PSU Viking Game:"Cross Town Rival"

From what I saw last night, this team will be good in less than 3 to 4 years. Terry Porter's comments on the highlight reel suggests the same.

We definitely need to take care of the ball--the end of this game was a gut punch and surprising--the 12-0 run in the last two and one half minutes was hard to watch.

But I saw a good deal of positive play from this team--which I would like to believe wins in a rematch.

JoJo Walker is pretty good despite the last two minutes. Marcus Shaver is pretty good. McSwiggan is good and shot well--had rebounds ripped from his hands, but overall a great pickup for the Pilots. The Porters can play. All I hope will be here for a while.

Our small lineup could not compete on the boards--bring in Smoyer along side Diabate, if you are not going to start them. Diabate indeed seems an unlikely choice for newcomer of the year in the WCC . . .probably needs to make the starting lineup, but there is talent.

The force that is Philipp Hartwich was truly impressive last night.

But for the loss, fun game to watch.

Geezaldinho wrote:

Sound Vortex wrote:Phil still has to work on FTs. Can't be missing those at crunch time.

The guy gets a double double with 10 points and 18 rebounds along with 6 blocked shots and a steal with only one turnover..... and you focus on 5 missed free throws?

There were other issues out there.

Phillip has certainly been a bright spot in the early going of this season - it's been really fun to see him develop into a key player for the Pilots.

But it's a fair point though. You only need to look at players like DiAndre Jordan and Andre Drummond to see the issue - good players that are key to a team's success for the first 3.5 quarters, but when a game is close they end up getting benched down the stretch because their FT shooting is such a liability.

Philip is shooting 44% so far this year (EWU, L&C, PSU), and it's not really a small sample size... 14-32. For comparison, that's already more FT's than he shot the ENTIRE season last year. And his career FT% is 43%, so it's not like this year is just an aberration.

If Philip is going to be playing a lot more minutes (and it certainly looks like he deserves to be), teams are going to figure out pretty quickly that intentionally fouling Phil in crunch time would be a good strategy in the right situation.

Maybe we should get Rick Barry on the case!

Stonehouse wrote:

Geezaldinho wrote:

Sound Vortex wrote:Phil still has to work on FTs. Can't be missing those at crunch time.

The guy gets a double double with 10 points and 18 rebounds along with 6 blocked shots and a steal with only one turnover..... and you focus on 5 missed free throws?

There were other issues out there.

Phillip has certainly been a bright spot in the early going of this season - it's been really fun to see him develop into a key player for the Pilots.

But it's a fair point though. You only need to look at players like DiAndre Jordan and Andre Drummond to see the issue - good players that are key to a team's success for the first 3.5 quarters, but when a game is close they end up getting benched down the stretch because their FT shooting is such a liability.

Philip is shooting 44% so far this year (EWU, L&C, PSU), and it's not really a small sample size... 14-32. For comparison, that's already more FT's than he shot the ENTIRE season last year. And his career FT% is 43%, so it's not like this year is just an aberration.

If Philip is going to be playing a lot more minutes (and it certainly looks like he deserves to be), teams are going to figure out pretty quickly that intentionally fouling Phil in crunch time would be a good strategy in the right situation.

Maybe we should get Rick Barry on the case!  

Well, ok.

But hack a Phil is only a strategy when the game is close, and our guard play lost 10 and 12 point leads with turnovers in just a couple minutes. It wasn't Phill's missed free throws. He only missed 2 or 3 during those stretches.

And it would have been worse, except some of Phil's blocks happened in those stretches.

The guys Terry was yelling at weren't Phil. He was the best guy down the stretch out there

Marcus Shaver Jr. continued his solid play into the second half, leading the way for the Pilots with fifteen points. Despite his good scoring performance, he is not satisfied.

“I’m not too happy,” Shaver Jr. said. “I scored the ball pretty well, but that’s not what the team needed.”

http://www.upbeacon.com/article/2017/11/mbball-garcia

I like his attitude.

Geezaldinho wrote:It wasn't Phill's missed free throws. He only missed 2 or 3 during those stretches.

It doesn't matter when the misses occurred. Missed free throws in the first half = fewer points on the board in the second half. It is true that Phil mostly played an outstanding game. And when compared with his performance last year, it was a particularly impressive game. But it is simultaneously true that his free throw shooting is a liability, and has now contributed significantly to the loss to EWU and the loss to PSU.

