Pilots @ Cal State Northridge @ 6pm

Seems strange to see the Pilots favored in a game against a D1 opponent, but they are!

After Cal St. Northridge's close loss at home to a good New Mexico team (#127), but then losing to #107 LMU at Gersten Pavilion by 15, the Matadors are #334 going against the #231 Pilots.

KenPom is favoring UP by 5 points, but most of the prognosticators are predicting it will be closer to a 2-point victory for the Pilots who have only 9 scholarship players available as of last evening.

I asked TP who the first non-scholarship player would be off the bench in case it comes to that, and his reply was it would be "Xavier, if he was available."  But as he's not eligible until December 15th against Grambling, it will probably be Brian Smith followed by Miles Turner, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.

As Jacob is not expected to play, it will be another excellent opportunity get some much needed development for D, Hugh, and Theo.  Winning may not be as important as developing the team at this point in the season, but a road win now would go a long way toward boosting the confidence of the players, coaches and fans!!!

You can find the links to radio, streaming, and stats here: https://portlandpilots.com/index.aspx

(All listed rankings are from KenPom.com)

Glad to see the game will be streamed on BigWest.tv at 6pm for west coast folks.
Go Pilots!

I have a sneaking suspicion there are not 333 D1 teams in the country that are better than Cal State Northridge. Should be a battle.

Noted Jim Harrick (former Pepp and UCLA) is a CSUN asst coach.

Pilots on a scoring drought, four minutes so far.  Getting beat on the boards, and shooting poorly.

Finally scored after a 5:20 stretch, giving up 9 straight. Trail by 9.

If anyone saw anything positive in the first, please let me know.  

Not a good half, poor shooting. Looked to me like Pilots standing around, not really interested in the game.

I don't know if I can bear another half like this...Coach Porter halftime interview..at least he's excited and interested, luv that about him.

Shaver had two nifty steals,lol

and two fouls

Malcolm made both FTs. That's it.

Think I'll switch to football.

Not encouraging to put up this clunker against a very (VERY, VERY) bad CS Northridge team. Killed on the boards. Not sure what the hell is going on, but pretty embarrassing.

Not a bad idea, one can only torture oneself so long....maybe the Pilots will have a run...but..I doubt it.

At last the pace is picking up, now they need a run to get it below 7 points,,,

Down to 6 points with 9 minutes to go

TIED UP WITH 529 to go

dThe Pilots need to win this...

MesaPilot1 wrote:Not a bad idea, one can only torture oneself so long....maybe the Pilots will have a run...but..I doubt it.

New game. Guess I'll watch the football on delay.

I turned it off at halftime.

Now I don't dare turn it back on. What the hell is happening??

Pilots Win!!!!!!!

By 3 I think


Yesssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best half of basketball in a long time, following one of the worst?

Wow! We won 80-77. I guess that Vegas line of 2.5 was appropriate.

Whatever was said in the locker room at halftime worked.

I legitimately feel bad for that freshman Matador who only had to sink two free throws to (likely) force overtime because we have been on the wrong end of missed free throws ourselves.

Great effort and maturity to come back like that as a young team.

Referring back to the gambling discussion on the N. Tex thread, look at those two halves, and figure out what the Pilots are going to go.

Wowza! Great comeback!
Glad to see Diabate getting back on track. Hogland is looking more and more confident. And Walker's three-point shooting has come out of nowhere.
Especially impressive that we pulled that one out with very little contribution from McSwiggan. I hope that win gives some confidence and momentum for the week ahead.

NoPoNeighbor wrote:Wowza! Great comeback!  I hope that win gives some confidence and momentum for the week ahead.

The week ahead will be a tough one!

Grueling game tonight, back on campus around 4am Sunday morning if the flight isn't delayed/cancelled, walk-through and tape review tomorrow evening, games on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday.  

Originally the team was not playing on Monday but was headed to Anchorage for the Great Alaska Shootout, but just when UP is invited, the tournament is cancelled...

SouthCarolinaPilot wrote:Whatever was said in the locker room at halftime worked.

I've had the opportunity to talk to two individuals who were in the locker room....both said they'd never seen TP so genuinely pissed-off and had never seen him lay into the team so forcefully for their soft, uninspired play.

I think most of us who watched the first half would have done much the same!!  It was probably the worst half of Pilot basketball I can remember seeing...ever.  I've seen us behind by larger margins, but never play so badly as they did tonight.

I laid much of the blame on the coaching staff because I know the guys are better as a team then they displayed, and when your team is called for three moving screens in a half, you have to figure they are not being taught how to correctly set a screen.  So as pissed-off as TP may have been, he was probably just as pissed-off at his own performance in preparing the team....

I stuck around and watched the second half with no expectations...it's a lot easier that way, but I think I closed my eyes on that last play that ended with Hugh throwing the ball to the other end of the court...it was too good to be true!

Don't forget the two lane violations....

Based on the clunker 3P shot attempts I saw in the first half, including an airball, I have no idea how they made 7-7 in the 2nd half.

I disagree a bit on the coaching comment. Players can be taught all the right things to do, but if they are too stubborn/lazy/lackadaisical to execute properly, not much a coach can do. Except shock them out of it.

dholcombe wrote:Don't forget the two lane violations....

Yeah, was that weird, or what?

We can usually go an entire season without a lane violation...I think they were just good indicators of how badly the team was playing in the first half.