Re: 2017-2018 Conference Schedule

by NoPoNeighbor Mon Jan 22, 2018 11:38 am

Well that was an encouraging road trip! I honestly thought this team was going down in flames a couple of weeks ago (especially during that USF game).

We could easily be 4-4 in conference right now, having let the first USD game and the SCU game slip through our fingers. BUT, we could just as easily be 0-8. I watched both of the games from this past weekend, and I give much of the credit for both wins to our opponents' inability to capitalize on the golden opportunities the Pilots repeatedly gave them (via numerous turnovers, inability to score down the stretch, missed free throws, etc.). While there were flashes of brilliance, I don't think we really deserved to win either, given how poorly we played coming down the stretch in both games. That being said... I'll take a win streak!

Highlights from the weekend:
• Tyson played really well off of the bench. I was impressed at his ability to impact the game against USD, without taking a single three-point attempt. He scored six points and brought down several really gritty rebounds.
• Diabate! Starting to live up to the hype. Very encouraging and sorely needed inside offense. He also made some FTs!
• Franklin Porter played quite well (vs. LMU... not so good vs. USD).
• Defense. All-around, a huge improvement.
• McSwiggan. Looking GOOD!
• Hartwich's defense. Invaluable.

Lowlights:
• Really poor play in the second half. Especially down the stretch.
• TOs. The multiple TOs on inbounds plays are SO frustrating to watch. I have an impulsive gag reflex to those after watching Reveno's teams fail to correct that problem year in and year out.

by Guest Mon Jan 22, 2018 2:56 pm

The LMU commentator, Caron Butler, said that young players tend to go for a home run play. We saw that a few times, where our guys tried to score but failed or turned it over, when what we really needed was to run clock, take care of the ball, and make free throws. Not as exciting, but a proven winning strategy. Hopefully coaching and experience will help the players figure that out.

I was flashing back to the LMU game were it seemed our guards couldn't get across half court. Glad they played well enough to not repeat that fiasco.

by Guest Mon Jan 22, 2018 2:59 pm

NoPoNeighbor wrote:• TOs. The multiple TOs on inbounds plays are SO frustrating to watch. I have an impulsive gag reflex to those after watching Reveno's teams fail to correct that problem year in and year out.

That inbounds under the basket where Diabate cut and laid it in was slick. Obviously something they worked on in practice.

by wrv Mon Jan 22, 2018 4:10 pm

NoPoNeighbor wrote: I don't think we really deserved to win either, given how poorly we played coming down the stretch in both games.

As Clint Eastwood said to Gene Hackman ",deserving's got nothing to do with it."

Pilots played better in many respects and are headed in the right direction.

Even if not particularly relevant, actually, I think they did deserve to win.

by NoPoNeighbor Mon Jan 22, 2018 5:07 pm

wrv wrote:As Clint Eastwood said to Gene Hackman ",deserving's got nothing to do with it."

Pilots played better in many respects and are headed in the right direction.

Even if not particularly relevant, actually, I think they did deserve to win.

You're right, "deserve" doesn't make a lot of sense in this context.

My real point is that we very easily could have lost both games due almost entirely to self-inflicted damage. We tried to steal defeats from the jaws of victory, but neither USD nor LMU were inclined to let us do that.

by Guest Mon Jan 22, 2018 6:17 pm

Things like two failures in a row to get the ball inbounds, one right after a time out, were painful to watch. But neither USD nor LMU shot well from outside, and Phil avoided enough fouls to make a difference inside. I think he was only called for one moving screen over the two games. Also, the defenders are flying at the shooters outside. I figure that effort is making a difference on who is getting playing time.

Phil has a lot of conversations with the refs after fouls. I wonder what he says.

by Sound Voltex Tue Jan 23, 2018 12:24 am

Japanese article interviewing Diabate about his recent performance at LMU (Google translate)

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fbasketballking.jp%2Fnews%2Fncaa%2F20180122%2F44387.html&edit-text=&act=url

by Guest Wed Jan 24, 2018 1:43 pm

The O has a preview of the GU game. The article discusses UP's futility against GU in the Chiles Center since 1999: 1-18, a WCC worst. But hey, we'll always have 2014.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2018/01/gonzaga_in_portland_how_the_za.html#incart_river_index

by Dean Murdoch Wed Jan 24, 2018 5:03 pm

up7587 wrote:But hey, we'll always have 2014.

Damn straight. I’ll never forget that breakaway dunk by Korey Thieleke that really put away any hope of a Gonzaga comeback.

Can’t help but wonder how different that season would have ended if Alec didn’t get hurt.

by NoPoNeighbor Wed Jan 24, 2018 5:43 pm

Dean Murdoch wrote:I’ll never forget that breakaway dunk by Korey Thieleke that really put away any hope of a Gonzaga comeback.

2017-2018 Conference Schedule - Page 7 Korey

by Guest Thu Jan 25, 2018 3:11 pm

Pilots currently rank 234th in Scoring Defense, 177th in Total FG %, 59th in 3pt FG %, 116th in 3pt FG per game, 255th in Turnover Margin (-1.0) (PSU is #1), 65th in Blocks per Game, and 269th in Scoring Margin (-3.6). The first GU game blew that scoring margin stat up. Hopefully it will be a better result tonight.

by DoubleDipper Thu Jan 25, 2018 4:39 pm

Coach is concerned that at this point in the season the younger guys are getting worn down a bit while the bench has been short due to injuries (Malcolm and RJ) and Austin's suspension. Malcolm and RJ could see limited minutes tonight.