This was a really fun game to watch. GREAT job by the students. Best student section (other than vs GU or BYU) that I've seen in my years of attending games at Chiles. Unfortunately they won't have another DI home game to cheer at for almost an entire month (vs Fullerton on December 6). That's another negative effect of the poor scheduling. It squashes the energy of the student section. Nice overall attendance, too. It's hard to overstate how much more enjoyable it is to watch a game when the arena is 3/5 full, as opposed to 1/5 full (especially when the crowd is not mostly fans of the opponent).

I think the most telling statistic is the overall shot attempts. PSU had 70, the Pilots had 54. That is the result of turnovers and failing to secure defensive rebounds. So even though we shot a better percentage from the field, a better percentage from 3, and a better percentage from the line, we lost by 5.

This squad could be darn good in about two years, especially if we can get a good big man. Both Walker and Shaver have the potential to be absolute stars. Shaver was electric. We've got playmakers all over the floor, and they all play unselfishly. 17 assists last night, and a very balanced offensive attack. Stark contrast with last year, when we had only two guys who could make plays. And then only one after Wintering's injury.

Other thoughts...

McSwiggan ultimately scored 15 points, but was highly inefficient (5-13). And as others noted, he did a poor job securing rebounds, which contributed to PSU's comeback. To his credit, he had 5 assists to only 1 turnover.

Rebounding needs to be addressed. We gave up 26 offensive rebounds. I think that means we need more minutes for Diabate, Smoyer and maybe even Stone. That means fewer weapons on the offensive end, but that might be a sacrifice the coaches need to make. McSwiggan at the 4 isn't cutting it on the boards.

For as well as Hartwich played, he only had three field goal attempts. One point-blank layup and two dunks. If he can get those kinds of shots, let's get him some more touches down low.

Does anyone know what happened about 1:30 into the game, when there was a stoppage in play and both head coaches were down in front of the Pilots' bench, looking at something down at the corner of the court?

PSU's new coach is a trip. Loud and animated, but (at least from across the gym) he seemed to be keeping it positive. He reminds me of a young Al Pacino.

PSU was a tough opponent. The Big Sky coaches picked them at #8 in the preseason poll. If that is the Big Sky's number eight team, that's a good league.

What's the deal with 300lb Gonzaga centers making 3-pointers at the Chiles Center? First Karnowski hit one a couple of years ago, and then Edwards last night.

Walker needs to learn how to avoid offensive fouls while driving in and kicking out a pass to the perimeter.

What is the deal with UP's clock/buzzer/shot clock/scoreboard operators? There is not a game that goes by without some weird malfunction, inadvertent horn, shot clock that doesn't start, etc. This has been going on for several seasons. Happened again last night, when the shot clock buzzer went off for no reason.

In the summer and preseason games, Walker and M. Porter looked like their three-point shooting wasn't going to be too good. But they were a combined 3-5 from deep last night. Bodes well! As does the overall three-point performance. 10-20 as a team.

Sorry to bring this one up again. The Vikings have gone on to beat UC Riverside and Utah State in the days since our matchup. But, something I had not noticed before is that the Portland State roster has 6 seniors, 6 juniors, 2 sophomores, and 1 freshmen. That makes me feel better about our matchup. Even if they had a new team like we did, that experience and seniority is what pulled them through in the end. We, meanwhile, have 2 seniors, 3 juniors (can't remember if Clark will retain eligibility or not after sitting out this year), 3 sophomores, and 7 freshmen (with two redshirts who will be freshmen again).

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:Sorry to bring this one up again.

Oh, I think the majority of us are being pretty philosophical about this season, knowing we are in a "building year" with a ton of new players including seven freshman.

I've talked to a number of fans that showed up at games last season to see "Terry Porter's team" who have been very impressed with the fun this year's team is providing compared to the '16-17 model, and most seem to know winning is really not in the cards this season.

Regarding the redshirts: Crisshawn is working every day with the trainers to rehabilitate his knee(s) and is expected to be a big contributor next season if all goes well.  The question of how much time he'll spend on the Bluff will of course depend on several things, but if all goes well he will petition for a 6th year in college after next season ('18-19) to play his senior year in '19-20.

