minutes out of him is to let him get his 5th foul. Wait too long....and you could have played him longer.

Announcers reading your mind there...lot of talk about playing him longer.

Was only able to catch the second half, started off promising with Taylor but then got really ugly. More scoring droughts, bad turnovers, absolutely wrecked on 2nd chance points and rebounds

...Welp, joining the last place team in last place, can't get any lower than that really. As much as it sucked losing Wintering early, I'm sorta glad we're coming face to face with the post-Wintering era earlier rather than later.

If you wanted to see UP beat Pepperdine this evening you needed to be at the Chiles Center where the women won, 75-55.

Didn't watch the men's game, but one stat stands out....14 offensive rebounds resulting in 19 second chance points for the Waves....one more than the margin of victory.

Only four combined rebounds for Smoyer, Barreno, and Hartwich...

I understand Marshall was again on the bench and dressed to play, but didn't!

From the 43-43 tie point, the Pilots went 4:50 without scoring and PU ran off 9 straight points. In that stretch PU got 4 offensive rebounds, Pilots made 3 turnovers, and Pilots only got off 3 shots, all jumpers by Jazz. Waves slowly stretched the lead out from there to the end.

Regarding the offensive boards: Early in the season it seemed to be a strategy to abandon offensive boards in favor of getting back on defense. You would see players running down the court once a shot went up. It seemed to work out OK. As a strategy that seems to have been abandoned, however we're not getting the offensive boards still. Due to lack of emphasis in practice/recent experience given the earlier strategy? Maybe. Who knows. If we're not getting the offensive boards should we go back to the strategy of giving them up to get back on D instead?