Looks like it will be JoJo, Marcus, Josh, D, and Phil starting again tonight. TP says there is a renewed confidence and better morale after the two recent wins that should help the team.....I think he was pretty disappointed with the energy level in Spokane, but is confident the guys will push and compete harder while attacking more instead of looking for the "perfect" shot.

The guys have talked a bit about being back home in the Chiles Center with the crowd rooting for them, but Phil's the only starter who's played GU at "home" and knows the atmosphere can turn GU's direction in a hurry. Evil or Very Mad

by bobtcat2 Thu Jan 25, 2018 5:53 pm

DoubleDipper wrote:Coach is concerned that at this point in the season the younger guys are getting worn down a bit while the bench has been short due to injuries (Malcolm and RJ) and Austin's suspension. Malcolm and RJ could see limited minutes tonight.

Looks like it will be JoJo, Marcus, Josh, D, and Phil starting again tonight. TP says there is a renewed confidence and better morale after the two recent wins that should help the team.....I think he was pretty disappointed with the energy level in Spokane, but is confident the guys will push and compete harder while attacking more instead of looking for the "perfect" shot.

The guys have talked a bit about being back home in the Chiles Center with the crowd rooting for them, but Phil's the only starter who's played GU at "home" and knows the atmosphere can turn GU's direction in a hurry.

Looking for some offense in this game. Take the over at 144. Gonzaga probably wins about 85-61.

by StudentPilot Thu Jan 25, 2018 6:30 pm

bobtcat2 wrote:Looking for some offense in this game. Take the over at 144. Gonzaga probably wins about 85-61.

Guess you'll have to define "some offense" because 85-61 is 14 fewer points than their last meeting....but it is more than 144. Laughing

Don't watch at home....tickets are still avalable!

by bobtcat2 Thu Jan 25, 2018 10:16 pm

StudentPilot wrote:
bobtcat2 wrote:Looking for some offense in this game. Take the over at 144. Gonzaga probably wins about 85-61.
Guess you'll have to define "some offense" because 85-61 is 14 fewer points than their last meeting....but it is more than 144.

Don't watch at home....tickets are still avalable!

Whoa, high scoring game. Pretty good effort tonight. Now 6 good performances in 7 games, just the one clunker at Gonzaga.

Will be very difficult to beat St. Mary's but like the matchup better than Gonzaga.

by Geezaldinho Thu Jan 25, 2018 10:53 pm

I didn’t know you could get 6 fouls in college.

by Guest Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:09 pm

Philip took a free one. Good for him. Laughing

by Sound Voltex Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:17 pm

Post game radio with Coach Johnson: https://vocaroo.com/i/s1j908b3qHzt

by DoubleDipper Fri Jan 26, 2018 12:16 am

GU is obviously the bigger and stronger and more experienced team, and deserved to win, but I saw a lot of positives in the Pilots' performance this evening.

It's not easy to be aggressive and competitive against a ranked team and not turn the ball over, and the Pilots only turned it over 13 times....the same number of turnovers GU had. Sure, the Pilots had only 12 turnovers in Spokane but they were not nearly as aggressive and scored 22 fewer points in that game.

That aggressiveness also resulted in UP going to the line 34 times tonight...while sinking 28 (82.4%). In Spokane they shot the exact same percentage, but took half the number of free-throws, 17, while sinking 14. Again, their aggressive drives to the basket resulted in free-throw attempts....something they're going to need to do to win when playing against similar tier teams in the WCC.

Once again D'Marques and Malcolm were big contributors off the bench scoring 26 of the 35 bench points tonight.

And finally, and you won't see this in any box score, Austin Stone was on the bench tonight in uniform for the first time since the San Jose State game on December 9. (The last time he was in a game (only 1 minute) was at Boise State on December 3). I have no idea what the future holds for Austin, but it's good to see he's at least been given the opportunity to be a part of the team again.

by DoubleDipper Fri Jan 26, 2018 12:31 am

Geezaldinho wrote:I didn’t know you could get 6 fouls in college.

Haha, yeah, but if anyone can do it, it's Phil.

He generally just "talks" to the refs and opposing players, but maybe the ref tonight can understand German..... Embarassed

by ExpatPilot Fri Jan 26, 2018 5:35 am

Was not able to watch the game unfortunately. But, user Wazmix on the GUBoard took some awesome photos and I just had to share this one:

2017-2018 Conference Schedule - Page 7 39873510

2017-2018 Conference Schedule - Page 7 39873510

by PilotDrummer Fri Jan 26, 2018 6:16 am

DoubleDipper wrote:
Geezaldinho wrote:I didn’t know you could get 6 fouls in college.
Haha, yeah, but if anyone can do it, it's Phil.

He generally just "talks" to the refs and opposing players, but maybe the ref tonight can understand German.....

It was "are you kidding?" that got him T'd up. After the whistle for his fifth foul.

by DoubleDipper Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:15 am

up7587 wrote:Let's hope the Pilots play well enough that #20 doesn't get in the game.

Well, #20 did play, but this time the Pilots held him to zero points in his one minute of court time.

Disappointed that Coach Few did not give him more minutes considering the score and the fact the Southridge grad had friends and family at the game and it was the first time his mom had seen him in a Gonzaga uniform. Evil or Very Mad

by Guest Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:12 am

http://www.oregonlive.com/pilots/index.ssf/2018/01/no_15_gonzaga_cools_off_portla.html#incart_river_index

by **PilotNut** Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:35 am

Phil was talking quite a bit... he probably deserved a T after he was called for a charge on his 3rd or 4th foul (I don't recall which it was), and he had a few words for the defender. Something along the lines of encouraging him to return to an upright position... Rolling Eyes