Taki is also healing and he and Hugh are generally developing their games and getting some size/muscle/maturity.  TP obviously wanted to break up the freshman class to balance out the classes, and those two were probably the obvious choices.  I think many questioned having Marcus and JoJo playing, but so far it is working well with JoJo and Malcolm mostly playing the one while Marcus plays the two.

Next year's recruiting class still remains at one (6-8 PF Josh Phillips), and it could remain at just one unless the Pilots are able to snag another PF or even a Center. Hugh will be a freshman, Joseph will have matured another year, D will have learned a lot more about TEAM basketball, Austin, who is still really new to the game will be a steady back-up, and Josh could very well be next year's redshirt.

Sorry, obviously just getting around to answering some of the mail.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Does anyone know what happened about 1:30 into the game, when there was a stoppage in play and both head coaches were down in front of the Pilots' bench, looking at something down at the corner of the court?

Yeah, one of the PSU players was either not feeling well or had to go to in a hurry as he came off the court and ducked into the restroom in the lobby.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:What is the deal with UP's clock/buzzer/shot clock/scoreboard operators? There is not a game that goes by without some weird malfunction, inadvertent horn, shot clock that doesn't start, etc. This has been going on for several seasons. Happened again last night, when the shot clock buzzer went off for no reason.

Haha, yeah the operators look pretty guilty when they throw their hands in the air much like a player who obviously just committed a foul, but the truth is, it's not the operators.

Each of the guys down there around the controls have at least 30 years of experience, but all the experience in the world won't help them with the comparatively inexpensive (cheap!) scoreboard system you can thank former AD Larry Williams for.  It has given everyone fits from the beginning (Buzz seemed the only one who knew how to fix it on the fly), and it really hasn't gotten any better over time.

I haven't seen the Athletic Department's priority list for spending, but I think new game electronics are somewhere below new seats for the fans, but I could be very wrong!

DoubleDipper wrote:
Haha, yeah the operators look pretty guilty when they throw their hands in the air much like a player who obviously just committed a foul, but the truth is, it's not the operators.

Each of the guys down there around the controls have at least 30 years of experience, but all the experience in the world won't help them with the comparatively inexpensive (cheap!) scoreboard system you can thank former AD Larry Williams for.  It has given everyone fits from the beginning (Buzz seemed the only one who knew how to fix it on the fly), and it really hasn't gotten any better over time.

I haven't seen the Athletic Department's priority list for spending, but I think new game electronics are somewhere below new seats for the fans, but I could be very wrong!

I know it’s fashionable to blame everything on Larry Williams and Obama, but this is a bit distorted version of the facts. He hasn’t been here since 2011!

Doesn’t the new AD have a maintenance and replacement budget? Were there problems of this nature before 2017? The one I remember is the clock switches that were NOT replaced were hard to push.


I talked to the operators at halftime of one of the games, and the controller box is a new one this year, and some of the functions operate differently than they have for the 30 years or so they have been working the clocks.

Part of it that the new box has hair trigger controls compared to the old, and part is that they just aren’t used to using the new box after 30 years with the old one. Part of it is that functions like resetting the shot clock or time outs operate in a different sequence.

So unless you think Williams ordered the new box 5- 6 years ago, it’s bs to pin it on him.

Geezaldinho wrote:So unless you think Williams ordered the new box 5 years ago, it’s bs to pin it on him.

So it's Obama's fault?  

DoubleDipper wrote:

Geezaldinho wrote:So unless you think Williams ordered the new box 5 years ago, it’s bs to pin it on him.

So it's Obama's fault?  

Nah.  As you say, older than that.

It’s Dubya who did it.

That and Trump undoing everything Obama did.

Oh yeah....

If they do get new seats for the fans, The ones they replaced in the first four  rows are more uncomfortable than the one I’ve been in that has been here since the Chiles center opened.

One more thing....CUP HOLDERS !

Anybody remember when the Chile's Center fist opened? There was a leak in the ceiling that dripped onto the court. Then we had to trudge through the slushy snow to Howard Hall

mikemac65 wrote:Anybody remember when the Chile's Center fist opened?  There was a leak in the ceiling that dripped onto the court.  Then we had to trudge through the slushy snow to Howard Hall

Yeah, it was uphill both ways.